Hedgehog in my garden

[bramble]

The other evening myself and OH were in the garden when we noticed a hedgehog in the border. Since then we have seen him a couple of times drinking water from the fountain (off the ground of course) What i want to know is, what can i feed him with and should i leave milk out for him or do they prefer water?
Thanks in advance

[blossom]

We found an injured one once and the RSPCA told us to give him water and scrambled egg until they came to get him.
I think they said no milk, bread or dog/cat food, but it was a few years ago now so I may be remembering it slightly different. They sure are noisy eaters.

[smallblueplanet]

What can I feed ‘my’ garden hedgehog?
A meat based pet food is fine, the plainer the better, also a little dried hedgehog or cat food is good as it keeps the teeth sharp and clean. However, they can be very fussy and very cheap foods are not always acceptable. If you have a problem with cats stealing the food, try offering some unsweetened museli or weetabix and a handful of raisins. Alternatively a feeding station can be used. The idea is to provide something that is high enough for the hedgehog and its food to go under, but too low for a cat to reach the food.

You could try a paving slab on bricks (leave a gap between 2 of the bricks as an entrance hole) or get one of those blue plastic mushroom boxes (from supermarkets). Cut a 5” x 5” hole in one of the short sides so that when the box is upside down the hole becomes an entrance. Put the food at the far end and weigh the box down with a stone. Fresh water is the best thing to offer as a drink.

From Hedgehog link

[bramble]

Thank you both s.b.p. and blossom for the advice. I think the reason he came into our yard in the first place was my daughter wes feeding my two cats when i was on holiday and she was putting the cat food in the yard.

[voodoo veg]

I (for my sins) work at the RSPCA Emergency and Advice Line and we advise NEVER give milk, just water...give scrambled egg(as mentioned by earlier poster!!!) and any dog or cat food that is NOT fish based. They get bad runs from fish based stuff and milk gives them bad guts too.

And NEVER EVER attempt to treat them for fleas as this will kill them

[blossom]

really? I had one which had ticks and the vet TOLD ME to spray it with flea spray. It did end up dying (but i did find it out in the day time, so something was wrong).

[eskymo]

We had a hedgehog in the garden last year - it was fantastic! It would come out at the same time every day and look for food...also galavanted around at night and made lots of squawking noises to attract the females - you wouldn't think something so small to make such loud noises!

We put cat food out - the dried type [science plan I think] into my cat's den in the garden and it would come and munch on it until it was all gone...

The vat wasn't very impressed with us giving her food away to strangers. I hope the hedgehog comes back this year!

[Jaxom]

Cool. I love hedghogs and would love to find some had taken up home in my garden.
Esk what wonderful photos. Thanks for letting us see them.

[SueA]

Love the pics Eskymo, your poor cat looks quite put out at having to munch on an apple instead of her biccies! The hedgehog looks brave as well facing her! I've found they like cat biscuits, meaty cat or dog food & water & anything other than the slugs & snails they are supposed to help get rid of. I've presented tasty slugs & snails to them sometimes & they look at you like ' what's this? Where's my cooked meal?' Only seen one so far this year though.

[blackkitty]

Lovely photos eskymo. we had hedgehogs a few years ago but none since. I'm really jealous as I loved having them.

[Alice]

Thanks for sharing the pics |Eskymo. Just great. I have some of baby hedgehog in the garden. Not in computer so will try to find them and feed it in.

[bramble]

Great pics Eskymo. Have to say the hedgehog in our garden is very timid. Don't think i'm going to get a pic as he scurries away at the first sign of anyone near him. However, will keep trying.

[eskymo]

I managed to get these shots because I would place food out at the same time every day in the same place and the hedgehog just got into a regime of coming out and foraging - I think they have an amazing sense of smell, so he must have smelt the food from his hiding place.

So I was able to put the food out and position myself and so long as I lay still and didn't move, it was as if I became part of the environment. He would scurry along past me and staright to the food. He would often get a bit timid when he heard the camera shutter but got kind of preoccupied with the food and obviously stopped seeing me as a threat.

I was able to get really close and move around after a while without his running off. It was so great. Not sure if he'll be back this year. These shots were taken in September. It would be great to get hedgehogs again, I love them.

[Peter]

Someone, cannot remember who from paper earlier this week, is running a survey as Hedgehogs are though to be in a severe decline at the moment.
Have to confess I have not seen one, even as roadkill, for some time.

[SueA]

You can join the hedgehog survey on this link.hogwatch.org.uk