Two new hedgehogs!!!!

[correll17]

How lovely, I had one, now two, hoping it’s a mummy and daddy to be. Every night they arrive for their chicken dog food, cat biscuits and meal worms.

[Nic]

Hi correll17

I am really pleased for you that you have a second hedgehog visiting. Where there are one or two, there will usually be others around, so more might turn up as well. Hoglet season has begun now, so fingers crossed for some there.

There is just one word of caution. Please go easy on the mealworms, especially if there are hoglets around. I know it may seem counter-intuitive, but it has recently been realised that mealworms do not have a good ratio of Calcium to Phosphorous and can result in calcium being leached out of the bones. This is especially worrying for hoglets, which can apparently become addicted to mealworms and not want to eat anything else. Some of the hedgehog rescues are now advising not to feed mealworms at all. It sounds as if you are feeding some other good food, so they should be alright without mealworms.

Not sure how hedgehog friendly your garden is, but most of us could make improvements in that respect. Now they are visiting, they may welcome more wild patches in the garden to find wild food (what we feed them should only ever be supplementary), make nests etc. If you haven’t already seen it, there are some tips on the following:
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/helpful-garden-features/
Even something as simple as leaving the lawn a bit longer in patches. I recently tried this, and found that whereas the hogs used to make a beeline up and down the path, now they meander across the lawn.

Good luck with your, hopefully, growing, band of hedgehogs.

[Shobud21]

Hi – I am new to the site. I think that the information concerning mealworms has come just at the right time as we have been feeding our ‘hogs with mealworm and chicken flavoured dog food for about 3 months. I will cut right back on the mealworms from today, and give mainly dog food.

Our experience with hedgehogs began about 3 months ago when my wife spotted one by our back door. We started t put food out for it, and it became a regular visitor every evening at the same time. Then a second one arrived. After much huffing from the 2 of them, we started to put 2 dishes of food out each evening, and they just got used to and tolerated each other. Now we have 3 of them – all adults – and have quickly found that 3 into 2 doesn’t go, so a third food dish has been the order of the day.

My wife and I sit out each evening wearing dark clothes on a wooden bench seat just 4 feet away from the ‘hogs, and they merrily chomp away without taking any notice of us. Hedgehog watching has now become very addictive each night and way better than TV.

[Texaskersh]

Hi Shobud21

What can I say, sounds like you are as addicted as me! I only joined the site a few days ago. Very similar circumstances, saw one, then two, and then the food and wanting to feed them. The TV doesn’t get a look in. In between 9pm and 11, it all garden Hog TV.

So nice to be able see them about and I know it happens all the time around the country, but feel blessed to be given such a show every night.

What will we do for entertainment when all the hoggies go to sleep for the winter??? Back to to crap TV!

🙂

All the best

Paul

[Author]

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