Hedgehog Ignoring Food

[Sam1404]

Hello All,
I have been offering food to the hedgehogs in my garden all year via a converted under bed storage box. They have gone mad for the food (spikes semi moist) visiting several times a night.
All the hedgehogs have gone for hibernation now, but the last week or so the one hibernating in a hedgehog box elsewhere in the garden has woken up.

I have been offering food and water as usual, but he is completely ignoring the food being offered in the under bed box, and is only foraging in the garden. Surely there isn’t enough natural food around at the moment to sustain him? (I am in the mild south east of the country). He is also only being recorded for a couple of visits a night. I’m worried this hog isn’t going to get enough food before going back into hibernation when it gets colder. I also don’t want to keep offering expensive food that is only being eaten by mice!

Any advice please would be greatly appreciated.

[Nic]

Hi Sam1404

It’s quite normal for hogs to come out of hibernation for short spells. It may be that these ‘wakings’ are, to some extent, built in to the fat reserves they lay down for hibernation. There probably is a certain amount of natural food around, but it’s very important that you leave water out 24 hours a day during the winter, as that isn’t always as easy to find. Maybe try leaving some food in the area where the hog has been foraging.

[Sam1404]

Thank you for the reply Nic and Merry Christmas. For some reason I wasn’t able to see your reply on the forum until today otherwise I would have thanked you sooner!

I have several saucers of water throughout the garden, as well as the main baths for the birds so clean water is always available for all wildlife 🙂 I have made a wildlife garden so it could be its doing its job by providing natural food anyway?

I scattered some nibbles on the lawn a couple of days ago which were all eaten so I know he got some extra food then. No hog recorded on the camera last night so it could be he has gone back to sleep already!

[Nic]

Hi Sam1404

Thanks and hope you had a good Christmas, too.

Don’t worry about not replying sooner. The Forum has been playing up a bit – messages not appearing, front page not updating, etc. I believe it’s being looked at and hopefully will be sorted out after the holiday.

Well done providing lots of water sources. It does sound odd when some places are flooding, but it isn’t always in the right place for the hogs! I have a hog not hibernating (hasn’t hibernated at all yet) and am now beginning to worry that she won’t be able to make it here through all the water lying around at the moment. But I normally see her on the lawn doing a bit of foraging, as well as coming for some supplementary food, so there must still be some natural food around.

Fingers crossed the hog there is o.k. and has resumed it’s hibernation.

[Author]

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