To tell you a bit about Hedgehogs?

[Halstead]

There was a thread very recently, asking for ‘controversial opinions’. It got zapped really quickly.

One posters completely nonsense controversial opinion was that ‘Hedgehogs are flea ridden vermin’

I rescue Hedgehogs. I therefore think I’m being completely reasonable in stating Hedgehogs normally only have fleas when they are suffering from a wider illness. Of the ones we rescue each year, perhaps 1 in 5 have fleas (easily treated but NEVER with cat/dog flea treatment as the active ingredient is lethal to hedgehogs).

I also think I’m not being unreasonable when I tell you Hedgehog fleas are host specific. They aren’t the same type of fleas that invade cats and dogs, and they don’t bite humans, so you don’t need to worry about Hedgehog fleas invading your house and living in your carpets should you come across these critters in your back garden.

Hedgehogs really are in serious trouble at the moment. If they continue to decline at current rates, it’s predicted they’ll be extinct in the UK by 2025.

The current weather really isn’t helping. The hard ground means their main food source (beetles, caterpillars) are very hard to come by. Contrary to popular opinion, Hedgehogs shouldn’t (and don’t generally) eat slugs. If they do, it usually means they’re starving. Slugs often given them illnesses like lung worm and fluke which can be fatal to hogs. It really isn’t a pleasant death, either.

So… AIBU to tell you about about Hogs?... and ask you to pop out water and… if you can… something like kitten biscuit (high protein, low cereal, no milk variety) for our spiney friends? They would very much appreciate it.

@Halstead
and ‘Spike Lee’

this is like ‘name by baby’ threads 😭

@NeverDropYourMooncup I have avoided the beer cup for the slugs as I’d hate to be responsible for killing something, even slimy slugs! What on Earth do you do with a cup full of deceased slugs? 🤢

@Halstead it is cat biscuits I put out but they attract more slugs than hedgehogs. I’ve tried putting the dish on sharp gravel, sand etc but can’t deter them.

Thank you for this thread. I really want to help the hogs!

so it is kitten food in a bowl just anywhere in the garden? Are there things I can do to help like make it more hedgehog friendly?

Mine (two around tonight ) are currently on ‘second sittings’ they really are loading the calories now the temp has dropped 🐷

@StrikeandRobin
you must have had rain where you are ? I haven’t seen a slug for months now it’s parched here . Grass is like hay, I only see the slugs invade the food when it’s damp.
im in Dorset we really need some rain

We love hedgehogs here! Have a regular family visit our garden most nights. Leave out some water and hedgehog food each night for them. I volunteer at a Guide group each week and yep, my name there is hedgehog!

Thank you @Halstead

We had one living under our shed last year, we saw it on a night vision camera DH had set up to see if we had a rat problem, didn’t see any rats just a hedgehog, I put water out but no food, he seemed to be finding it himself.
Then yesterday an Amazon driver said “did you know there’s a hedgehog on your drive”, this was around 6 pm so in daylight. I didn’t know what to do with it, after discussions with the little lad over the road he brought a box over, we put it in my garden near the shed, gave it some water, it was quite fast and made a beeline for the opposite side of the garden where it’s sheltered. It was gone this morning but if it reappears in daylight again I’ll look for a rescue centre for it.,

I used to get a regular hog in my garden and house. He would come in through the cat flap. He once made it upstairs and I found him under my bed! Also found him a behind the washing machine a few times after gorging himself on cat biscuits. I knew it was the same hog as he had a rip in one ear.
He often had ticks, but I dabbed Frontline spray on them and they dropped off.

Lovely little critters. Have not seen any in years now.

Waves @Halstead

Couldn't resist a spiky hate potato thread now could I?

Could anyone confirm how cats react to hogs?

My cat is a champion mouse catcher and I don’t want to lure some poor hoggy to its death at the mouth of my killing machine.

Thanks Halstead. My hack saw is coming out tomorrow to create some hog holes and a feed station!

