Hedgehog advice

[Pinkshrimp]

I was thrilled to see a hedgehog ambling across the lawn when I got the cat in the other week. I had seen hedgehog poop a couple of times, weeks and weeks apart, so I didn’t think I had a regular visitor.

After seeing it myself I have been leaving water and food out each night but, when I went to put the food out recently, there were half a dozen slugs waiting by the dish. It seems I’ve trained the slugs to know what time feeding time is!

I keep leaving food out-hoping the slugs will attract the hedgehog- but does anyone have any tips? Is there a food that slugs hate but hedgehogs love? Do slug proof dishes exist?

Yes, I think our "relaxed" approach to gardening is probably great for the hedgehogs.

I feed a hedghog at work (work nightshift in a care home) I use Spike food and the slugs seem to enjoy the food too.

Only been feeding her, when it has been really warm and dry.

vodka How can you tell yours is female? I'd love to know how to find out.

I dont other than she had a hoglet with her.

I threw leftover pasta out last night for the morning crows , magpies and seagulls and we had two hedgehogs fighting over it. Not really fighting but going round in circles to push each other away. All the pasta eaten up. One is now five so it must be healthy enough and it eats anything.

"Is there a food that slugs hate but hedgehogs love?"

Yes SLUGS

pseudobadger apparently you are the main predator of our hedgehogs. Find another food source please lol.

At the risk of being accused of missing the joke, badgers actually are mainly intraguild predators of hedgehog ie they kill them to reduce competition for food and territory rather than them being food themselves as the main reason.
It's as resources have become squeezed, hedgehogs find themselves in competition with badgers much more than historically, and come off worse.

Hate to sound preachy but I know the lady who runs our local hedgehog rescue and she would physically beat me if I didn't say the best food for hedgehogs is dry cat biscuits (non-fish flavours) or the hedgehog food you can buy (cat biscuits are cheaper and just as good tho) cat and dog wet food at a pinch but not often as hogs suffer badly with dental plague if fed soft food like mealworms, peanuts etc and many starve to death as their teeth become so rotten they can't eat so ideally dry cat food and lots of water. If you google hedgehog feeding station you can make a great one from a plastic under bed box which will help to stop local cats helping themselves

Oh and apparently most hedgehogs will only eat slugs as a last resort which isn't really that shocking I guess - I mean slimey slugs mmmmmmm

Tbh, I really don’t think people should feed hedgehogs, or any other wildlife.

Hedgehogs are declining and if we wait for the world order to be restored as you would prefer, there will likely be none left.

I use Spike’s food but have had Tesco’s kitten food suggested as a cheaper alternative so I may give that a try. I have recently noticed a few slug trails round the dish, but we’re not overwhelmed with slugs in this area so I’m not worried. I put the food under cover as we have a few neighbouring cats.

I recently replaced some fencing and the fence man kindly drilled a hedgehog sized hole in the bottom so they can get through. I felt a bit stupid asking but he said it’s quite common for people to ask for this.

I have a hedgehog house and it rough sleeps in there on cool nights but has never hibernated in it.

Hedgehogs are declining and if we wait for the world order to be restored as you would prefer, there will likely be none left
If human destructiveness and selfishness has meant they can no longer survive without humans feeding them (I very much doubt they have always been reliant on supplementary human feeding) then they are on the way out.
Feed, don’t feed, they are going to become extinct ultimately.
You are just prolonging the inevitable.

The idea that dry cat food is ‘the best food for them’ is disturbing.
A dry, processed kibble is never going to be as good as the animals natural diet..
And wet cat food is recommended in so many places, how awful to think it’s causing hedgehogs to die of starvation from painful gums.
But again, it is more proof of the damage ‘interference’ can do.

We should try and repair the damage as best we can, we should try and provide habitat in our gardens yes but I will never agree to feeding wild animals, much less feeding them an unnatural diet like kibble for hogs and bread for ducks.
And as I say, if they are in such deep trouble they can no longer find food for themselves, then no matter what you do they are going to die out imo.

Another way to help British hedgehogs is to support this Change.org petition: Help save Britain’s hedgehogs with ‘hedgehog highways’!

Hedgehog highways is a process by which new housing developments will be built with hedgehog friendly fencing/hedges, gates, gardens and wild corridors. Most of the decline in hedgehogs has been caused by humans residential building.

