To ask you to please help hedgehogs and other wildlife prepare for winter

[Pricklesinperil]

It is literally a lifeline for them as the weather gets warmer.

if you’d like to know about other ways to help, please go to Help hedgehogs

thank you

Note from MNHQ - please do read the Op's latest update (October 2022) before responding.

Ive just updated my duck thread in chat. Some kids found a little guy wandering out of my garden this afternoon. He’s about six months old, underweight and carrying parasites and fly strike.
He has been taken to a local rescue where I hope he has the fight to recover.

please please look out for these little creatures. A saucer of water a night could be a life saver. If you can put out some cat food, dry or otherwise at sunset that’s perfect, hedgehog food even better.

I do hope little Teasel recovers and can come home.

Aw! I'll do that.

Ahh we had one in the back garden last night, frightened the crap out the dog!

I put some food out for it and it was all gone this morning so this thread has reminded me to pop some water out tonight, but at the other end of the garden to where the dog is his last pee of the night!

I leave water & mealworms out🦔 even though my neighbour keeps knocking on the door checking I’m not putting food out of any sort for the birds etc as it might encourage rats🙄

Aw we had one in our garden last night!

We are in an area of the U.K. that gets ALL the rain though, so no worries about drinking water yet 🙈

We had hedgehogs in the past, not seen them for a long time. For several years weve had families of foxes, so should I avoid doing anything that encourages hedgehogs? As a side note, it amazed me how fast hedgehogs could move when we let a dog out.

@AlanThePig Wishing little Teasel all the very best - hedgehog rescues deserve recognition and support for all the dedicated care they give. You’ve reminded me to check my local rescue’s Amazon wish list. I’m going to make it a subscribe and save so I won’t forget.

thank you @Johnnysgirl and @WhatTheWhoTheWhatThe - Just doing that one thing really helps hedgehogs. You can download the app for hedgehogstreet.com and record your hedgehog sighting. You can even sign up to be a hedgehog champion!

@Pricklesinperil i sent mine some bits from their wish list when I got back from dropping him off. I’m going to email her tomorrow, even if Teasle doesn’t make it we might be a good location to release others than can’t go back home. We have nest boxes and a feeding station so hopefully I can give something back. I’m in awe of these people who do this stuff.

I always forget how privileged we are to have these creatures in our gardens. I’ll never forget seeing one in San Diego zoo some years ago and realising how lucky I was to have wild ones visiting.

Sadly everyone has fences with concrete posts here so I doubt they can get in the garden.

I think it depends where you are, that would just be rat or fox fodder where I am.

Our caravan in France on the other hand, fed and watered the huge hedgehogs and loved having them.

@itsnotmeitsu - leaving shallow bowls of fresh water won’t encourage foxes, so please do that if you can.

I also have foxes that visit so I have bought two Fox proof hogilo and put shallow dishes of food in.

Thats such a thoughtful post OP. Just to reiterate that it has to be a shallow dish as hedgehogs can drown if they can't get out of a deep one. As with ponds where a banked side with stones can help them get out again.

Please don't leave mealworms, they are bad for their bones..
Cat food or proprietary hedgehog food is best, along with some water

Can I also add that they shouldn’t be fed bread and milk, and a diet of purely of mealworms causes vitamin deficiency I understand.

(I feed hedgehogs too 🦊🐾🐾🦔😊)

@Mabelshouse you are spot on. That’s the biggest challenge for hedgehogs - they need Hedgehog highways

You can email [email protected] who can put you in touch with your local hedgehog champion. They could organise a leaflet drop in your neighbourhood and follow it up with a community talk.

if you’d like to look at some of the resources they’ll use - Free downloadable resources

Agreed @nearlyspringyay it’s up to each home to decide what other help they can offer hedgehogs without attracting unwanted creatures. However, leaving shallow dishes of fresh water each night will help hedgehogs immensely and won’t encourage unwanted visitors.

I'd love to encourage hedgehogs but anything big enough for them to get through would also facilitate the rabbits which are rife on neighbours land

I follow Hedgehog Cabin on Twitter. Apparently mealworms are actually bad for them and the best thing to leave out for them is dried kitten food.

She rehabilitates hedgehogs that are near death and it's quite an uplifting account to follow if you're into nature.

She also say that specific hedgehog feed that you can buy is no good for them. Kitten food is her advice!

I have tried but the pigeons just shit in it.

Wilkinson sells hedgehog food.
We have been trying to create a wildlife area in our front garden, others look beautiful with plenty of flowers. Ours is now thigh high with green weeds.
Anyway, we have an old trailer that dh bricked around without mortar so the insects can live, dh pushed a drainpipe in so it was a covered space.
He's filled it with soil and put branches in it and made a planter the length of the windowsill which has a takeaway food pot in it filled with water.

We feed the birds and now two hedgehogs, a big fat one and a slightly smaller one by scattering the food on the trailer, we also dispose of the dogs left over food by putting that there. The weeds are teeming with insects, and we've already had butterflies and bees this year.

A couple of days ago there was a large brown toad sat in it and we've also got slow worms.
Through the day its like an aviary with all of the birds coming and going, we get thrushes, blackbirds, sparrows, tits, robins, a crow, magpies and a few others.
It's amazing watching them all. We know the toad is there even when we can't see him because the dog sits on the windowsill looking at him and making herself known. Often the hedgehogs are eating and drinking with only the window pane between her and them and the completely ignore her.

So yes, feed the hedgehogs, it brings much joy.

Well “my” hedgehog is pretty fond of it.

I only have one regular visitor but have occasionally seen two together on the lawn (and they weren’t dancing) 😳

If you’re having new fencing, ask your installer to make a gap for hedgehogs in the bottom. I expected mine to think I was crazy but he said a lot of people ask for them now, which is good news.

Instead of binning your old mascara wand wash it and post it to a hedgehog sanctuary. Trey use them as tiny brushes for the hedgehogs.

I've always wondered where the research for mealworms causing problems comes from ?
Given in most areas hedgehogs travel through different dwellings how was it ever been proven it was mealworms causing issues..I honestly would love to know
I also have a problem with dehydrated cat biscuits constantly promoted to feed hedgehogs with, I have seen the damage this can cause to cats urinary system in my life, let alone a wild animal that may be dehydrated already to start with.
Brilliant to see this thread though, please put some pebbles/stones in water dishes.
I messed up myself the other week over some water in a dish I had forgotten about outside for my ducks during the day (Their pond has escape routes/life rafts galore for all creatures) and found a dead beautiful field mouse in it, broke my heart. I just forgot to empty or put something in the dish.
One of the many Kites we have here took poor thing immediately off the post I put it on for them. At least that's something.
Still feel awful though