@SlatternIsMyMiddleName
no issue at all, my cat is bored with them now as they are such a fixture, there’s nothing a cat can do to harm them, cats are so smart they may have a sniff and check them out but that’s it - totally outclassed 😻

@Halstead MORE PLEASE! I bloody love hedgehogs!!

We once rescued a hedgehog that infested our house with fleas.

We'd owned cats for years, then a matter of days after rescuing the hedgehog and bringing it into our house in a cat carrier my DH started being bitten and the cats eventually ended up infested. Whilst I could fully believe that hedgehogs might only be infested if they're already compromised in some way (the hedgehog we saved sadly went on to die a couple of days later), I can't believe that they only get infested with hedgehog specific fleas. This infestation we had was definitely being maintained by the cats and required some serious house flea spraying and cleaning regimen to get rid of.

Having said that we still put out water and food for the local hogs. We just refuse to bring them indoors anymore. We helped one the other night after a Jack Russel type dog had a go at it. My husband went to check on it on the road. It looked fine and it followed him back to our house then sat by the door waiting. We put water, food and a cardboard box outside for it to do as it pleased. It was gone in the morning so hopefully it was ok.

@TwoMonthsOff thank you.

I'd say it's coincidence. We have dogs and rescue underweight hedgehogs most winters. Dogs have never had fleas.

Kitten food in a wide, low bowl (they love tipping things over!) and water, water, water,

If you can leave piles of leaves around (out of the way in corners of your garden?) it will help too… it will attract beetles, their favourite food.

If it’s moving really quickly, looks round (not baguette shaped) and no visible signs of a problem (ticks etc) I’d be tempted to leave it…. 6pm isn’t tooooo early and heading into Sept/Oct they do start coming out a bit earlier to pile on weight ready for hibernation.

sounds like you did the right thing - I wouldn’t automatically rescue ‘yours’ from what you’ve said here.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL TREATING HEDGEHOGS WITH FLEAS AND TICKS - the active ingredient in most cat and dog flea and tick sprays/treatments is absolutely lethal to hedgehogs

(Sorry to shout - just wanted others to see it 🙂)

But want a little chancer coming upstairs. 🤣🤣

Complete coincidence.

The two types of fleas are completely different (and look visibly so to the naked eye), are set up for living in different environments (spines vs fur) and have a different mechanism of reproduction (hedgehog fleas reproduce in their nests, cat/dog in their fur/carpets etc).

if your cats were infested with fleas (and I sympathise … we have cats) it will have been with Ctenocephalides felis. Hedgehog fleas (Archaeopsylla erinacei) may have bitten them initially (unlikely), but wouldn’t have survived long enough to be hosted/have caused any type of infestation. And the Hedgehog can’t have been carrying cat/dog fleas for the same reason.

❤️🦔❤️

If anything like mine (we have cats and hogs) it’s hilarious.

Our new cats, meeting 🦔for the first time will run up to them, then screech to a stop a couple of inches from them, proper cartoon style, as they see their spines.

They keep a very respectful distance!

Your cat stands absolutely no chance against a 🦔 and the 🦔 knows it - they won’t be remotely bothered by them, don’t worry.

Fact you might be interested in…. 🦔

Hedgehogs have 3 sets of spines through their life.

They’re born with spines covered by loose skin (thankfully!); these spines start to emerge within hours. Their first set are white and (relatively) soft. If you ever see a hoglet with white spines they are very young

They develop their first set of brown spines at about 6-8 weeks old. They keep these until they’re a few months old when their adult spines start pushing through in a process called quilling.

The hogs we rescue and overwinter are almost always are of an age when they have their 2nd set, so they develop their 3rd set while they’re with us.

Understandably, having thousands (!!) of spines pushing through your skin hurts, and they get noticeably grumpy through this phase. We’re extra careful with them while they’re quilling (and spend forever cleaning the teenager spines they’ve shed out of their pens every day!)

Couple of photos. Kitten meeting his first hedgehog and Pinelope, our first rescue who we had for 7 months (including, obviously, over Christmas) in the end before releasing her.