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.

@Mrstiggywinkle44 thank you so much for posting. @AlanThePig and I were both agreeing much earlier in the thread that we are in awe of amazing individuals like yourself who selflessly volunteer as hedgehog rescuers. Thank you for all you do.

we’d love to hear any stories or more advice from you as you’re an expert. I just started the thread because I love hedgehogs and wanted to get as many people as possible to think about them and do one small thing (putting out water) to help them. All the advice I’ve posted has come direct from Hedgehog Street - I include the links to the relevant content.

Aww thanks. I love threads about wildlife in particular hoggles :) 😃

The best advice I can give/ say is
Create a hog friendly garden with a house/hibernation area

Do not feed them mealworms, fish, milk or bread. This makes them very poorly. Also contrary to what gets posted online about pumpkins in autumn do not leave these out either, it can give them diahorrea

They love kitten chicken biscuits or chicken flavoured cat food, again no fish flavours. They also love spikes moist biscuits

If you see any out during the day, they need a rescue ASAP as could be ill, injured or parasite ridden:( ☹
Get a high sided box, with a heat pad or hot water bottle covered over and call your nearest rescue for advice

In late autumn, October time if you see a small looking hog in your garden please try to weigh it and If it is over 500g it should be ok, anything under this, especially under 450g It needs rescue as its not weighing enough for hibernation

thanks @Mrstiggywinkle44 great to have you here.

bumping the thread to reach as many people as possible

@Pricklesinperil I have joined, logged my hedgepigs and sent them a video of the three of them. Thank you. I have always had a soft spot for hedgehogs, one year we over-wintered two young hedgehogs in our playroom (under the guidance of a local rescue centre) then released them into the garden in the spring.

@bloodywhitecat brilliant! Thank you!

how lovely of you to have cared for two hedgehogs - did you find them in your garden and contacted the rescue about them or was the rescue looking for kind folks to shelter them as they’d been found elsewhere?

what was it like caring for them? What did you actually need to do?

apologies for all the questions but I’m genuinely interested and feel so pleased that lovely folks like you and others are here on the thread.

Not seen a hedgehog in these parts for decades. Mainly due to all the bastard badgers.

It’s a shame isn’t it @nokitchen . Can I ask, have you checked your postcode on the Hedgehog Street Big Hedgehog Map? There may have been some sightings in your neighbourhood?

What do badgers do to hedgehogs?

Sad news here. The little guy we took to the rescue didn’t make it. We did think it was very touch and go and sadly he was far too ill and died after a few days.
I am slightly comforted he died in a nice warm incubator with food and fluids rather than in the wild, but still a bit sad today. Poor Teasle.

Checked the map. Literally no sightings in our area. We have a farm with brilliant thick hedgerows so would love to have hedgehogs here.

@RichardOsmansXraySpecs This is from Hedgehog Street:

Badgers are hedgehogs’ main predators in the UK. They are the only animals strong enough to tackle a hedgehog’s spines.

Hedgehogs actively avoid areas where badgers live. Where there are many badgers, hedgehogs are likely to be less common.

Although badger numbers have boomed, there is little evidence that suggests they are the main reason why hedgehogs are in trouble.

The two rarely see each other in gardens, yet hedgehogs are struggling in gardens as much as they are in the countryside. Hedgehogs are also doing badly in rural places where we know few badgers live, like East Anglia. We would never condone the killing of badgers to help hedgehogs. Read our statement on badger culling.

@AlanThePig oh that is sad news about little Teasel.

I agree that you should be comforted by the fact that he passed away warm, loved and free from pain. It was because of you that he didn’t suffer as he would have done if no-one had helped him. You made it clear that he was in a bad way and that it was touch and go.

I know how much you care about wildlife, and please hold on to the fact that you helped him when he needed help.

@nokitchen you can contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) at [email protected]. They can put you in touch with your local hedgehog carer who can work with you to see if your area might be suitable. The leaflet below gives some more information.

The BHPS and People’s Trust for Endangered Species partnered together to create Hedgehog StreetHedgehog Street

British Hedgehog Preservation Society Leaflet

I stopped doing this the day I saw a rat drinking from the bowl.

They weren't hedgehogs we'd found, a local rescue place was inundated with hedgehogs that were too small to be released so needed volunteers to care for them. We collected them in a big box that they pretty much stayed in, we fed and watered them, gave them plentiful supplies of shredded newspaper and cleaned them out daily. It was a long time ago now but I seem to recall they pretty much slept, ate, wee'd and poo'd. Then, when the rescue said, we released them one evening into our rural garden. The one thing I remember is that they are pretty smelly!

Awww rats need to drink too.

I had no idea about the badgers, you learn something new everyday.

Sad little Teasel didn't make it

I would but I'm not encouraging any wildlife into the garden ever again.

My psychotic bitch cat has had two of the birds who came to get the hair I chucked out in the garden for them to use as a nest. I feel like I'm luring them to their death now.

Delighted to report that I got woken up last night by what my sleep fuddled brain thought was a dripping pipe- but the noise was our hedgehog doing his sex/mating noise! It went on for over an hour- a loud rhythmic ‘grunting’! If he was having sex then bloody hell he has stamina! If not then he deserved to after the effort of keeping that noise up for so long!! 🤣🤣🤣

@Everydaydayisaschoolday I know its disconcerting seeing a rat, however, if you can leave out shallow dishes of water just as it’s starting to get dark, then the hedgehogs will likely be the only ones to benefit. Please do that if you can, with so many gardens closed off, hedgehogs don’t have any sources of fresh water and get progressively thirsty and dehydrated.

Yay! @blobby10 obviously the water you started leaving out did make a difference😍Great hedgehog news!

Looking forward to reading this thread later - thanks for your post on my thread, OP.

you told that story so beautifully @bloodywhitecat It made me smile, how wonderful of you to devote your time to caring for the little rescue hedgehogs

@blobby10 reported to us that her hedgehog visitors were courting and emitting very loud noises - if anyone would like to hear what the noise sounds like - watch this video from Hedgehog Street Hedgehog courtship sounds

That's so weird I heard that sound in the front garden last year while I was laying in bed. I assumed it was a mother fox talking to her cubs and snuffling around for food.
That means we do have them here!!!!!

Right my mission tomorrow is to set up a feeding station for them.

@RichardOsmansXraySpecs that’s brilliant hedgehog news! Please keep us posted and don’t forget the shallow dishes of fresh water each night! 🦔