Hedgehog has just moved into my garden.

zef · 07-09-2013 03:44PM #1

I live in the suburbs, and I'm guessing that the hedgehog 'moved in' last Sunday night as the side gate was left open all night accidentally and she/ he must have found its way into our walled in garden.
I have not seen this hedgehog yet, but I have heard it allright, was out playing with a stargazing app the other night and could hear a 'thing' rustling about behind the shed. I had just watched 2 horror films so I didn't investigate any further, just ran inside

! Next night it was at the back door - prolly hunting worms/ slugs under an old bag of coal. The cats were going mental, I assumed it was a cat 'friend', but no, it's a hedgehog- and quite a big one by my sons account. (he's 17- not 4 with an active imagination just to clarify

)
It's living under the shed, which has bricks under it to stop the bottom getting damp. Tbh I feel a bit honoured a piece of nature has decided to stop with us.
Now I heard they have fleas & lice etc, and I put out bread , (not eaten) royal canin cat kibbles (eaten) and some milk (drank) for this crittur, but its getting cold and damp and am looking for advice on anything else I should or could be doing for this lil guy. Don't they hibernate soon? Any advice on what I should be feeding him/ her etc appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Karl Stein · 07-09-2013 03:53PM

zef wrote: »

advice on anything else I should or could be doing for this lil guy.

Leave your side gate open again and see if he wants to go home I reckon.

Story Time.

As kids we found a sick Hedgehog (lethargic and out in the open field during the day) and brought him home to a walled garden of a terraced house. We fed him and nursed him back to health and when he was healthy again he ran around the garden in circles until he'd worn a path trying to get out.

We came back one day and he was missing only to be found wedged down a drain he was so desperate to leave. We got him out and took him back to the field where we found him, released him, and he happily trundled into the undergrowth, fat and healthy, to continue where he'd left off in Hedgerowland.

angeldaisy · 07-09-2013 04:09PM

taken from http://www.dspca.ie/Hedgehogs

"The hedgehog usually eats all kinds of garden visitors, including beetles, worms, slugs and snails. If he cannot find this type of food in the countryside, he will move into gardens and eat garden pests. He can also eat good quality tinned dog or cat food and will need plenty of water. Do not give a hedgehog milk as it can upset their stomachs"

Jazbee · 07-09-2013 05:39PM

We also found one outside our house as kids, some older kids had been throwing stones and things at it and broken some of its spines/spikes(?). We brought it in and looked after it til the next day.

Brought it back to the countryside a couple of miles away to the borders of a friends house and a wood and field as where we lived was built up, not safe to let it back out of the house we felt.
Could you bring it somewhere locally?
Edit to add: if you live somewhere with open spaces near/beside I would just leave your gate open as some else suggested.

DBB · 07-09-2013 05:42PM

Hi OP,
You probably need to get an expert's help on this one, because hedgehogs have fairly specialised needs (milk is not good for them at all, neither is bread!:o), and I can absolutely vouch that you will get a huge amount of help and support from Bev Truss who runs the Hogsprickle Hedgehog Rescue: she is happy for people to call her if you can't find out what you need to know from her website:
http://thehogsprickle.weebly.com/index.html

Bev is cool, give her a buzz!

Karl Stein · 07-09-2013 05:44PM

Jazbee wrote: »

Brought it back to the countryside a couple of miles away

From my extensive qualifications on indigenous wildlife (watching TV) I believe you're supposed to release wild animals as close to where you found them as is safe.

Tropheus · 07-09-2013 05:46PM

If you have a cat or dog, be careful. Hedgehogs are usually infested with fleas.

IvySlayer · 07-09-2013 06:32PM

Tropheus wrote: »

If you have a cat or dog, be careful. Hedgehogs are usually infested with fleas.

Aren't hedgehog fleas specifically only suited for hedgehogs?

We had a few hedgehogs in our garden last winter, dog got one

boomerang · 07-09-2013 06:46PM

+1 on contacting Bev at the Hogsprickle!

If he does decide to become a permanent resident, please be sure make sure he has a means of leaving the garden if he wants to go for a ramble in neighbouring gardens. That might be as simple as a hedgehog-sized hole in the bottom of the fence. Hedgehog numbers are steeply dropping and it's really important to allow them intermingle and breed!

If he's going to stick around, don't put slug bait down in your flower beds, or he'll be poisoned. And you can give him a helping hand with some hedgehog food. Wet cat food works okay (except the fish varieties - they can't handle fish) but dried mealworms (such as we give to birds) or even hedgehog food such as Spike's would probably be much better. I've only seen Spike's on the internet - they have it at www.vetuk.co.uk in the hamster/rat/chinchilla section of the site.

Hedgehog fleas are specific to hedgehogs, so they won't infest your pets. If a hedgehog flea lands on your dog or cat, it will hop off again in preference for a friendly passing hedgehog! So I wouldn't be too worried on that score.

