Hi Boss Hogg
Welcome to the Forum!
Seven sounds a pretty good number to have visiting. The babies do grow incredibly fast, don’t they! I am pleased to hear that you recognise the hedgehogs naturally – I do the same – it is actually much easier than people think. The numbers may change a bit at different times of the year – for instance the boys tend to go off to hibernate earlier than the girls and return earlier, etc.
It sounds a lovely place for them there, being organic – hopefully lots of worms and beetles for them to eat as well. The only thing I would mention is to go easy on the chopped peanuts, sunflower hearts and especially mealworms. All of these have a ratio of calcium to phosphorous which means that they can be implicated in metabolic bone disease in hedgehogs. The calcium is leached from the bones causing problems with fractures, etc. Probably the nearest thing in humans is osteoporosis. They do love mealworms, but hoglets, in particular can become a bit addicted to them and not want to eat anything else. They, of course, are also more at risk from metabolic bone disease. You may need to ween the hogs off mealworms, etc. gradually, but it is worth doing – especially as you have hoglets around. You might want to have a look at
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/forums/topic/important-please-read-upsetting-a-post-from-caroline-vale-see-earlier-post/
and
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/forums/topic/what-can-i-feed-visiting-wild-hedgehogs-that-is-good-for-them/
on this forum which will tell you more about metabolic bone disease. It is something which has become more topical comparatively recently and makes it all the more important that we all improve the habitat in our gardens so the hogs can eat more natural food. Sounds like you are already well off to a good start in that respect.
Cat/dog or reputable hedgehog foods should all be fine and it is really good that you are providing plenty of water and that they are foraging in your garden as well.
If you want to see the hogs for longer, I usually leave the outside light on whilst I am feeding them and they don’t seem to mind it at all. Alternatively you could use solar garden lights. I think they may be more upset if the light goes on and off like a security light, but if it is on all the time they are feeding, they just don’t seem to take any notice of it. I normally only feed for a couple of hours each night, so just leave the light on during that time. The rest of the night, hopefully, they are off foraging or doing wild hedgehoggy things. It is much better for them to eat natural wild food than anything we can offer them.
Cameras are very useful for some things, i.e. watching different parts of the garden, etc., but I find nothing really beats watching the hogs in real time. The cameras seem to have a habit of switching off just when the interesting behaviour is starting! Or the hogs go just out of sight. Having said that I got a couple of cams this year and it is interesting to see who is coming and going at the end of the garden.
Good luck with your band of hog visitors and happy hog watching.
