Hedgehogs

First issue May 1997

For a printable (PDF) version click here

The hedgehog is widespread across western Europe, except in the most northerly parts where the winters are too harsh. It used to be abundant but has suffered a drastic decline in many parts of Europe over recent decades. The main causes are road deaths, environmental pollution and shortage of hibernation sites.

Our 1995 members' survey indicated that hedgehogs are declining locally and this is reason enough for us to try to help them. But there is also another reason - the hedgehog is one of the gardener's best friends, eating large numbers of garden pests like slugs.

Gardeners can help themselves and hedgehogs by:

• Avoiding use of poisons in the garden - slug pellets may poison hedgehogs directly and they will also accumulate poisons in their tissues if they eat poisoned pests.
• Providing artificial hibernation sites.
• Feeding hedgehogs, especially in autumn when they are fattening up for their winter sleep.

Below we explain in more detail how you can help.

Hedgehog Facts

Hedgehogs are relations of moles and shrews. Slugs and snails form a major part of their diet, and they also eat cutworms, those infuriating creatures that chew through the stems of newly planted seedlings. They eat aphids on those plants that they can reach, and , given the chance, will also eat birds' eggs and young, but are unlikely to do significant damage to birds in a garden.

They are nocturnal creatures and most likely to be noticed in the spring and early summer when they go through a noisy courtship performance involving much hissing, snorting and grunting. The male circles the female sometimes for hours before mating takes place: perhaps there is an understandable need for caution considering the prickles.

After a gestation period of from five to six weeks the female produces a litter averaging four or five but sometimes as many as ten. She may have two litters in a year, the second sometimes very late in the summer. The young leave the nest after three weeks and thereafter lead an independent life. They mature within a year and may live as long as ten years.

Hedgehogs are agile creatures and can climb rough walls and chain link fencing with ease, but a smooth vertical surface no more than 400mm high will defeat them. They range quite widely: males over as much as 40 hectares, sometimes travelling several miles in a night; females up to 12 hectares.

Hibernation

Hedgehogs hiberate from autumn through to early spring, usually emerging in March. Given the option they usually use hollw trees or other places that stay dry, like beneath the floor of a garden shed. If you have a shed that might serve, make an opening about 10cm high by 7.5cm wide to let them in, but watch out that rats don't take advantage instead.

They sometimes choose bonfires, so investigate carefully before lighting on in autumn. In gardens without natural sites hedgehogs will often use nestboxes for hibernation and sometimes for making a nest and rearing young as well: see below for details.

Caring for hedgehogs

Hedgehogs are mainly nocturnal, so if you find one wandering round in daylight it is likely to be sick or wounded. One found in early autumn may be a youngster born too late to fatten itself up for hibernation. In that case it may need to be looked after all through the winter for release in spring. As a rule of thumb, if a hedgehog weighs less than 450 grams in November it is unlikely to make it through the winter without help.

Hedgehogs are relatively easy to rehabilitate. Keep them at normal room temperature in a large box or cage with plenty of straw in a well-ventilated room, feeding them tinned dog or cat food, and if you can find it, natural food such as slugs.Contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, Knowbury House, Knowbury, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 3LQ for further help.

It is normal for hogs to have large numbers of parasites, both ticks and fleas. In fact is is said that parasites leaving a dead hedgehog look like an army retreating! These are mostly specific to the hedgehog, but they can be transmitted temporarily to dogs or people, so it is best not to handle hedgehogs more than necessary, and they certainly should not be treated as pets!

Feeding

You can feed hedgehogs all the way throgh their waking period if you wish. As soon as they learn that free food is available they will turn up regularly, bringing their young along with them when old enough. They especially need the supplement in early autumn to help them build up fat for the long winter sleep.

They are carnivorous by preference, so tinned cat or dof food is ideal, and bacon rinds are a particular favourite. They also readily take milk or bread and milk, but milk can cause stomach upsets, so if you do provide it use low-fat milk or water it down.

If you suspect the local cats are stealing the hedgehogs' food put covers on the containers. Having discovered that food is available they will keep coming back and soon learn to flip off the covers. You can be pretty sure that hedgehogs have had food if containers are overturned, because they often look underneath them for slugs and insects.

Design for a Hedgehog House

This design for a hedgehog house consists of a box with internal dimensions about 300mm by 400mm, with an entrance tunnel 100mm high by 75mm wide. This is small enough to exclude foxes and deter cats. The whole thing can be made of 18mm softwood or board, or just make a box and use two rows of bricks with a board on top as an entrance.

Ventilation is important to keep the box dry, hence the pipe. It should slope slightly down to the outside so that the condensation runs out. Wrap wire mesh around the end inside the box to prevent the hedgehog from blocking it as it packs the box with straw bedding.

Place the box in a secluded part of the garden in late summer. Leave hay in a dry spot nearby and it may be used as bedding: wisps of hay in the entrance tunnel are a good sign that the box has been occupied.

The box may be used in summer as well for shelter and to raise young. You can check if it is used by putting tit-bits like bacon rind well inside the entrance and where birds can't get them, and see if they disappear. When you are sure it is empty, uncover it and clear out the old bedding. Wear gardening gloves to avoid getting bitten by hedgehog fleas.