My tribe!
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my feeding station is always a mess.
Some of them, and have no idea why (must be a hedgehog thing) sit in the bowl with dried food, and then bend their noses down to eat the food that has spilt on the floor.
I see them scratching it out aswell, obviously routing through to get the best bits.
someone did a poo in the bowl the other night.
why would you want to sit on a bowl of food and do a poo on it?
Oh the joys of looking after hedgehogs.
Glad no-one has had a go at you, hopefully it will get read and people will take note.
So what I have found from watching the hedgehogs on the trail cams, is that they poo when they come into contact with another hedgehog. Has anyone else seen this? I assume it is some sort of defence mechanism or territorial marking thing? I think that explains why they poo in the feeding stations as they are sharing them with lots of other hogs. I lay a couple of sheets of newspaper in my plastic feeding station so I can just roll all the mess up and replace with clean sheets.
Hi Sam1404
I have long suspected that the hogs pooing may be some kind of defensive/nervous thing or possibly enabling another to get their scent. Hogs don’t have territories as such. They have ranges and different hedgehogs’ ranges overlap. Therefore, they have no need to mark their territories. Some males, in particular, will defend their personal space, wherever they happen to be at the time, but they don’t defend a territory.
I have twice had hedgehogs that didn’t hibernate, at different times, and so each was the only one around and neither of them pooed around the feeding area during their times of sole occupancy.
It isn’t natural for hedgehogs to gather in numbers as they do at feeding stations, and it is possible that is why they poo there. It’s possible they’re uneasy at having so many other hogs around. But I don’t, of course, have any proof of that, one way or the other. But interesting that you have noticed similar behaviour.
Hi all, my 2 little ones are very neat and tidy, even though they don’t want to mix with each other. The culprit is Big Benny. He was absent last night, due to the rain I guess, lots of juicy treats to eat. Last year, I notices when 2 adults were in the feeding station it could be a bit tricky turning round which ended up with one with its bottom in a dish, then they would poo in it. I think it was more nervousness than anything. It was that or the water dish got tipped up, which first got glued down, then changed for a heavy pot cat dish. So, I’m going to blame the males here! I use cardboard as a box floor cover as the feeding station is on flags, so if it freezes outside its a bit more insulated. Best wishes.
PS, Big Benny has a habit of also walking round the feeding station, after walking across to make the security light to come on. He walks around it having a good luck in through the plastic sides. The night before last he went in with one of the little ones. They both came out separately after having a good nosh.
That’s a good idea about the cardboard Annker, I will do that when it gets colder as my box is also on flags.
It’s interesting that you and Nic have seen the same behaviour. It’s amazing what we learn from watching the hogs in person or on the trail cams. It’s actually the big female here (Patches) that makes the most mess! She walks all over the food, scrapes it out and gets incredibly huffy when other hogs approach! She even biffed a poor hoglet last month. The males seem far more tolerant of feeding with youngsters.Sounds as if you have got a grumpy female there, Sam1404. Normally the females are pretty tolerant of the hoglets as well, even if they aren’t theirs. I suppose it’s possible it was hers and she was telling it off for some other reason – maybe trying to break the ‘apron strings’.
Hi all, what makes me laugh is Big Benny’s habit of getting the light to come on, then walking round to look if another hog is in! He’s so big, but then again, he may be a gentle giant! Yes, the cardboard works well, the only thing is you end up saving vast quantities of the stuff. I can’t drink much tea or coffee now, so have cordial or pop in tins, so bulk buying I save all that. Parcels, always over size actually needed, so save that. New appliances, always boxed. Breakfast cereals. We only get 1 paper a week anyway. You can usually wipe up the poo as well with kitchen towel. So unless very wet, it lasts a few days. As I’ve said before, we will be buying poo testing kits as well in a while! These wonderful animals deserve our help to keep them going, I think we all fall in love with them. I would like to thank Nic, Stef and all the other wonderful people on this site who dedicate their lives to helping these endangered animals. Best wishes.
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