Watchful eye.
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I am pleased to report that I now have a 3 hedgehogs back in my garden. Currently two are eating out of the same dish and the other I can only describe as waiting in the wings.
I live in Linlithgow West Lothian (which can be cold) so as with previous years wasn’t expecting to spot anything until the end of April. On May 1st I spotted one and it was happy to seek out the food I’d left in a DIY feeding station.
Tonight 3 have pitched up. So pleasing to see.
My neighbours know of our visitors and we have space between our gardens – so doing everything right (we think)
I make up a feed of Spike semi moist food, a few sultanas, a few dried meal worms and some sunflower hearts. Is this a good combination? Now that I have 3 visitors should I put out two bowls? Any advice would be welcome
ThanksHi Shelagh
Really good news that you now have 3 hogs visiting. Brilliant that you have your garden linked with your neighbours – very important for the hogs, so that they can find some natural food. What we feed is only supplementary to what they can find for themselves.
Re. the feeding. You would be better off just sticking to the Spikes. Sultanas are now realised to be bad for their teeth and dried mealworms are implicated in brittle bone disease as are sunflower hearts, to a lesser extent. Hogs love dried mealworms, so may be inclined to pick them out. They are not quite so bad in very small amounts (in larger amounts the hogs may just fill themselves up with those at the expense of natural food and something better for them) but since they have very little nutritional value as well, best avoided. (You may need to reduce them gradually). Sunflower hearts are sometimes used in small numbers in proper hedgehog mixes, but where everything else is in balance. Spikes should be a balanced food for the hogs in itself, so I would save the Sultanas, mealworms and sunflower hearts for the birds – I’m sure they would appreciate them.
You may already be leaving out water as well. But I always leave water at various places in the garden every day, 24 hours a day. Just in case a dehydrated hog comes along during the day. Large plant saucers are ideal for this.
Good luck with the hogs. I hope you continue to enjoy their visits. Happy hogwatching!
Hi Nic,
Thanks for the advice….. I appreciate your quick response.
My garden is small but full of life.
I’ve taken on board your advice about the hedgehog feed. What would you advise about quantities – particularly given there are 3 hogs. 2 bowls ?
There’s plenty of fresh water as I feed birds too. The field mouse who has taken up residence under the decking takes advantage of the dropped seed from the feeders. Great fun watching all this.Thanks again
ShelaghHi Shelagh
Sounds brilliant – your garden being full of life. Good that there’s lots of water too. The birds share the water here too, but the hogs don’t seem to mind. I seem to be forever filling the saucers up after the starlings have been in them having a splash around!
Amounts of food is a bit of a difficult one – it is usually a question of seeing how it goes i.e. if they leave a lot then give them less the next day. Having said that, if your garden is anything like mine, and you feed outside at all, the birds may finish off what the hogs leave, so it isn’t always possible to tell. If you have 3 hogs visiting and they are ever there at the same time, I would leave at least 3 separate dishes spread out a bit. Most hogs don’t like sharing except when they are young. Some hogs aren’t keen on going in boxes, so I always leave at least one dish outside – under some perspex type material, to deter the visiting cats. It also has the advantage that I can see the hogs better too.
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