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Hedgehog poo
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Hi-
Do hedgehogs mark their territory?
One of our regular visitors to the food station has done a poo very close by.
Should we clean it away or is this a marking habit?
Thanks
Simone
Hi simbo65,
There is no evidence to support hogs being territorial in general, and that they mark territory as such, but males will patrol areas if they think females are in the area and biff other males out if they encounter them en-patrol route.
they do tend to leave lots of poo around places where they eat though and often in the food and water bowls themselves – either with or without food in them.
I’ve always concluded this as being a sign of appreciation from them.
in over wintering hogs they seem to have very personal poo patterns of behaviour and tend to use a specific site outside their sleeping area that they go back to time and again. we have also experienced quite a few hogs, bizarrely, who position themselves in their hutch and point their bottoms perfectly through the bars or netting such that the poo (and wetness) would fall outside the hutch, or stick to the bars and netting on purpose. this pattern for some of our residents seem to coincide with having cleaned them out, weighed them or given them food they didnt like. so we concluded that as being some form of protest poo!
fascinating aren’t they!
Yes, they are great!
I am becoming a bit obsessed. We only see ours on the trail cam but I am addicted to watching the footage every morning.
We will clean the poo up so that it is nice and clean for him to do it again!
Thanks for the help
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