Hedgehogs coming pretty regular now.

[Jane06]

We have a hedgie/hedgies that come about 5 times a night. From 10.30 till 4am. I watch for them (not a brilliant sleeper). Don’t know if it’s the same one each time or different ones.

We have a hedgehog house and it has been occupied all winter, and he/she is still in there. Seen him/her come out and have some cat biscuits and if I shine my torch it runs straight back into it’s house. Will it stay for a while now the weather is better or will it vanish?

[Ana]

Hello it is so nice to hear that hedgehogs have been seen more and more these day, Fantastic news !!!
For the past few years despite not living a very wildlife friendly area we do see them coming every so often into our garden. So we put fresh water and food every night for them and we also have two hedgehog houses in different parts of the garden which very happy to say “they have been used” over winter and sometimes over the summer, as they do have the tendency to move about and nest in different places at times. Although I been told that if they feel happy and safe in the one place they might decide to stay there and have their little hoglets. How exciting that you have a happy resident and how lovely to hear that you are looking after him/ her so well – finger crossed it stays there!

[Navy lark]

Every night two hogs appear, now named Zoot and 2tone. 2 tone is often out around twilight with visits through the night until early dawn . Zoot as his/ her name implies rushes in and out, the other night they met on the patio less then a foot from where i was watching Zoot kept going face to face with 2tone until he push him/ her off and then followed . Recently seen 3 on the patio all medium size .

[Jane06]

Hi Ana, it is lovely seeing hedgehogs on a regular basis. We are not in a very wildlife friendly area either, but we have a pond with frogs and tadpoles as well. We feel quite privileged. We have cats, but they never bother either the frogs or hedgehogs. We also feed the birds and have lots of different ones come and the cats don’t bother them either.

Am totally hoping our lodger stays in our garden. Zoot and 2tone good names Navy lark. They can run very quickly can’t they.

[Jane06]

Is the cat food and biscuits enough for them or should I get some hedgehog food of some sort?

[Nic]

Hi Jane 06

The cat food and biscuits should be o.k. for them (some hogs aren’t keen on changes, so probably no point complicating things). As well access to water all day every day. I imagine they may be able to drink from your pond, but I usually leave a few water sources around the garden. Large plant saucers are ideal for that.

There’s no way of telling whether the hog will stay or not. But it’s quite likely it will continue to visit even if it moves nests. Hogs do tend to move nests from time to time – which is handy for minimising problems with external parasites. But if it moves out of the hog box it will, at least, give you the opportunity to clean it out and make it ready for a new tenant, or maybe even the same tenant again.

https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/cleaning-out-boxes/

Good luck and happy hog watching!

[Jane06]

Thanks Nic. I would like to clean it out, but can’t really at the mo. I have a bowl of water out for them all the time. I have a water feature thing and he/she/them seem to prefer the water in that.

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