[Misc] Hedgehogs

[Coldeanseagull]

I’ve found that a mix of seeds, oats and small pellets of dried beef goes down well with two visiting hedgehogs here.

Any wet food is more attractive to other animals, so the dry mix of small food works better. Put it out at dusk, otherwise birds may get to the food before the hedgehogs.

Our resident female is still raising, shes been coming between five and six, then again between eight and ten. She sits(hence her name) outside the porch encouraging the wife to wait on her. It's quite comical to see her stuff her face then disappear with a mouthful of chicken to feed her cubs

 

[Gary1]

This was the garden last Summer. Def needs some taming!

View attachment 201526

Great garden…… looks bloody fantastic & I bet you get loads of wildlife, even some that goes unnoticed. Don’t change it too much please!!

 

[The Clamp]

Great garden…… looks bloody fantastic & I bet you get loads of wildlife, even some that goes unnoticed. Don’t change it too much please!!

I promise it’s staying largely untouched.

It’s hard to see on that shot but behind the row of bushes at the back is about another 3 metres of garden before you hit the back wall.

This is mostly bedding and I’ll cultivate that for veggies.

The rest will remain wild.

Yeah, we get loads of wildlife in there. It’s great!

 

[papachris]

We had an interesting wildlife visitor in my local area yesterday.

Police issue warning after bear spotted in Tallinn on Thursday morning

The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) warned the public to be cautious in Nõmme, Tallinn, after a bear was spotted there Thursday morning.

news.err.ee

I used to love our garden hedgehogs when I lived in England. They do live here but you don't see so many.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

We had an interesting wildlife visitor in my local area yesterday.

Police issue warning after bear spotted in Tallinn on Thursday morning

The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) warned the public to be cautious in Nõmme, Tallinn, after a bear was spotted there Thursday morning.

news.err.ee

I used to love our garden hedgehogs when I lived in England. They do live here but you don't see so many.

Yep, I'll stick with my prickly pigs thankyouverymuch

 

[The Clamp]

Can you recommend a decent but not too pricey (£40-£70 budget) wildlife camera with NV for the garden?

Be great to see what’s bobbling about there while I’m away on night shift.

 

[Zeberdi]

Can you recommend a decent but not too pricey (£40-£70 budget) wildlife camera with NV for the garden?

Be great to see what’s bobbling about there while I’m away on night shift.

Look on Amazon - you can get a couple of cameras for around 60 quid (similar to these below except with NV ) to use outside ( position on flower pots or on the ground ) then download the appropriate App to watch on your phone wherever you are.

Hedgehogs are not too worried about low patio lighting eg a few solar lamps strategically placed would work

https://amzn.eu/d/c7JSJs3

 

[The Clamp]

Look on Amazon - you can get a couple of cameras for around 60 quid (similar to these below except with NV ) to use outside ( position on flower pots or on the ground ) then download the appropriate App to watch on your phone wherever you are.

Hedgehogs are not too worried about low patio lighting eg a few solar lamps strategically placed would work

https://amzn.eu/d/c7JSJs3

Ordered similar with NV. Much appreciated. And bang on budget.
Cheers!

 

[Zeberdi]

Any wet food is more attractive to other animals, so the dry mix of small food works better. Put it out at dusk, otherwise birds may get to the food before the hedgehogs.

Good advice.

Also young hedgehogs develop dental
problems if the bulk of their diet is soft food. They need the crunchyness of dried hedgehog food to keep their teeth sharp ( which they need for self defence and eating crunchy beetles!)

There is likely more than one hedgehog going through garden so its also important to leave out enough food that there’s a very small amount left over in the morning.

 

[jimhigham]

I’ve found that a mix of seeds, oats and small pellets of dried beef goes down well with two visiting hedgehogs here.

Any wet food is more attractive to other animals, so the dry mix of small food works better. Put it out at dusk, otherwise birds may get to the food before the hedgehogs.

Absolutely thrilled to find we had a hedgehog pass through our garden last night. It’s sharing the space with a family of foxes, as we have four cubs playing around at the end of the garden each night.

Wet food will almost certainly be swiped by the foxes in no time. I note you recommend small pellets of dried beef. Do you use a particular brand of this?

So happy to see our new friend.

 

[GT49er]

Our resident female is still raising, shes been coming between five and six, then again between eight and ten. She sits(hence her name) outside the porch encouraging the wife to wait on her. It's quite comical to see her stuff her face then disappear with a mouthful of chicken to feed her cubs

Cubs? Hoglets, surely!

what are baby hedgehogs called - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

 

[Zeberdi]

Absolutely thrilled to find we had a hedgehog pass through our garden last night. It’s sharing the space with a family of foxes, as we have four cubs playing around at the end of the garden each night.

Wet food will almost certainly be swiped by the foxes in no time. I note you recommend small pellets of dried beef. Do you use a particular brand of this?

So happy to see our new friend.

See my post above re. wet food - but you can always build a feeding station (or several)

Feeding Hedgehogs

www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk

• hoglets also need crunchy food for dental growth
• wet dog/cat food attracts blow flies which can lay eggs on the hogs while feeding and can be fatal
• complete dogfood biscuits are too hard.
• dried cat food biscuits are ok but don’t always have the right nutritious balance for them.
• Hedgehogs dislike any fish based/flavoured foods.

I use Spike - it’s not cheap but imo probably the best on the market - there’s cheaper but hedgehog food isn’t regulated so check for meat content.

ps - A very small sprinkling of dried mealworms in with their food is a real treat but don’t have much nutritious content and they can get malnutrition by gorging on them and nothing else!

 

[Anger]

Absolutely thrilled to find we had a hedgehog pass through our garden last night. It’s sharing the space with a family of foxes, as we have four cubs playing around at the end of the garden each night.

Wet food will almost certainly be swiped by the foxes in no time. I note you recommend small pellets of dried beef. Do you use a particular brand of this?

So happy to see our new friend.

Wild on Wildlife Hedgehog Feed is going down very well with our two visitors.

 

[jimhigham]

Thanks @Zeberdi and @Anger for all the helpful advice. Beyond thrilled to see two very healthy looking and sprightly hedgehogs show up on last night's footage. Have got some hedgehog feed and have been putting it out with some seeds, and will look to get some mealworms as a tiny extra treat.

 

[PeterT]

A reminder to anyone interested to make sure you have small (5 inches is enough) gaps in your fence to allow the hedgehogs to wander freely between gardens. I understand that they can travel 1-2 miles a night and need access to 15 gardens on average.

Over the weekend I looked around our garden which borders 4 other gardens and dug 3 new holes under the fences for them to be able to access all of the adjacent gardens. Probably only the rats and mice will end up using them, but you never know! Don’t make the holes too big or it will attract other animals you may not want to attract!