This month, now spring is in the air, hedgehogs will begin to emerge from hibernation. After a long period without food, they might have lost around a third of their body weight.
This is the perfect time to start putting out supplementary food and water as they will be extremely hungry.
The hedgehog’s natural diet mainly consists of earthworms, ground beetles, caterpillars, earwigs and millipedes. Next month’s hints for hedgehogs will look at ways to try and increase their natural food being available in your garden.
During cold or dry periods, these creepy-crawlies become much scarcer in gardens, so proving the right food at these times can be a life saver.
Tips for supplementary feeding:
- The only thing that should be left out for hedgehogs is meat-based wet dog or cat foods, dry cat/kitten food or specially made hedgehog food. The important thing to look for in any of the dry food is that meat is the highest ingredient, and it doesn’t contain cereals or muesli type foods.
- What NOT to give them; hedgehogs are lactose intolerant so please do not give them milk. No dried or live insects (including meal worms or calci worms), peanuts, sunflower seeds, fruit and vegetables, eggs, raw or cooked meat, bread or cakes or biscuits either.
Protect the food from other animals by using a feeding station. There are various designs available on the internet, usually made from plastic underbed storage boxes. A feeding station that the Pledgehog Project uses is made by ‘Hedgehogs R US’ and includes flaps that deter cats and rats and internal baffles to make it more difficult for cats to get in. So far, we haven’t had any unwelcome visitors. The odd field mouse or slugs have been the only creatures filmed eating the hedgehog food to date.
- Keep any food away from the vicinity of any hedgehog houses or shelters that they might use to sleep or nest in to avoid attracting potential predators.
- Use a heavy very shallow saucer to put the food in. Hedgehogs are quite clumsy and often stand on the edge of bowls and tip them over. Small terracotta plant pot saucers can be ideal.
- Provide fresh water all year round in a very shallow heavy saucer. An ideal way to do this is to use a pet water feeding station to avoid having to top up the water every day. Even if you decide not to supplementary feed, having a water station for hedgehogs is a fantastic way to help them. Adding a stone in the water that breaks the surface of the water to allow any insects that fall into the water an escape route.
Here’s a lovely insight into the lifecycle of hedgehogs to see what they do throughout the rest of the year. I hope you enjoy!
Remember if you see a hedgehog, please can you add it to the Big Hedgehog Map. If there is a regular hedgehog coming to your garden, can you please add it at least on one occasion for this year to show it’s still there. Here’s to lots of spikey visitors in 2025!
Jen Walker, Sustaining Dunbar’s Pledgehog Project Officer