Question about hedgehog house location

[Claire]

Hi 👋🏼 I’m new to the site so forgive me if I’m not asking these questions in the correct place! we recently have had 2 hedgehogs visit our garden (1 of which I took to the vet. He had a broken leg but sadly was too poorly to save.) The other hedgehog looked very healthy on the night cam but he/she hasn’t been back. We think because Houdini (broken legged chap) scared him/her off as he was a big fella & very strong despite his injury.
The hedgehog house I’ve set up as a feeding station (with water outside). I’ve put it under the hedge which is away from the road and quite close to the back gate and our house, although it’s very quiet in the evenings. I’m continuing to put out cat food and hedgehog biscuits every night. Wondering can I stop putting food out in late December and put straw in for a possibility of hibernation ? or should I set up a completely separate hibernation box/house in a different area of the garden? And where’s best to put it?
Also has anyone had a similar experience and how long did it take to see a returning hedgehogs when one moves on?
Many thanks.

[Tom55]

Hi Claire, I am new to the site as well. We have had Hogs in our garden regularly for a few years now, we set up a trail camera which we check every day. Usually it is one Hedgehog we call Mr Patches, but quite often another turns up too. I would not worry too much, we have found that sometimes there can be Hog activity in the garden non-stop for weeks, then suddenly nothing for a few days, but they usually return eventually. We have a couple of boxes in the garden, tried to put them in sheltered locations with the entrances away from the prevailing winds. We put fresh straw in the boxes, also sometimes a little near the feeding station. We have seen them taking this. I do not think anyone has used the boxes though, suspect Mr Patches nests under a shed at the bottom of the garden. I tend to keep putting food and water out throughout the winter months, small amounts, just in case a Hog comes out of hibernation for any reason. It is not wasted anyway, as plenty of other critters need help in the winter too. Hope your Hedgehog re-appears soon, keep putting out a little food and water in the meantime. Do you have a camera set up ?, well worth it if not.

[Nic]

Hi Claire

Welcome to the Forum! And don’t worry, you’re fine asking questions here. So sorry to hear about the poor hog with the broken leg. Very sad.

Ideally it’s best to keep residential hog boxes a bit apart from feeding boxes – not least because a female wanting to use a box to give birth in may be put off by having rowdy males meeting outside! Having said that, on lots of occasions hogs have decided to bed down for the night in feeding boxes (mostly males, seemingly after beeing caught short after a night on the tiles!). Those stays have usually only lasted a night or two. But also sometimes they decide to build hibernation nests in them, even if they don’t always use them – for hibernation, at least.

If you want a box to be used for nesting/hibernation, it’s best to leave only a small amount of material (about a handfull) inside to give them the idea and leave a good supply nearby. Most hogs seem to like to do their own interior decoration – and they are far better nest builders than us humans! Medium sized leaves and long grasses are the best and most natural nesting materials.

As Tom55 says, hogs do tend to disappear and re-appear from time to time so it’s a good idea to keep leaving food and water out in case. There isn’t really any regular time when they might return. (I sometimes think they like to keep us guesssing!)

Water also is really important to leave out all day every day even in winter when you may think there aren’t any hogs around. As Tom55 suggests, you never know when a thirsty hog might temporarily or otherwise come out of hibernation and be desperate for a drink.

Some people continue to leave some food out during the winter for the same reason. Dried food is better for that as it’s less likely to go off (or freeze) if it doesn’t get eaten immediately. Other people stop when the last hog has gone to hibernate. Although I would suggest offering food for at least 2 weeks after the last hog is seen. Sometimes more (especially young ones) appear.

Also bear in mind that some hogs decide not to hibernate at all – again, especially young ones – and during the winter a non-hibernating hog will be more reliant on the food you offer, with less natural food being around.

Good luck. I hope you get a hog or maybe even hogs again there soon.

[Claire]

Thank you Tom and Nic for your help and suggestions, really useful. Tom yes we do have a nature cam which is great although at the moment it’s just capturing giant snails and the odd mouse or moth 😀
We also get an indignant cat sat Godzilla-like on top of the feeding box trying to work out a way to get the food and a fox occasionally. I think I’m going to invest in a couple of hog homes and put them well away from the food as you said, with some straw in and nearby. We’ saw the other hog on cam briefly Friday night which is great although they didn’t venture inside the box.
Houdini (so named because when I rescued him I placed in in a cardboard box with straw food water blankets taped up in the garage till morning he chewed a hole in the box and escaped to romp around our garage all night. Found him curled up in my daughter’s body board bag asleep:D) was eating everything and rubbing his chin/face on the floor I think to scent it which may have put the other hog off . Is that possible Nic re your point about marauding males ? ;D (btw I was advised to catch him and take him to the vet by a local hog rescue .)
Anyway we have thick hedges in the front and back gardens which need to be cut back every year. I always let the guys know that do it to watch out and be careful, but would the noise of chainsaws disturb them and scare them off?

I’m thinking a couple of nesting boxes in the back garden in the little wild patch and food in the front?
Also can they smell the food from a distance ? I’m pretty sure the hogs that visit are coming in the front from the lane where there are lots of hedges.

I do leave 3 shallow bowls of water out front and back every day -rain water from the water butt in the summer and in the winter I melt the ice with warm water and put ping pong balls in it. I will definitely start leaving food out through the winter now you’ve both explained that. Thank you.

I feel I’m over thinking the positioning of both homes and feeding stations a bit but I know they are quite shy and easily frightened so doing the right thing seems important.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences with me. I’m going to try a few things.

[Author]

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