Help to stop cats getting in the Hedgehog box please?
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Hi I
m new to the group and have been reading this thread specifically because we also have a cat problem. I made this hedgehog house in 2016 and its had many habitants until we have a ferule cat/kitten that loves it, it eats anything we put in it for our hedgehogs, so I made the door smaller and eventually I am now reduced to 3" high and 3.75" wide. The bloody cat still gets in, so Ive added a 2ft long tunnel the length of the house with a 90 degree turn at the end, that didnt stop it! So now Ive added two blocks in the entrance tunnel staggered which reduces the internals of the tunnel to 4 x 4 but it still has to squeeze through the 3 x 3.75. I have also added some more dividers in to the house the initial part was the feeding area, but now Ive moved it to the back. If this doesnt work I am stumped.I hope the video comes out OK
Here is the pesky cat getting through a 3″ high x 3.75″ wide opening! https://youtu.be/z6Mnaoz0M08
Hi Hogs-R-Us
Welcome to the Forum.
Ah, the perennial problem of cats! It looks to me as if lowering the height of the entrance tunnel, or part of it might help. You could try putting a brick or a row of bricks (or offcuts of wood) along the tunnel, but maybe not too close to the actual door or the hogs might not be able to get in either! Might be worth a try, but usually a bit of trial and error is required to get it just right. The theory is that it’s hard for cats to turn at the same time as they are flattening themselves to squeeze through something low. Easier for hogs with their shorter length. Also, cats can get through a small short space quite easily, but longer is more difficult.
Good luck.
HI, I am new to this forum but we have had hogs regularly in our garden for at least the past 5 years.
We also have plenty of neighborhood cats who always stole the hog food, no matter what we did to our home made storage box feeding station to keep them out.
3 years ago, in desperation I purchased a ready made hog box from Everything Wildlife, not trying to promote this company btw, but the internal layout was so good that it has stopped our local cats from the word go. No more stolen food for the past three years and we know our hogs, we have 2-3 juveniles coming in nightly at present, get to eat as much as they need in order to bulk up.
If you do a Google search for Everything Wildlife Hedgehog Feeder and House you will see it there, I believe it is also available at Amazon.Hi Ollyowl
Welcome to the Forum.
If I was looking at the right one, I have a hog house exactly like it and despite reducing the size of the entrance, at least one of the cats round here can still get in. A friend made another one for me – same dimensions but smaller entrance – with an extra corridor inside (so 2 bends past the entrance) and a cat could still get in eat the food and get back out again. So you are lucky! The only thing that has stopped them is putting bricks in to reduce the height of the tunnel. The only problem is some hogs don’t like going into boxes to eat!
But I do think that the location of the tunnel on those hog houses are the best. Some have the tunnel going straight on from the entrance, which would be really easy for cats to get in.
Good to hear about the youngsters. Fingers crossed for them. Hogs, especially hoglets, sometimes decide not to hibernate even if they are big enough to. But if that happens just keep offering food and water.
Good luck and happy hog watching!
Hi Hogs-R-Us
Wow that’s some hog house you’ve got there, it’s like a maze! Does the cat actually make it all the way to where the food is?!In my experience if a hedgehog can get through the entrance then a cat can as they can squeeze into really small spaces so reducing the entrance size is not enough. You already appear to have made it difficult for the cat by forcing it to go through the different compartments but if it’s getting the food then it’s obviously not enough. I would try what Nick says or what I found worked was to just block the entrance with a really tight turn that a hedgehog can make but a cat can’t because it’s spine is much longer.
I’ve always kept a separate hog house and feeding station so just out of interest when people put food in the hog house, when do you top it up and how do you know if you’re disturbing a sleeping/hibernating hog?
I tried many different things but finally found this worked…
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