Looking for advise on my hedgehog house and feeding station.
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Hi
I am new to the group and don’t have much experience with hedgehogs.I have recently started feeding some hedgehogs and placed a house in the garden. Both the feeding station and the hedgehog house are at the side of the house they are quite close to each other. We currently have a hedgehog sleeping in the house through the day. I am just a bit concerned that all he or she does is come out to eat and drink and then return to the house. This might mean he/she isn’t getting a lot of exercise? Plus i have put hay in the Hedgehog house as bedding the hedgehog staying there at the moment doesn’t seem to have a problem with hay but might this bedding material not be suitable?
Hi Ado
Welcome to the Forum!
In general, it’s best, if possible, if the hog house isn’t too close to the feeding station. That’s mainly because the feeding station could potentially attract predators, as well as rowdy behaviour from some of the male hogs, which wouldn’t be ideal if, say, a female decided to have her birthing nest there.
But you can’t move it at the moment, if a hog is in residence – but when it vacates (by which I mean completely vacates, not just out for the night) you could clean out the box and then, if you have the space, move it a bit further away. Hogs using a box just for sleeping don’t really need bedding at this time of year, although they may take small amounts in. In general with hog houses, it’s best to only put a handful of nesting material in the hog house – to give the hogs the idea – and leave more material in the general vicinity. Most hogs prefer to do their interior decorations themselves. Hay is ok, although hogs natural nest building material are medium sized leaves, long grasses, etc. But they will quite happily use hay if that is the nearest material available.
The hog may be going further afield than you realise. If you have a camera there, there is always a small gap between clips when hogs are very good at sneaking past. They can be pretty speedy when they want to be! But we do sometimes hear about hogs which apparently don’t seem to venture far. It’s possible that older hogs may become a bit lazier. But hopefully the hog will eventually move on so that you can move the hog house.
Good luck and happy hog watching!
p.s. Hopefully you are providing water already, but in case not, water is vitally important – all day, every day. You never know when a thirsty hog may venture out, even during the day. Especially in this hot weather. Wide but shallow plant saucers are ideal. At least some water source left in the shade is a good idea.
Hi Nic
Thank you very much for the info. Yes I do leave water out I clean the bowl and put fresh water in morning and night. I also put food out consisting of a bowl of caned hedgehog food (about a third of a can) plus a bowl of crunchie hedgehog food, a small amount of bakers complete dried dog food, a small amount of go cat, a small amount of dried meal worms, and a hand full of mixed nuts cut up or crushed they really seem to enjoy the nuts. Photos don’t seem to be allowed on here if the were I could have posted a couple to show you the set up I have at the moment.
Also a funny thing happened the other night, I also feed a family of foxes out the front of the house I have been doing this for around two years. Eating at one of the plates there were three foxes two cubs and one adult fox and a hedgehog, the hedgehopped didn’t seem at all bothered with the foxes nor the foxes with the hedgehog though I did go out and pick the hedgehog up and carefully carried him round the back of the house to were the hedgehog food and water is. I’m not sure if I did the right thing but he didn’t seem to mind.
Hi, A few tips I would like to share about hog feeding and water stations. I have recently constructed a new clear feeding station so I can record the hogs nightly visits on my trail cam. I have made it from an upturned storage box, cut an entrance way and taped around the edge with copper tape to deter the slugs, I also drilled holes around the base rim so I can peg it to the ground to deter cats and foxes fron getting access and eating the food. Recently a fox tried his hardest to access the food but soon gave up. My second tip, use a water despenser designed for chickens, I put this in a shady spot and the hogs always have access to a fresh supply of water. Hope these tips are of help and Happy Hog watching.
Hi
I recently saw a hedgehog scamper down my side alley of the house. I spoke to one of my neighbors who said she has one visit her garden. I then did an Internet search to find out more about them, as one came to my back door. So far so good, I made a Feeding Box and bought a House. After a couple of nights sitting in the garden, I spotted one smallish Hog feeding…(I will invest in a trail camera) Yeah brilliant! But now for the last couple of nights I spotted 2 Hedgehogs, one quite big taking up all the room and eating the food, the other sat outside and couldn’t get in. I went back indoors to get a small plate of food but leaving it near the box, the hedgehog scampered off. My question is how do I make sure they all get some food (I now have 3 visiting coming from 2 different fence holes).Hi Ado,
Love the menu at your place – can I book a table? 🙂
However, just a word of caution. Feeding hedgehogs mealworms, peanuts is not the best for them. They cause metabolic bone disease (weakened teeth, deformed, softened bones leading to fractures.)
