Hedgehogs

Hedgehog Facts

For many years the European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) was a familiar inhabitant of woodlands, parks, gardens, cemeteries, railway embankments and waste ground in the UK. However, in recent times their numbers have crashed – from around 36 million in the 1950s to less than a million today. These nocturnal animals are now a rare sight, often only spotted out in the daylight when they are in distress or unwell.

Suburban gardens, however, can provide the hedgehog with many opportunities for foraging, breeding and hibernating. They may be found under compost heaps, under log piles, behind sheds and below hedges as their name suggests.  You can also provide a safe haven for hedgehogs by purchasing one of our hedgehog homes. Wildlife friendly gardens are excellent sources of food for hedgehogs, as they are likely to have healthier invertebrate populations.

You can make your garden even more valuable if it’s interconnected to a neighbour’s garden, via holes in the bottom of a garden fence, to make a good size hedgehog territory. They like to roam up to 2km a night and male hedgehogs can cover up to 3km in one night in their search of a mate!

What do hedgehogs eat?

Hedgehogs are very much the gardener’s friend, often eating invertebrates some gardeners would rather see less of... scientific studies have suggested that beetles are their favourite meal. They also eat caterpillars, earthworms, earwigs, slugs, snails, fly larvae, beetle larvae, millipedes, spiders and occasionally bees, wasps, ants and woodlice. It's worth noting that slugs and snails can harbour parasites like Lungworm that can infect hedgehogs who eat them and this is a common condition treated by rescues when a sick hog is brought to them.

If you would like to help hedgehogs you can buy specially formulated hedgehog food.  However, if you don’t want to buy anything special you may put out a saucer of meat-based dog or cat food as a welcome supplement to a hedgehog’s normal diet of invertebrates. You can also feed meat-based kibble/biscuits as these are also good for the teeth. Even if you don’t feed your hedgehogs, please always make sure there is a shallow dish of water or other water source, especially during the summer months.

It is a good idea to place the food in a feeding station to stop cats and dogs from stealing the food and to keep the hedgehog safe from predators whilst eating. A feeding station should have a tunnel entrance or maze design to prevent badgers or dogs attacking the hedgehog and a liftable lid to allow you to put in dishes of water and food.  You can either make your own or buy one of ours. Our Hogilo House acts as a great feeding station during the summer, and a hibernation station during the winter.

PLEASE FEED HEDGEHOGS IN DRY WEATHER – OFFERING MEATY PET FOOD AND FRESH WATER CAN BE A LIFESAVER

Important Never give cows milk to a hedgehog as they cannot digest the lactose.

 

When Do Hedgehogs Hibernate?

Hedgehogs usually go into hibernation when the temperature drops and food is scarce, usually around October/November but sometimes as late December if the weather is particularly mild.

Favourite sites that hedgehogs use for hibernation are under hedges, in piles of brushwood, inside compost heaps or in old rabbit burrows and underneath timber buildings and sheds.  Hedgehog nests are generally constructed from old dry leaves, grass and other vegetation and can be up to 50cm thick. Hedgehogs will also readily use man-made hedgehog houses, you can either make these yourself or buy one of ours.

Hedgehogs do wake up throughout their hibernation, generally because of a disturbance or due to expectantly hot weather, but they are likely to move home at least once during hibernation though. We don't really know why! 

If there is enough food and the air temperature is not too low, hedgehogs may not hibernate at all. Hibernation generally ends when the temperature starts to rise, usually around mid March to early April but as milder winters become more frequent, climate change is also having an impact on hedgehogs.

 

When to Help a Hedgehog?

If you see an injured hedgehog out in the day or struggling to walk properly it needs urgent help.  Use gloves to lift it and put it in a high-sided cardboard box with a towel or fleece in the bottom and put the box in warm and quiet place.

Call British Hedgehog Preservation Society Helpline on 01584 890 801 or your local Hedgehog Rescue Centre for advice.

Hedgehogs that need help are:

Orphaned Hoglets

Hoglets may be orphaned if their mother is killed or injured.  This can happen in many ways though mostly through dogs attacks on the nest or the mother being killed by cars or in garden accidents such as with strimmers.  If you find an orphaned hoglet it can make a terribly distressing noise. A mother hedgehog will occasionally move her hoglets in daylight away from danger, but if she is not nearby and hoglets are seen in daytime for a prolonged time or in distress then it is time to act and call for help and advice on rescue.

 

Sick Hedgehogs

If a hedgehog is seen out in the daytime, this is often a bad sign.  Check to see if the hedgehog shows obvious signs of injury or is wobbly or unsteady on its feet.  Common problems are entrapment in netting or rubbish, poisoning by slug pellets and open wounds caused by bites, dogs, garden strimmers or burns.  Other symptoms may include breathing difficulties or being surrounded by flies.  This is time to act to save the hedgehog.

However, if the hedgehog is female and uninjured and seen out in the summer please leave her be as she may be a nursing mother.  Similarly large, uninjured hedgehogs that are seen in winter may have awoken temporarily from hibernation and should be left alone.  Uninjured hedgehogs in immediate danger e.g. in a road may be moved a short distance out of harms way using gloves.

 

Autumn Juveniles

Some hedgehogs may have late or second litters, this means that there may be under-weight youngsters that do not have sufficient body weight to survive hibernation when the temperature falls.  If you regularly feed your hedgehogs you will aware that you have small youngsters about, so you can monitor them.  Use a kitchen scales to weigh any small hedgehogs as any that are under 600g are unlikely to survive into November/December.  This is the time to contact your local hedgehog rescue who can feed and keep the under-weight youngster awake using heat mats and build them up to a suitable weight for spring time release.

Useful Contacts and Further Reading

 

Hedgehog Street - Become a local Hedgehog Champion

Wildlife Online - Excellent resource for Hedgehog info

British Hedgehog Preservation Society – Charity founded in 1982 and still helping hedgehogs

People's Trust for Endangered Species - PTES Hedgehog campaign