Looks great AnniD.The cat in question though would have no problem navigating the tunnel!This is no ordinary cat of which I speak.He can manage double and triple hairpin bends,right angles etc.I know because I have tried,some tunnels were 6 ft long. I think I shall try a plastic box which is very shallow,a cat has to bend down but a hedgehog does not.Another idea I saw was to stop rats getting in by making a curtain of clear plastic over the entrance,(rats think it is a trap).This would probably not discourage a hedgehog but may be off putting to a cat. So many ideas!
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
Blimey @madpenguin, he really must be a flexible cat ! I'm always impressed by the way the hedgehogs can turn round mid tunnel (caught on camera), but l just can't imagine a cat doing it. Mind you, they're quite er, large around this way.
Most hoggie websites say entrance holes should be around 12cm in diameter which I have used as a guideline,however,I have seen a fully grown hedgehog get through a gap of 6.5cm (as you can see in the video clip below). My thinking is that I can go a lot smaller on hole size to deter the cats! Maybe putting the hedgehogs food in the bird feeder could work as well!! https://youtu.be/p3nIPKqFFAA
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
You don't think maybe there could be a problem @madpenguin if one hog scoffs everything? He might have to wait a couple of days before he could get back out
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
herbaceous - it would be like Winnie the Pooh when he got stuck and they had to wait till he was thin enough to pull him back out! Mpenguin - I was guided by what they said on various sites too, and I made the hole in my feeding station about five inches. The mum hog wasn't terribly big, but I expect you could make the holes a little smaller without it having a major effect. Mine made a new entrance under a corner of fence in the front garden, which was wide and quite low, rather than a rounder or squarer type of hole. I scraped away a bit more soil to make it easier for them, but it certainly isn't very high. I'll take a pic if I get a chance. They make a little 'path' alongside the hedge on their way to the back garden - you can see it in the grass The bit they were already getting in was higher, and at the foot of my hedge, and I expect a cat could get in it too, but they tend to jump in. I made a bit of tunnel there anyway which would deter cats a bit. I've also made another new hole next to my shed but I'm not sure if they've discovered it yet. I'm also not sure how many are coming in here, but I had two little ones with mum when I discovered them in the garden in July.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I love that story @Dovefromabove and @Fairygirl, an object lesson in greed and planning ahead I reckon the rat on the end is wishing he'd been a bit quicker joining in!
I have several gaps in my chain link fence but everyone uses the one behind the sedum (except the squirrel who beams himself in from some distant tree) and flattens it. I would be happy for a hog to come through, plenty to eat along the back, but its the cats, fox and pigeons
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
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I think I shall try a plastic box which is very shallow,a cat has to bend down but a hedgehog does not.Another idea I saw was to stop rats getting in by making a curtain of clear plastic over the entrance,(rats think it is a trap).This would probably not discourage a hedgehog but may be off putting to a cat.
So many ideas!
My thinking is that I can go a lot smaller on hole size to deter the cats!
Maybe putting the hedgehogs food in the bird feeder could work as well!!
... however it does appear to be difficult to involve hedgehogs in a tug of war ... some problems finding somewhere to get a good grip
Mpenguin - I was guided by what they said on various sites too, and I made the hole in my feeding station about five inches. The mum hog wasn't terribly big, but I expect you could make the holes a little smaller without it having a major effect.
Mine made a new entrance under a corner of fence in the front garden, which was wide and quite low, rather than a rounder or squarer type of hole. I scraped away a bit more soil to make it easier for them, but it certainly isn't very high. I'll take a pic if I get a chance. They make a little 'path' alongside the hedge on their way to the back garden - you can see it in the grass
The bit they were already getting in was higher, and at the foot of my hedge, and I expect a cat could get in it too, but they tend to jump in. I made a bit of tunnel there anyway which would deter cats a bit. I've also made another new hole next to my shed but I'm not sure if they've discovered it yet.
I'm also not sure how many are coming in here, but I had two little ones with mum when I discovered them in the garden in July.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have several gaps in my chain link fence but everyone uses the one behind the sedum (except the squirrel who beams himself in from some distant tree) and flattens it. I would be happy for a hog to come through, plenty to eat along the back, but its the cats, fox and pigeons