Many hogs all over the country have gone into hibernation early due to the poor weather, but we still are finding babies and underweight juveniles, that desperately & urgently need our help
The reason for needing to feed hedeghogs with supplemental food is that in the majority of places, there is no natural food. The majority of a hedgehogs diet would naturally be beetles, caterpillars & other creepy-crawlies http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/diet.htm
Almost all beetles are on the red list & how frequently do you see butterfilies ( especially at this time of year) so no caterpillars. All they can find in our sterile gardens is slugs, snails and earthworms
Thanks for the useful links Derek and the info hoglady - although I am not sure that I would feel comfortable picking up little hedgehogs and taking them inside just yet. I will certainly make a note of the websites though and if it gets much colder and they look particularly small I might reconsider. I put out loads of hedgehog food, and am continuing to do this (mainly mealworms, so the birds eat them if not the hedgehogs) so hopefully they will have had load to eat round mine - I have seen some little (but fat looking) hedgehogs in the garden over the last week. Like sotongeoff, even though I am really into wildlife I didn't know that slugs could be bad for hedgehogs - I I have been picking up any that I see and putting them in the hedgehog food bowls, thinking I am killing two birds with one stone, getting rid of the slugs and giving the hedgehogs a treat. I do sincerely hope that that is not the reason for the disappearing hedgehogs! Hopefully with the current return to organic gardening - either by those who care about the environment/wildlife, or those who are looking to cut costs - there will start to be a bit more natural food for wildlife in the coming years, and a bit of balance will be returned to nature.
Hi all you lovely hedgehog-loving people. I found two very small hedgehogs in my garden last night (they both fit into one hand) and I used the links you provided to find my local hedgehog rescue centre. A very lovely lady called Sadie has taken them in for the winter - she confirmed that they would have had no chance of surviving otherwise. She also told me that hedgehogs have recently been moved from the Endangered List to the Near Extinct List, which made me sad. Thanks for all your advice, as otherwise these hedgehogs would have certainly died - they were a lovely, healthy little boy and girl, almost certainly from the same litter
I am so glad I found this site, we have also had the problem of the hedgehogs suddenly disappearing from our garden about 3 weeks ago. We have always put food and water down for them every night and put a camera in the garden to see, and we had quite a few every night but this year it was always adult ones and no babies, then they suddenly all stopped coming. We thought it was to early to hibernate also with the weather being warmer. Still putting food out in case some younger ones come but no takers so far.
Our regular big hog is still visiting most evenings - but he's always been late to start hibernation - he builds his hibernaculum mainly from fallen ash leaves from our big trees, and they always hang onto their leaves until quite late so I wonder if that's something to do with it?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I was feeding hedgehogs all last year, and had many visitors to my garden. I bought a hog house, and am almost sure one has been in it all winter.
I first saw him again about 8 weeks ago, and he has been coming every night feeding off cat food and mealworms, however we went away for the weekend on Friday until Monday, and although I have still been putting food out every night since I got back, he has not been.
Wondering if this is normal behaviour and more importantly will he come back. Worried he may have come into some danger!!
Posts
Many hogs all over the country have gone into hibernation early due to the poor weather, but we still are finding babies and underweight juveniles, that desperately & urgently need our help
you can always get details of a hedgehog carer or rescue centre from www.thehedgehog.co.uk or ask on http://www.hedgehoghelp.co.uk/ that way you can always get help and advice at any time of day or night
The reason for needing to feed hedeghogs with supplemental food is that in the majority of places, there is no natural food. The majority of a hedgehogs diet would naturally be beetles, caterpillars & other creepy-crawlies http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/diet.htm
Almost all beetles are on the red list & how frequently do you see butterfilies ( especially at this time of year) so no caterpillars. All they can find in our sterile gardens is slugs, snails and earthworms
Thanks for the useful links Derek and the info hoglady - although I am not sure that I would feel comfortable picking up little hedgehogs and taking them inside just yet. I will certainly make a note of the websites though and if it gets much colder and they look particularly small I might reconsider. I put out loads of hedgehog food, and am continuing to do this (mainly mealworms, so the birds eat them if not the hedgehogs) so hopefully they will have had load to eat round mine - I have seen some little (but fat looking) hedgehogs in the garden over the last week. Like sotongeoff, even though I am really into wildlife I didn't know that slugs could be bad for hedgehogs - I I have been picking up any that I see and putting them in the hedgehog food bowls, thinking I am killing two birds with one stone, getting rid of the slugs and giving the hedgehogs a treat. I do sincerely hope that that is not the reason for the disappearing hedgehogs! Hopefully with the current return to organic gardening - either by those who care about the environment/wildlife, or those who are looking to cut costs - there will start to be a bit more natural food for wildlife in the coming years, and a bit of balance will be returned to nature.
Hi all you lovely hedgehog-loving people. I found two very small hedgehogs in my garden last night (they both fit into one hand) and I used the links you provided to find my local hedgehog rescue centre. A very lovely lady called Sadie has taken them in for the winter - she confirmed that they would have had no chance of surviving otherwise. She also told me that hedgehogs have recently been moved from the Endangered List to the Near Extinct List, which made me sad. Thanks for all your advice, as otherwise these hedgehogs would have certainly died - they were a lovely, healthy little boy and girl, almost certainly from the same litter
Well done Lunarz
that is 2 that you have saved, keep your eyes open as they normally come in litters of 4 or 5 so there could well be a few more to find & save
Three cheers for Lunarz! Saver of Hedgehogs
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I am so glad I found this site, we have also had the problem of the hedgehogs suddenly disappearing from our garden about 3 weeks ago. We have always put food and water down for them every night and put a camera in the garden to see, and we had quite a few every night but this year it was always adult ones and no babies, then they suddenly all stopped coming. We thought it was to early to hibernate also with the weather being warmer. Still putting food out in case some younger ones come but no takers so far.
Our regular big hog is still visiting most evenings - but he's always been late to start hibernation - he builds his hibernaculum mainly from fallen ash leaves from our big trees, and they always hang onto their leaves until quite late so I wonder if that's something to do with it?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Bekkie, have you seen this thread? Might help with your little hog? Xx sounds like all the people on here know about the best things to do
hi
I was feeding hedgehogs all last year, and had many visitors to my garden. I bought a hog house, and am almost sure one has been in it all winter.
I first saw him again about 8 weeks ago, and he has been coming every night feeding off cat food and mealworms, however we went away for the weekend on Friday until Monday, and although I have still been putting food out every night since I got back, he has not been.
Wondering if this is normal behaviour and more importantly will he come back. Worried he may have come into some danger!!