Who else is helping hedgehogs?

[Alicewond]

They may be declining in rural areas but growing in urban ones. I have at least 3, are you feeding or watering them. Do your hogs have names

Me!! We have a family that come through our garden. The cats actually sit back and watch them eating their biscuits. They are quite a stroppy bunch! We love them.

Oh I would love to help! Unfortunately though we have a rabbit loose in the garden so it needs to be completely sealed to stop him escaping. Once he's gone though I'm going to make the garden hog friendly.
I have been thinking about volunteering as a rescue driver, but I'm over stretched as it is at the moment. I wish I could afford to retire early!

I have at leat 3 adults this year, has two adults and three smaller last. I’ve commented to dry and wet cat food each night, I keep telling myself to stop, but then they eat it and I feel mean and keep going. Have a trap camera which is amazing to view them feeding on

Committed even :)

I follow the HH trust and they have FB posts out saying numbers are declining all over.

You shouldn't be feeding them commercial food, they get rid of garden pests such as slugs and snails. You are making them human reliant. What happens if you go away ?

We have a group that go down our street through thr back gardens. They like ours as its a bit overgrown. There is a pond along the way and someone has decking they hibernate under.

They are mostly left to themselves though we did put out extra water last summer. The cat is fascinated by them and always just sitting near them. I'm sure thats why he keeps getting fleas

I don't anymore but I used to overwinter hedgehogs in my spare bedroom. God, the smell! They do nothing but poo.

Ive gone full time at work now so have stopped doing it but I still help out the local group by going and picking up hedgehogs to bring back to others who will look after them.

I also teach new volunteers how to sub-cut inject fluids for the really, poorly little ones and I am good at tweezering maggots, etc out of them.

Hedgehog fleas are host specific, they shouldn't pass onto cats and dogs. I have cats and dogs in the house and they don't fleas and some hedgehogs when I first get them were crawling in fleas.

I do what I can

I hand reared a baby two years ago. He came in with his brother (who sadly died as he had a gash in his stomach) at around a week old.

He stayed for a couple of months before I moved him outside to access his wild side again.

He had become quite friendly, snuffling at me when I entered the room because he knew I meant food.

However after just 3 days outside with hands off treatment (only going near to give food and water), he had completely reverted to his wild side and balled up nice and tight when I went near him!

After he started to do that, I released him. He had a soft release which meant I opened up the cage and he could leave when he wanted and even return if he wanted to.

He didn’t go far the first night but the second night, he was gone!

we had some last summer when it was really hot and they came for the water as well as the food i put out. As soon as the heatwave finished they stopped coming so reliably, and this year I’ve only seen one of them a couple of times early in the year. I miss my hoagies.

My neighbour says his gardener thinks he has a badger coming into his garden - i really dont think he has, but if it’s true it’s bad news for the hedgehogs.

What's the problem with badgers and hedgehogs? We definitely have badgers around here and although I make my garden as hog-friendly as possible, I've never seen one.

We have water out for them. Often get a few through the garden. I always stop and usher them off the roads when I see them too.

Yep :) We have hedgehog sized holes around our fence, piles of pallets and sticks/leaves everywhere (it doesn’t look bad, I promise!), they can drink from our pond and I give them whatever the cat doesn’t finish each evening. We have loads traipsing around and hooked up a night camera to film them! We have several of them, plus foxes and field mice: the kids loved it!

How do you help hedgehogs but prevent a rat infestation?

I had to stop feeding the birds for a while as we were getting far too many rats in the garden. I’m very much a nature lover, but they were getting far too close to the patio doors. There are a huge amount of cats around here too.

It’s such a tragedy. I live in a wooded area on the outskirts of town. We should be seeing hedgehogs all the time but I have not seen a single one.

Our garden is big and messy, and the NDN has a pond, so I think we have a few. Last year one started sleeping under a tarp in the corner of our terrace thingy, right next to the badly insulated door into the bedroom. He'd come back at about half 4 in the morning and spend like half an hour getting comfy, the noisy little fecker.

we foster amongst other animals hedgehogs. we recently reared 4 baby hogs had to dropper feed them at first but they all survived grew into healthy hogs that we released back into the wild again its lovely to save wildlife

We have had hedgehogs for several years now. We have built a 'diner' for them which is a essential a wooden box with an internal section where the food is.

My neighbour has a family in her garden, plus a night camera.When we first moved here I regularly saw a little one in the daytime,but now realise it's not good news if they are out foraging at that time.
So now I have a hog house plus feeding station,but really need to get a camera to check for activity.
And if I see a dead one that's not already squashed I will move it under a roadside bush or some vegetation wherever possible.And whisper a little apology.Bonkers I know !But I can't bear to drive back later and see any animal flattened.As a dog owner and fanatical litter picker I always have gloves and old towels in my boot which helps with the prickles!

DPs mum put an entire fence up in her garden to stop the dogs getting to the family of hedgehogs under her shed!

Hedgehogs won’t be in the same area as badgers

That’s why it could be bad

If there are badgers around, you won’t find hogs

Hi Nico. Well hedgehogs should not have fleas. They are easily got rid of with Johnson's small animal insecticide. It is usually a sign of an underlying condition. Glad you help them 😁

My fucking neighbours. Rats love the food they leave out for them. Fucking selfish bastards.

Hi lboc2 hedgehogs tend to avoid badgers as they are their only natural predator. Badgers and hedgehogs can live alongside each other if there is enough food but if there is a shortage and the badger gets desperate then the badger will eat the hog.

Our gardens back onto other gardens. So holes in our fence would be pointless if hedgehogs can’t get in/out of neighbouring gardens. And our garden gate has steps up to it so again pointless as I doubt hedgehogs can climb steps! Shame as I’d love to have hedgehogs in the garden.

hi FallenMadonna I'm afraid nothing is rat proof do sadly there is little you can do to feed hogs without feeding rats. Hedgehogs don't necessarily live in woodland unless it has lots of bushes and hedges. Trees don't attract the right kind of floor level insects as a general rule of thumb.

We do, we feed them and leave out water
I also do transport for a local wildlife rescue and dd volunteers once a month there to clean out and feed the animals, which are largely hedgehogs