My hedgehog stories

[hhfde]

Decades ago, before it was widely known that hedgehogs were lactose intolerent, it was common to offer them bread in milk.
I have photos where I was holding a dish in one hand and a hedgehog in the other, calmly accepting the unexpected food/drink.
Much more recently, in my garden, I created a ‘hedgehog cafe’ for them to visit on their night walks. I had to keep making it bigger, so I could offer space for more dishes of food and water. Usually whenever there was more than one customer, it was obvious which were male/female. 2 females would even share the same dish! I encouraged my neighbours to accept a hedgehog highway between our gardens and setup cctv to record them while I was asleep.
When I dug up a bush, that even the birds didn’t like, I turned the resulting crater into a shallow pond, because I hoped to see a hedgehog swim! I ensured that there was an easy way out, but when one was drinking at the side, and got pushed in by another, neither had any difficulty getting out.
So I have seen them swimming!
I have tried many food options, but none of the customers seemed to like the various types of “hedgehog food” that I offered.
I knew they all liked dried mealworms very much, and when hedgehogs were removed from the packets, and I read that it was similar to giving children chocolate, I offered cat food or dog food.
The interactions between males when they’re looking for females can be physical, I saw one that waited for another to exit the cafe, and then charged at it, like a football tackle!
I haven’t seen many customers this year, and no ‘circling’ around a female.
In all the years, I still haven’t seen hoglets, but I still hope.
I am hoping that the most recent regular customer managed to avoid the fox that has been passing through…
On Saturday night, I put some food with mealworms in my yard, so attract any new hedgehogs to the cafe.
At around 20:00 there was a mouse, during the night there were one or more hedgehogs, and just as it became daylight, a robin came for anything left.
D

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