Hello. I’m new.

[HeatherG]

I came across a hedgehog in my drive last year. I was taking my dog out for his final wee-wee of the night. Thankfully, he was on his lead but it still didn’t curl up – it wasn’t threatened as I kept Percy away from it. I realised that it was probably hungry.

I quickly did some basic research, putting out dried cat food for it – that same evening. It was all I had that was suitable. I decided to do things properly. I bought a large plastic box and cut a square hole in it (sellotaping around the cut area to dull the edges) to make a feeding station. Each evening – in goes a little bowl containing 2 x Purina Gourmet Chicken Pate (tinned cat food), another little bowl of water and some dried Hedgehog food (Spike’s Dinner) in a little dish.

I’m pleased to say that each morning, the water bowl has soil and detritus in it (good, it’s drinking!), the dried food has been nibbled at and the wet food has gone. It pleases me that I have one dog, four cats and a hedgehog to look after.

I shall be moving home soon and intend to take the hog with me. I know that the new owners will not look after it. Of that I’m sure.

[Nic]

Hi HeatherG

Welcome to the Forum!

The feeding all sounds brilliant. The only thing I would have suggested is to also provide a source of water outside the feeding station. There is always a risk that they might just have spilt it inside. I usually use large plant saucers dotted around the garden.

However, it would be wrong and possibly not even legal to take a hedgehog with you to your new house. Whilst I understand your feelings, hedgehogs are wild animals. It’s possible that they visit other gardens in the vicinity and other people may consider the same hedgehog to be ‘their’ hedgehog and be very upset if it disappears. In fact hedgehogs don’t belong to anyone or to everyone, however you like to look at it. I prefer to think of them belonging to themselves.

Hedgehogs get to know their home range very well – including sounds and smells, and where is safe. They know the places to go to get food, and the best places to find natural food, build nests, etc. Also that there are other hedgehogs around. If you picked up a hog and put it down somewhere else, it would be like suddenly moving someone to a foreign land where they didn’t know the language. And you cannot keep it in captivity. I repeat – they are wild animals – not pets. However much we may like to think differently, their home range, or surroundings, are far more important to them than we are.

I completely understand how attached we can all become to our prickly visitors. But please don’t think any more about taking the hedgehog with you. For the sake of the hedgehog, you must leave it where it is. Alternatively, try to make your new garden as wildlife friendly as possible to try to encourage a hedgehog from that neighbourhood to visit. For your own peace of mind, you could also, before you go, try to find out whether there are other hedgehog friendly people in the area – neighbours, etc. – bearing in mind that hogs can travel up to 2 miles a night.

Good luck with your move. I hope some hedgehogs come to visit in your new home.

[Alcuza]

Hi Heather
I thought I had replied to your post yesterday but it didn’t seem to be sent. I hoped someone like Nic would reply as well because I was very concerned about you moving the hog out of its current territory. You are helping it a lot by feeding it, but the food you give is only a supplement to its natural food and it will be eating in a much wider area than just your garden. Take your feeding station when you move and you may be able to support a new hog there. When releasing previously sick hogs back out to the wild they are normally released where they were found. So as already advised please leave your hog in the area that it knows best.

[stef]

Do not move this hedgehog. It is illegal to take a wild animal out of the wild for your own purposes
You may well be signing it’s death warrant by taking it to a completely new area, where it doesn’t know the places to find food, dangers in the area or local illnesses.
No matter how good your intentions, you will be doing more harm than good. Your hog will not stay with you if you try to move it but be disorientated
Do you even know if there are other hogs in the area – if not there will be a reason why!

[Author]

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