Im still new to this but still learning our spikey friends

[iloveanimals1969]

I am quite new to being a volentire takeing rescue hedge hogs into my garden only been doing it about year up to now ive had 6 rescues. Sadley I had to stop for a while because the main bush one of my hedge hog house’s was under, the council cut it right down which scarred the 2 hedge hogs I had living in my garden. Its took a while but my garden must be what the hoggies like because about a week ago I found a little hog asleep in the hog house, so im glad hoggies will be happy again. This is the 1st hoggie that has come into my garden on its own. Its dos not use the hog house to sleep in but I still put food into its house to stop cats getting to it I also put a egg on my lawn a couple of days ago and next day it was brocken open cleanly and all egg eaten up. Dos hogs like fruit such as bannanas . I have enjoyed makeing a haven for wild life a lot of my own ideas ile up load a picture of my garden some time. ive also just planted some wild strawberry plants in my garden for the hoggies and birds. By the way is there a chance birds will breake and eat any eggs I put out for hogs. Also will it help to plant plants to scare cats away, are they safe for hogs

[Gr8mums]

Hi, I only ever leave out Hedgehog food and water for the hogs. I’ve never put out an egg , not sure if that’s a good idea. I use Ark wildlife Hedgehog food, it’s like crunchy biscuits and smells very meaty .

I put the food into one of the empty hog houses too, but they also enjoy eating it in the open. But I’m lucky as the cats here aren’t really a problem. Only seen one a couple of times and it only nibbles on the food and then goes away, hopefully it’s being fed well enough at home that it’s not interested in the hog food.
Theres some wild strawberries at the bottom of my garden but I don’t think hogs eat them though . They certainly snuffle around a lot but I think it’s more bugs that they are eating .

[Nic]

Hi Iloveanimals1969

Sorry to hear the hogs were frightened away. Although, it is best for hogs to be released back where they came from, or at least as near to where they came from as possible. They get to know their local area very well and if are put somewhere else are likely to be confused and move on fairly quickly. You might be interested to read the following:
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/guidance-on-releasing-rehabilitated-hedgehogs/
Really pleased to hear that some other hogs found their way to your garden.

I am assuming that you are talking about a chicken’s egg which you put on the lawn. It is unlikely that it was the hedgehog which broke it. More likely a bird or possibly larger mammal. Hedgehogs have tiny mouths and the type of eggs they might eat are more likely from small birds. Having said that, they don’t form a very large part of their natural diet and they prefer beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, etc.

It’s great that you are trying to make your garden more wildlife friendly. Don’t forget to try to get everyone around to link their gardens with hog holes.
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/link-your-garden/
More tips for hog friendly gardens:
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/what-makes-the-ideal-garden-for-wildlife/

Hogs will occasionally eat fruit, but it comes very low down the list of their natural foods. But the birds will probably enjoy the wild strawberries and they may encourage insects, etc. Hogs will eat banana, but sugary things aren’t good for their teeth, so I wouldn’t feed banana, personally. As Gr8mums suggests, you are better off offering hog food – or alternatively cat or dog food.

Not sure whether ‘cat scaring plants’ would deter hedgehogs as well. It’s possible – hogs do rely heavily on their sense of smell. But, I have in the past tried those sorts of plants for cats and they didn’t seem to deter cats at all.

Good luck. Hope the hogs continue visiting and you enjoy watching them.

[Author]

Posts