Stick with the hedgehog/cat/dog food for healthy hogs.
And how amazing to have foxes and hedgehogs feeding together. Enjoy your wildlife visitors!Hello ACW269,
How wonderful to have hedgehogs visiting you 🙂
I would continue to put food out in your feeding station but maybe also scatter some suitable dry hedgehog/kitten/puppy food around the garden? Hedgehogs are short sighted but have a good sense of smell. They will happily rummage about in the garden chomping on whatever goodies they find.
As always see Nic’s excellent advice re: making your garden/outside space more wildlife friendly, thereby giving the hogs a natural source of food.
Thank you for being so kind and considerate to your nocturnal visitors. I am suffering from closed mind neighbours and lack of hedgehogs at the moment, so well done you!Hi Claudehog,
I usually put water out for hedgehogs and also birds in a wide shallow bowl but it soon gets drunk/evaporates in hot weather. Really like the idea of a chicken water feeder to keep the water fresher and available for longer.
However, as a money saver and because we are living in times of austerity/ household cut backs I looked at home made ones on a certain website (you know the one YT!) A good way to recycle plastic and provide support to garden wildlife.
Thank you for the idea 🙂I agree re. mealworms and nuts not being a good idea for hogs – for the reasons Celeste gave – caused by an imbalance of phosphorous and calcium in those foods. They aren’t necessary, as supplementary feeding is treat enough for the hogs. Even if only a small amount of mealworms are offered, some hogs may just pick out, i.e. mealworms to eat and by going to several different people who feed them (potentially to birds but left available for the hogs) and end up with too much. So it’s best not to offer them at all and stick to the cat/dog/meaty hog food and/or cat/kitten biscuits.
However, not so keen on hogs and foxes being fed together. Foxes are predators and some will eat hogs. So I can understand your concern, Ado. If they are fed side by side the hogs are very vulnerable as the foxes who eat hogs apparently wait until they unroll and then pounce. If the hog is eating it will already be unrolled. But also, young foxes, in particular, will apparently ‘play’ with hogs and can nip off their back legs. So what with one thing and another it’s best not to encourage the hogs to become too trusting of foxes. Feed boxes for the hogs which the foxes can’t access are probably a good idea.
I’ve got what I think was a young borderline hog some years ago that seems to return . At weigh in some years ago it was circa 300g, then a few months later I managed to weight it at circa 400 g. This year it frequents a few gardens close bu and I’d suspect it spends its days at the bottom of my garden, where I’ve put up a second fence as the first fence is overgrown with trees as a security feature. The space between fences is a mixture of old garden compost ( leafmould/grass cuttings etc). There is a good gap under the fence( made a lot bigger by my JRT/X Cairn terrier). which I suspect Hog uses to get into my garden.
My feeding station is an broken poundland plant trough ,with two 4 inch holes cut in each end. But I notice that every morning the trough has moved. is it too small for Hog I wonder, as I’ve a photo ( from phone, so Hog is not camera shy)and Hog looks a tad small for the hole in the trough.Hi Dave024
A hog should be able to get through a 4inch square hole, but not if the thing the hole is in is too light and could move. I’m not sure what a poundland plant trough is like, but if it’s what I’m imagining, it would probably be too light and as the hog tried to squeeze in, the trough would move – which it sounds as if you are finding. Is it strong enough to, say, put bricks on top of it, which might make it harder to move? If it couldn’t move, the hog might find it easier to get in.
Some people use those see through plastic storage boxes, so that they can see the hog inside whilst it’s eating/drinking. But they would probably also need to be fixed in place somehow.
Good luck. I hope you find some solution which is safe and suits the hog. Happy hog watching!
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