Tag: Hedgehog

hedgehog-feeding-station

In the wild, hedgehogs have quite a varied diet as they eat lots of creepy crawlies, called invertebrates, such as: worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, and millipedes. Hedgehogs have been known to attempt to eat wasps and bees before as their stings interestingly do not affect them, but hedgehogs will usually enjoy eating frogs, baby rodents and bird’s eggs, too – if they are lucky!

As hedgehogs are nocturnal animals, they hunt for the delicious creepy crawlies at night, which can often be found in hedgerows, undergrowth or in the soil. When hedgehogs are foraging for their dinner, they often make a loud snuffling noise as they search. Some people say this sounds similar to a pig’s grunt, which is why they are called ‘hedgehogs’.

Feeding hedgehogs in your garden

With winter fast approaching, food in the wild will soon become sparse, meaning not all hedgehogs will have enough fat stored. For this reason, you should provide food for wild hedgehogs in your garden ahead of the change in weather.

In your garden, you should try to provide a safe habitat for hedgehogs and supplement their natural diet. You can do this by providing nutritious dry and wet food that is high in protein in your garden, such as Spike’s Crunchy Dry or Spike’s Meaty Feast. This will not replace their natural diet, but instead act as a supplement or an addition.

You should also leave out a shallow bowl of fresh water every night for the hedgehogs so they can stay hydrated while on their journey. It is important that you do not leave out milk for hedgehogs, this is a common myth, as they are lactose intolerant and milk can make them quite ill.

Building a hedgehog feeding station

Putting food out in your garden is bound to attract other types of wildlife, including predators, like foxes. 

To prevent this from happening, you could create a hedgehog feeding station, which will make it much more difficult for larger animals to access and steal the food that is intended for hedgehogs. The station could be created from an upside-down plastic box with a piece of piping leading inside, where the food and the water will be safely placed.

As multiple hedgehogs could be feeding from the same station, be sure to wash the compartments thoroughly and use shallow bowls for your spiky visitors and be sure to keep these separate from those that you use yourselves or for other pets.

New research has found that British hedgehogs are now officially vulnerable to extinction! The Red List conservation report, which was conducted by The Mammal Society, has categorised hedgehogs as vulnerable and explains that our spiky friends could be at risk of dying out completely if we don’t take drastic action to prevent numbers from dropping.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) has said that the recognition of hedgehogs’ vulnerable status is an opportunity. It will raise awareness of the importance of maintaining the habitats that hedgehogs need to thrive. Here at Spike’s we know just how much everyone does to help their local hedgehogs, but we need to encourage the Government to enforce wildlife friendly practices to ensure their long-term survival.

Hedgehogs experience a lot of day to day threats. Sadly, the biggest threat to hedgehogs is losing their habitat due to changes in farming methods. We can also see the threat of pesticides used in intensive farming and gardening which can kill the creature’s need for food and can also poison them directly. Our gardens too have become dangerous places for hedgehogs as strimmer’s cut back the areas that they hibernate in which can cause serious wounds. Garden netting is also dangerous unless lifted high above the ground. Busier roads and new developments often leave no connectivity between gardens which can disrupt dispersal routes for hedgehogs and there is also an increasing number of badgers which are their main natural predator!

What you can do to help?

The good news is that the lack of cars on the road in lockdown has allowed hedgehogs to move freely which has caused experts to predict a ‘Hoglet Baby Boom’! Here are our top tips to help keep hedgehogs healthy and happy:

  1. Create a hedgehog highway in your garden! We’d recommend making a 15cm hole in your fence so that hedgehogs can pass through safely and easily on their journey to other gardens as well as yours.

 

  1. Leave out a nutritious bowl of food and remember to put out plenty of fresh water every night. You can check out our range of specialist Hedgehog Food here.

 

  1. Create a wild corner by leaving an area of your garden naturally unkempt. Hedgehogs can use the fallen leaves, and dead vegetation to build their nests and it also provides a home for insects that hedgehogs can feed on.

 

  1. Make your garden hedgehog friendly by avoiding using pesticides, hedgehogs can help and eat the bugs instead! Ensure any drains are covered as it’s easy for hedgehogs to fall in and get trapped. Although hedgehogs are good swimmers, they can also get stuck in ponds so be sure to make a little ramp out for them.

 

  1. Build a hedgehog house! Shelter is essential for a hedgehog’s survival during the winter so choose a quiet spot that is unlikely to be disturbed.

Once you have made your garden hedgehog-friendly and you do see a hedgehog, we encourage you to record your sighting in our online, which will help us track population levels of hedgehogs moving forward.

Myth: Hedgehogs hibernate all winter. Fact: Hedgehogs will venture out from time to time to top up on food or even move nests! Myth: Hedgehogs need fleas to survive. Fact: This is an old wives tale, not only do they not need fleas to survive, but not all hedgehogs even have fleas. Myth: You should leave milk out for hedgehogs. Fact: Milk can cause diarrhoea in hedgehogs, only fresh water in a shallow bowl should be left for hedgehogs to drink Myth: Hedgehogs are slow moving animals. Fact: Hedgehogs have longer legs than you would expect, and can reach a top speed of 9 km per hour. Myth: Hedgehogs all look the same. Facts: There are 16 different species of hedgehog but only one of those is native to the UK. Myth: Hedgehogs carry fruit on their back. Fact: This was believed in medieval times, but it is not true (although it would be a cool hedgehog superpower)

This week is Hedgehog Awareness Week, which means there’s lot of talk about our favourite animal, the incredible hedgehog!

Hedgehogs have always been a core part of British wildlife, and for centuries people have been fascinated by this small creature that sometimes shows up in our gardens at night. They are very cute, they eat the pesky insects that threaten your plants and they are often vulnerable, so really need people like you and me to care about them.

The local hedgehog is often misunderstood and over the years there have been a number of myths and old wives’ tales surrounding hedgehogs that shape peoples’ understanding of these animals. That is why, here at Spike’s and in partnership with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, we have created this handy infographic to bust those myths and share some interesting facts about our amazing hedgehogs.

Myth: Hedgehogs hibernate all winter. Fact: Hedgehogs will venture out from time to time to top up on food or even move nests! Myth: Hedgehogs need fleas to survive. Fact: This is an old wives tale, not only do they not need fleas to survive, but not all hedgehogs even have fleas. Myth: You should leave milk out for hedgehogs. Fact: Milk can cause diarrhoea in hedgehogs, only fresh water in a shallow bowl should be left for hedgehogs to drink Myth: Hedgehogs are slow moving animals. Fact: Hedgehogs have longer legs than you would expect, and can reach a top speed of 9 km per hour. Myth: Hedgehogs all look the same. Facts: There are 16 different species of hedgehog but only one of those is native to the UK. Myth: Hedgehogs carry fruit on their back. Fact: This was believed in medieval times, but it is not true (although it would be a cool hedgehog superpower)

 

Hedgehog numbers in the UK have plummeted by half over the past 20 years. It is important now, more than ever, for the people of Britain do their part to preserve these special animals. Here at Spike’s, we have been developing nutritional, tasty recipes for hedgehogs since the ’90s! Feed your little garden visitors with their favourite bowl of Spike’s!