Jazbee · 07-09-2013 07:11PM

Charlie Rock wrote: »

From my extensive qualifications on indigenous wildlife (watching TV) I believe you're supposed to release wild animals as close to where you found them as is safe.

Probably better to have done that but as it was a built up area and we were kids we brought it to the nearest field that was not used for anything. All in the days before the Internet and good advice!

Pumpkinseeds · 07-09-2013 07:34PM

My parents had a hedgehog move into their garden a few years ago. The cats were curious about it but a bit wary of it so they left it alone. It used to happily tuck into their cat food and a big bowl of water in the garden. It had access to overgrowth and hedges and seemed happy. The cats were regularly treated for worms, mites and fleas and there were never any problems.

Dotsie~tmp · 07-09-2013 09:07PM

We have hedgehogs too now for the last few weeks. At least 3 (2 adult and 1 juvenile spotted together) maybe more. This is a back garden in Finglas and no family member can ever remember them in the garden over decades.

We feed them cat-food. You can hear them sniffling and snorting around the gardens all night.

inocybe · 07-09-2013 09:08PM

Could be coincidence, but this year is the first I've had hedgehogs in the garden, its also been the first year my cats have had fleas since we moved here. Didn't help that the spot on I used failed completely, that was an expensive mistake.
The hedgehogs are still very welcome though, I have lots of piles of branches which I will never disturb now. Rural area so there shouldn't be any need to feed them surely?

07-09-2013 11:22PM

First of all I am so jealous you have a hedgehog! We had a small family of them living in our garden when I was a child but they moved on when they'd consumed the entire slug population. The only advice I can offer is DO NOT feed them bread and milk. It's very dangerous to them and can kill them. Meaty flavoured cat foods are okay. Hedghogs can carry lice/fleas so if you have any pets make sure they are well protected.

zef · 09-09-2013 01:10AM

Sorry just back to this now, internet wonky all weekend.
Thanks for the advice, re: food- no milk etc.
I still haven't seen him properly. He can move! Is royal canin 'fit' and water ok so? He dosen't like apples anyway.
I live in an estate which is between 2 very busy roads (one being the M50) - the reason I don't let my cats out at all. Do if he were to wander off the estate - he would have to cross a busy road either direction.
Mine is not the most manicured back garden, and there were slugs etc under bits of wood/ bags of coal, so i'm guessing all this did attract him.
Do you'se think I should free him by leaving the back gate open? Or leave him the winter under the shed? I wouldn't mind if he was in the shed even. I remember in Blue Peter years ago they hibernated the lil guy in straw all winter. Awwwwwwww

the_syco · 09-09-2013 01:23AM

Gotta say; this is a lovely feel-good thread

09-09-2013 01:30AM

Personally I wouldn't leave the back gate open if there's very busy roads around.

Perhaps just leave him where he is for now - ours could climb over walls so if he wants to leave he will figure it out I reckon? Ours used to hibernate in an old half empty bag of peat moss so if he finds somewhere cosy to bed down for the winter leave him to it!

aonb · 10-09-2013 11:53AM

Make sure he wont be a target for dogs - we live in the countryside, there are always hedgehogs about - our dogs go INSANE when they catch one in the garden :mad:

Now you mention it, Ive seen quite a few hogs dead on the road lately

They have to be the cutest of our wild animals!

GS11 · 10-09-2013 11:57AM

Found one trapped in netting I had over cabbages a few years ago, we were both scared but I managed to free him, the missus gave him some cat food, he lapped it up, and then took off across the garden.

innad · 11-09-2013 11:38AM

I love hedgehogs!

We had them living in our garden when I was growing up. One time we heard this awful coughing noise coming from one of the shrubs. It was heartbreaking. So my mum made my dad put on a pair of gloves and lift the hedgehog out of the shrub. We brought him to the vet, poor mite had a chest infection. Vet gave him an injection, we kept him in a cage in the bathroom and fed him cat food for a day to make sure he was ok before releasing him back into the shrub, all better

He knew our voices as we used to eat out on the veranda all the time, never once rolled into a ball. So cute, I really wanted to keep him!

hootietootie · 12-09-2013 07:21AM

We have a few out our back, have gotten a few pics and a wee video. There are loads of trees and we have a massive woodpile, but from talking to people who used to live nearby there have been hedgehogs around the for about 30 years. Our dog has ended up on the receiving end of one!! He's a big Alaskan Malamute, he must have been checking them out again(he's well used to them) and got spiked on his head-hedgehog is fine, dog has managed to get a wee small patch of ringworm on his head(nearly all gne with treatment), he is still curious though-and it hasn't deterred the hedgehogs. We make sure we have him on lead in the garden after dark now

Hedgehog has just moved into my garden.

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