Hedgehog questions

[Beastije]

HI, anyone, maybe from UK, have any tips on hedgehogs? Not the african ones, the wild ones. We have a female and five litlle spikeballs in the garden and they are up and about doing mischief whole afternoon, and they forage out and I am not sure what is normal behavior and what is not.
We provide the food for the mom to gain strength and some soft food for the little ones, just in case, and plenty of water, but dont want to interfere with their upbringing.
I also havent seen the mom for few days, but no surprise there, not like I am watching the spot 24/7 to be able to say if she is there or not. Previously I met her through the garden few times, or at dusk, but not lately.
Ofcourse mostly having issues with the "leave it alone" part of the upbringing, cause the dogs come to check them out and lie next to them sometimes, though I try to shoo them away ( but they are calm towards them), and I love to watch them, cause they are just awwwww

If you have any tips, let me know. Thanks

 

[ClownLurch]

Mrs Lurch is desperate to have hedgehogs in our garden. I wish I could help both you and her with advice.

 

[Colin_T]

bumpity bump bump

 

[Naughts]

Their territory will be over several gardens so make sure to leave a few gaps under the fences/ walls. They need a water source during dry weather. They will eat dog food/ cat food - not bread nor milk. They need shelter/ shade during the day - unkempt areas in the garden with overgrown plants and log/ stick piles are beneficial. Flowers that attract insects and fallen fruits can provide food. Try not to use chemicals, especially no slug pellets as hedgehogs eat slugs. Clear up any litter (bottles, cans, plastics) and tidy away netting that could trap/ harm the hedgehogs. Be very careful using hedge cutters/ strimmers at ground level.

It is a bad sign if hedgehogs are out in the day but maybe the hoglets just popped out for a bit and the mother was nearby? If they look busy leave them be, if they're inactive watch for a while to assess if they need taking in to be cared for. I sometimes hear my hedgehog family (sound like grunting/ coughing/ sneezing) in the day and assume that the young are feeding, but they don't come out of the bushes until night time.

edit : added essential word hedgehog in last sentence!

 

[Beastije]

Yeah so since then, we discovered the mother left them. They are like 6 weeks old or so, there is five of them and they are too small. 100-150g. We give them fresh water, we bought specialized hedgehog dry food made out of bugs, but we feed dog wet food will buy cat one soon since it has higher meat content. We have large issue feeding just the babies so our dogs don't eat it, they are killing us how creative they are at getting at the food. I feed at night, that is good and goes all to the babies, but there should be one more meal during the day since they wake up and that is a sign of hunger, but the dogs are driving us mad. We were working whole week but tomorrow we will make some feeding place dogs won't get into. I am not sure we will be able to get to adulthood all five of them but i will try. We have large wood piles and leaves and uncut grass behind the house and green fences and so, our garden should be ideal for a hedgehog and an apple orchard across a non busy road.
But still...

Btw hey, no slugs in my tomatoes.

 

[Naughts]

Do you have wildlife shelters (charities that are experts in animal care) there? Being so young it would be best if they were taken in and raised, then released back into your garden when grown (300g+).

 

[Beastije]

I am in contact with them, they think we can feed them ourselves for now. Will see though.

 

[Colin_T]

The dogs might have got the mother, which is why she hasn't come back. Cats and foxes will also eat them.

 

[Beastije]

The dogs might have got the mother, which is why she hasn't come back. Cats and foxes will also eat them.

The dogs are mine, inside and all they do is sniff the hedgehog and alert me to them. I have good dogs
But i talked w the rescue center and they said mother's leave at some point and w five young ones she was overwhelmed. Anyways, bought some live worms today and other cat food and am trying to fatten them up.
Hoping for the best

 

[Lynnzer]

A good fat based food such as suet should get results, as would peanuts. But worms are the best as that's the natural food.
You need to be careful with the dogs getting too near as I've found that hedgehogs are generally covered in fleas. If so that could explain slow growth.

 

[Colin_T]

Any updates on these little guys, did they survive?

 

[Beastije]

No idea we saw them two weeks back around 11pm and weighted one and he gained like 100g so good . But since then we haven't seen them. Food disappears sometimes and i hope they are hunting but without a night vision snap cam (for which i am looking ) hard to say. I intend to buy another pack of worms which they like but can't be fed more than once a month and will see.
The fact we no longer see them in the afternoon is good though means they don't wake up w hunger during the day