hedgehog moving in, will she stay?
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Hello.
So yesterday, at around 6am, I was very excited to see a large and very busy hedgehog in my garden, gathering nesting material and taking it under my shed. I was surprised that she was active and visible in the garden until around 8.30am, when she finally returned to what I hope was her new resting place. I am slightly worried that the shed she has chosen to rest (nest) under is a very busy space, with lots of noisy sawing etc. going on. Also, we have a very nosy border collie cross dog, who is anxious to investigate the new smells he has located in the area. My question is, what are the chances of her staying in the area, given these adverse conditions? She was still around late last night. But I haven’t seen anything of her tonight.Hi knb2501
It sounds as if she was making a nest to produce her young in. They are sometimes up and about a bit later in the morning if they are nest building. I imagine she will know what your garden is like (re. noise, etc.) and has still chosen to build a nest there, so fingers crossed she will raise her young ones there. I believe they tend to build their nests fairly near to the time their youngsters are due, which might be why you haven’t seen her tonight. You will just need to be careful that your border collie doesn’t bother them. There is some information about pets and hedgehogs:
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/pets-and-hedgehogs/Good luck.
Thank you so much for your reply. I really hope she stays. I was so thrilled to see her the other morning! I will keep a close eye out and keep the dog in after about 9pm.
Okay. I’m feeling quite encouraged! This morning I discovered that the pile of bedding I had left out for her, has been taken under the shed (judging by the trail of straw left behind) so it seems that she likes her new home. I have left a shallow tray of water for her, but wanted to ask about feeding? I understand that cat food could be a good supplemental food for her, but is it necessary? I seem to have a good supply of slugs/snails and invertebrates and I am wary of encouraging rats (we have chickens, and rats have been an issue in the past) there are also a fair number of urban foxes about. What are your thoughts on this?? Many thanks.
Hi knb2501
Sounds promising. It’s good that you’re providing water. The most important thing is to provide water as that is something they may not be able to find in the wild, at all. I normally leave some available all day every day. A female with hoglets may come out during the day to have a break and welcome and drink.
The feeding is really a personal choice. She sounds as if she’s been doing ok without you feeding, but if she’s about to have hoglets may welcome a bit more than usual. But natural food is best for them and if everyone made their gardens hog friendly so that the hogs could find enough food in the wild, that would be the ideal. Sadly we aren’t at that stage at the moment. Also, hogs need lots of gardens to sustain them – which is why linking gardens with hedgehog highways is so important.
If you’re going to offer supplementary food, normally it’s best to feed cat/dog/hog food or cat/kitten biscuits, but with potential rats and foxes sounds as if there is something else which will eat any of that. You could make a feeding station which would exclude the foxes (lots of ideas on the forum or the gallery), but that wouldn’t work for rats. But some rats aren’t bothered with cat food – although I had one here once who carried off the kitten biscuits meant for the hogs, seemingly to cache them.
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