Helping hedgehogs in the garden
If you’ve got a garden, hedgehogs are useful visitors. They will eat slugs, beetles, caterpillars and a variety of other insects.
To attract hedgehogs to your garden you can try providing shelter, both natural – by creating ‘wild’ areas – and man-made by placing a piece of board against a pile of bricks to form a type of bivouac or buy a purpose built hedgehog house. Hedgehog house and hedgehog food mix are both available from CJ WildBird Foods – visit www.birdfood.co.uk.
Food and fresh water at any time of the year will encourage visiting hedgehogs to return regularly. You could try leaving out food such as minced meat, fresh liver, tinned dog food (not fish-based), or even scrambled eggs.
Hedgehogs like milk but it may cause youngsters severe diarrhoea. So it’s best to give hedgehogs plain, fresh water each night in a shallow bowl. They should never be given cow’s milk.
Beware
Garden ponds
can be death traps to small animals. Make sure there is always an easy route for hedgehogs to climb out of thr water. Steps built out of house brick or wire mesh are often used. Ideally swimming pools should have shallow steps and a tight-fitting insulation cover should be used overnight.
Strimmers
should be used sparingly under hedges and in other areas of undergrowth. Hedgehogs and other animals are likely to be resting there during the day.
Drains
and similar open holes frequently trap unwary hedgehogs and they can starve if they are not rescued. Keep all drain covers in good condition and cover any open holes.
Litter
is a real hazard. Hedgehogs frequently get their heads stuck in tins, plastic binders from drinks cans or discarded yogurt pots. Make sure you dispose of your rubbish safely.
Nets
particularly those used for tennis, football or cricket, must be furled well above the ground when not in use. Hedgehogs often get entangled and die of starvation. Fruit nets are a similar source of danger but can be kept taut to stop animals getting entangled.
Slug pellets
can poison hedgehogs and should only be used as a last resort. Try using other methods such as beer traps, or sprinkling fine sand or ground up shells around the plants you need to protect. Rings made of cut down plastic drinks bottles can offer protection to individual plants and aluminium sulphate-based products can be used over wider areas.
If all else fails and you have to use pellets, place them under a slate which is inaccessible to hedgehogs.
Hedgehogs hibernate
between November and mid-March but they can sometimes be seen out and about in winter, when the weather has been mild. Try to keep aside a hedgehog-friendly area of garden, leaving welcome heaps of leaves and brushwood. If you have to light a bonfire, always make sure there are no animals sheltering in the pile.
Caring for autumn orphams
Hedgehogs born late in the season will not have sufficient fat reserves to survive hibernation. Young orphans found weighing less than 500 gms (1.1 lb) at the end of the autumn will need to put on weight to see them through the winter or, if left, will probably die.
Orphans found weighing under 500 gms after mid October can be housed indoors and fed two heaped tablespoons of food daily including small amounts of crushed dog biscuits to provide bulk and roughage, to put on weight before being released to hibernate.
Hedgehog temporary home
On reaching a weight of 550 and 680 gms (1.2 – 1.5 lb) the young hedgehog, if active and whilst the weather is still relatively mild, can be released at night back to the area where it was found. If an alternative release site is required, select an area where there are invertebrates, no potential hazards and signs of other hedgehogs being active in the local area. Continue to provide food and a shelter with nesting material to help the hedgehog build a winter nest.