It had reached 954k signatures, and they really want to reach the 1 million signature goal.
www.change.org/p/help-save-britain-s-hedgehogs-with-hedgehog-highways/u/27679872?cs_tk=AmWy7ExdWMHIO-A3W18AAXicyyvNyQEABF8BvKnxZ681EQzvo-LIrT8ww2E%3D&utm_campaign=ad307b6c1f634255a49ccc38c1d443c0&utm_content=initial_v0_4_0&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_term=cs

If human destructiveness and selfishness has meant they can no longer survive without humans feeding them (I very much doubt they have always been reliant on supplementary human feeding) then they are on the way out. Feed, don’t feed, they are going to become extinct ultimately. You are just prolonging the inevitable.

This is rubbish. Extinction is not inevitable, they don’t have to become extinct. There have been dozens of species on the brink of extinction and humans have made changes in time to prevent it. The petition I signed highlights one thing that can save the hedgehog- better planned and designed new housing developments. We need to actively live WITH natures. It’s not a zero sum game of homes for humans or hedgehogs. There can be both coexisting happily.

Thank you, ive just signed the petition

This is rubbish

Yes, agree completely. Tigers, pandas and all those other species at threat are you struggling with mankind’s wanton destruction of your environment? You bunch of losers you deserve to die! Come on haven’t you gone yet?

There have been dozens of species on the brink of extinction...

Yes, I can vouch for that here, since the Fr. govt has totally banned nicotionoids and no spraying and less cutting of the verges, there are now have plenty of wild flowers, and many more birds here too than when we moved 15 years ago.

We need to actively live WITH natures. It’s not a zero sum game of homes for humans or hedgehogs. There can be both coexisting happily
I agree we need to live WITH nature aswell.
I never said or suggested otherwise..?

I am very much an environmentalist and my gardens are constructed very much in favour of wildlife eg lots of ‘open’ nectar and pollen rich flowers, a pond, lots of dead wood.

I believe that when humans interfere it usually causes more harm than good.

Hedgehogs in terrible pain with dental disease from wet food being one example.

Foxes getting overconfident and expecting food from people and getting poisoned or shot another example.

Population spikes of animals causing problems with not enough natural predators to control them caused by humans trying to control populations of certain animals as a another example.

Tigers, pandas and all those other species at threat are you struggling with mankind’s wanton destruction of your environment? You bunch of losers you deserve to die! Come on haven’t you gone yet?
As above.
The point I was trying to make has been lost entirely and completely misinterpreted.
I do not believe feeding, especially feeding of a non natural diet eg cat food, to be in the best interests of the animals concerned

That's true Dogs But IMO and E they need help in the winter esp. . Soo many feed the wildlife with wheat based food, it's no good for our pets either, or us, for that matter. We make sure that all the animals we feed eat non cereal foods. Preferably raw meat.

I don’t understand how letting your local hedgehogs starve to death or die of thirst during a hot summer is in the best interest of the animals concerned. Not at individual animal level or the species level.

Especially when you consider the way every domesticated animal became less wild was through humans feeding their ancestors over many generations. Humans feeding these species has resulted in their long term survival. We don’t have dogs, cats, chickens, sheep or cows headed for extinction do we? And they survive on “non natural” feed very happily.

@iknowimcoming 👍. Preach away.

It’s never a good idea and it makes me quite cross to see ‘hedgehog food’ for sale. Sometimes you have to be pragmatic. Not selling hedgehog food wouldn't stop people feeding hedgehogs, they' just go back to putting cat food out or even bread and milk.

@ppeatfruit You roll them over and check the positioning of their sexual parts (search for pictures on the internet). If you rock them gently, they will often uncurl in your hands. So basically, it's better not to try to sex them unles you really need to, it's too much interference.

"Is there a food that slugs hate but hedgehogs love?"
Yes SLUGS The main food source of some species of slug is other slugs.

You are just prolonging the inevitable. And is that such a bad thing?

It seems a bit unbalanced to carry on doing things which directly or indirectly damage wildlife, while saying "they need their natural food, we mustn't try and supplement this in any way."

Oh yes Mere i wouldn't be so intrusive! They're sweet here ,they don't roll into a ball if we put on a light to see our way to feed them, they just freeze. Ours come in light and dark shades of brown, I was just idly wondering if the explanation was their sex.