The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: waterbuffalofarmer on May 04, 2016, 01:08:51 pm
-
As part of the hedgehog awareness week everyone is being asked to keep a watchful eye out for them. Has anyone seen any at all?
http://www.preloved.co.uk/blog/permalink/1008/hedgehog-awareness-week.html (http://www.preloved.co.uk/blog/permalink/1008/hedgehog-awareness-week.html)
-
Thank you for mentioning this Wbf.
We help Howey Hedgehog Rescue, based in Howey, Mid Wales. We are a release site and have over wintered hogs for them.
Managed to get 3 other neighbours involved as well last year. So our scattered hamlet has had a hoggie boost in population numbers!
Take a look at their FB page .... Sorry can't do links. :dunce:
-
Often see one crossing our lane after dark. Have seen it recently.
-
Thank you for mentioning this Wbf.
We help Howey Hedgehog Rescue, based in Howey, Mid Wales. We are a release site and have over wintered hogs for them.
Managed to get 3 other neighbours involved as well last year. So our scattered hamlet has had a hoggie boost in population numbers!
Take a look at their FB page .... Sorry can't do links. :dunce:
Interesting will take a look when i have some time :) How can I make my garden more habitable for them? Also I was talking to a hedgehog rescue centre in England? and the were saying that you must never feed slugs or snails to them as they are not good for them, is this true?
-
Hedgehogs do eat slugs and snails but only if they are very hungry. They carry lungworm which can kill hogs so are not at all good for them. They make up about 5% of their natural diet but are not their first choice!
Hogs eat insects and bugs so like gardens with lots of shrubs and plants that attract insects. A general wildlife garden, I suppose, or cottage type garden. Also areas left a bit wild and not too tidy .... Old log piles, nettles, wild flowers, long grass etc.
No slug pellets or rat poison that is accessible.
Ponds should have ramps or shallow edges so that hogs can get out.
Ramps in cattle grids .... They often get stuck down there and starve to death if not found and rescued.
Garden netting is very dangerous. They get tangled in it and die there or from infected wounds as they try to escape.
Strimmers cause horrific injuries. Check before you strim.
In fact, people say that sheep look for ways to die, but hedgehogs seem to be the ones with a death wish!
-
Wet or soaked dry dog food is fine. Making sure they can enter and exit your ground if you've fences or walls is essential. Put out a shallow bowl of water in dry weather. Leave big piles of sturdy logs and branches if you've room as these are good for nests and hibernation. Checking any piles of brushwood or leaves before you light a bonfire is essential. We have quite a few around the farm buildings and Mama sometimes moves the hoglets one by one in her mouth to live under the pallets that support the haybales in the shed. Watch out for droppings, which are generally quite small and dark, often with lots of beetle wings embedded in them. A hedgehog out and about in daylight hours may be a Mama with a hungry family, or may be unwell or injured. Observe before picking up as if you "help" by preventing Mama returning to the hoglets they will die. If you hear your dogs making a big racket always investigate as they can injure a hog even if they can't unroll it and eat it like a badger does.