General Chat

There were three at least that I fed, they started coming in and eating any bird food that had fallen off the bird table, ie. stale bread etc so I fed them more. Usually I put down chicken flavour tinned cat food but had been giving them less to encourage them to forage elsewhere while I am away.

They are perfectly safe in our garden and also visit another neighbour but she doesn't feed them, just hears them snuffling and snorting lol
Next door has a dog flap in his conservatory wall for the dogs as he often goes to his girlfriend's over night and they can then get in and out and also use it while he is at work.

I don't give them milk but the bread has nuts and seeds in it too so is good for them and also scraps of cheese and other things. I will start the feeding when I get back if I see evidence of them returning. I read on a hedgehog site that slugs and snails can give them lung disease and they die, but the slugs love to go to the plate of food so I assume they then get eaten too by the hedgehogs.

Will keep you posted when I get back and see if they are still about.
Thanks for your interest and advice. I did read up about them when I first saw them in the garden, they were like the three bears with a big one, middle sized one and a baby one!
Lizx

To keep hedgehogs safe,have you or can you get an old piece of drainpipe to put in your garden.
Also only cat food should be put out for hedgehogs.

Oh poor Liz.
I was told not to put things like bread out for hedgehogs because they fill up on the carbs,just like us,and then have no room for protein which they particularly need if they are to make it through the winter.

They are fairly easy to look after if you take in a little one for the winter but boy,do they stink!

I know how upset you feel Liz. We recently had some birds nesting in our hedge. Oh put down a trap as we also had rats. Poor bird got caught in the trap, we were really upset.

This is very sad but really at this time of year surely wild animals can find enough to eat in the wild by encouraging them into a domestic environment are you not putting them more at risk from domestic animals, hazards etc. Dont want to put a dampner on your kindness but dogs, cats and children will naturally annoy wildllife

So sorry Liz, I have been following you thread on your hedgehogs, even looked them up on google. I hope the other little one keeps away from the dogs.

Night time here the dog is in his kennel tied up and the cats indoors, just so they cannot hunt at night. Luckily mine do leave the wildlife alone as well. Pitty your neighbours did not confine their pets at night, it is a good practice.

Keep us updated after holidays how the other little one get on.

Gail

Oh poor hedgy, I thought they liked cat food rather then bread?Its annoying that dogs will be dogs, probably only doing what comes naturally.
Its better to put food in the undergrowth rather than entice them out in the open, I like to have a piece of freshly dug earth for them to scratch about for bugs in.
Having done that the fox came and pooed on it,, cant win !

Reading the hedgehog site, it says they need to weigh .5 Kg to get through hibernation, and bread and milk are no good for them, meat, peanut butter , some veg. fussy eaters !

On Saturday morning o.h. told me there was some sad news. I thought it was about the poorly blackbird that had been hanging around in the garden but he said no, no sign of it.
When he got home from work late on Friday evening, he said he heard a funny noise, sort of whoop, whoop, and when he went to the back door he couldn't hear anything else.
Neighbour told him Sat am that his dog had killed a young hedgehog during the night, o.h. said he wouldn't tell me all the details but it was a small one. I was so upset - tthere are two springer spaniels who don't get a lot of exercise or company and sleep most of the day, then are alert at night, they must have heard or smelled the little hedgehog and gone out and maybe it's prickles weren't hard enough to defend it against the dog, who is a youngish one, the older one is 12 and quiet and docile.
I had tried so hard to feed up the hedgehogs so they made it over the winter, altho I have held back on food this last week till I get home after my hols, but I was very upset.
However, a few hours ago I looked outside and there was a little hedgehog scurrying away from a small amount of food out, a slice of moistened bread and a potato so I hope that one can steer clear of the wrong garden and stay alive till I get back and can make a hedgehog house and put lots of food down till hibernation time.

Poor little hedgehog that died, I hope it didn't suffer too badly and most of the damage was done after it was dead.

Lizx