No hogs this year? :(

[kittylion]

Last October I posted about the three juveniles I had in my garden. I was so excited to see them and fed them for a couple of weeks until someone on here told me to weigh them. I then learned that they were far too small to survive the winter in the wild and they were taken in by the local rescue centre.

I asked the rescue lady if I would be able to have one of them back this year, but she didn’t seem keen and said that the mother would still be around in any case. Anyway, this year I have obtained a lovely hedgehog house and feeding station – but to date, no hogs. I know it’s unreasonable of me, but I am SO disappointed. Someone told me that a few months ago they saw a dead hog on the grass verge nearby, so I am wondering if that was the mother from last year. 🙁

I am now wondering what to do. I mean obviously the house will stay in place, but should I keep putting food out in the hope I may attract some spiky little visitors, or would I just be feeding other animals (possibly rats – erk!)

Any advice please?

[Nic]

Hi Kittylion,

That is so sad. I don’t know why they wouldn’t let you have one of the ones you rescued back – they usually do. And I’m sorry to hear about the dead hedgehog. I can see why you are disappointed, especially when there is a lovely des res waiting for them.

The only consolation is that if there was one (and last year obviously two!) adult hedgehog(s) around it is quite likely that there will be other ones. I would look out for hedgehog poos in your garden. (if they have been eating proper wild food, they are normally very dark, almost black, often with shiny beetle wings visible). I don’t know how wildlife friendly your garden is, but most of us can improve things from a hog viewpoint. I know I can. So I would try to improve the hog friendliness, so that they think it is a really nice place to visit anyway, regardless of artificial food. (I am presuming they have easy access). If/when you see signs of hogs, you could try putting out a bit of food (cat/dog/hog food) if you would like to. The trouble is, if there are no signs of hogs in the garden, it may well attract unwanted visitors, so I think habitat improvements would be a good way to start. I always think it is best to let the hogs find you.

It may well be that when the hoglets are around again, they may find your garden. Good luck. I hope you have some visitors soon.

P.S. Love your profile pic – very clever!

[Penny]

Hi Kittylion,

Sorry to hear that you haven’t seen any hedgehogs yet. I don’t understand why the rescue centre wouldn’t let you have the juveniles back, especially as you made a point of asking for their return. Most rescues are only too happy to let you have them back, as they sometimes struggle to find suitable release sights for them all. If your garden is suitable, maybe you could ask for it to be used as a release site.

Like Nic says, if they found your garden before, they will probably find it again.

I hope they turn up soon. 🙂

[kittylion]

Thanks for your responses – sorry for my late reply, got distracted. I will stop putting the food out for a while then. I don’t know why she didn’t want to return one of the babies, but maybe she could see something unsuitable about my garden which I couldn’t. I am relatively new to all things hedgehog.

I haven’t seen any poo yet come to think of it (there was plenty last October) so I will just leave my lovely house in place and hope for the best.

(As you can see – I have invested quite a bit in my spiky friends).

[Nic]

Don’t give up kittylion. There will be hoglets exploring soon. They’ve made their way there before and on the balance of probabilities will again.

Couldn’t see the pics – not sure why, but I’m sure they are lovely and the hogs don’t know what they’re missing. Keep looking out for them and good luck.

[Williamc]

Those are Riverside Woodcraft hoggie buildings, my lot have two of their houses in the “wild” corner of the garden. Very solid, very good quality indeed, proper luxury bungalows for upwardly mobile hedgehogs complete with concierge service (i.e. me).

If you’ve got any hogs in the area at all then do please keep putting food out and the little tinkers will find it. It’s quite possible to have visitors leaving no trace of their presence at all apart from clean dinner plates!

[Nic]

Hi again Kittylion

There is one other thing you could try – a hedgehog footprint tunnel.

https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/footprint-tunnels/

https://ptes.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Guidance-for-detecting-hedgehogs-using-tracking-tunnels.pdf

The second one of these tells you how to use them and where you can get them. Otherwise if you leave food out and it gets eaten and you see no other signs of hedgehogs, you won’t know what is eating the food.

It could be quite fun, seeing what else is around as well. If you do decide to try it, let us know how you get on.

[Sammy9]

Not seen mine for about 4 nights

[kittylion]

I haven’t left food out for a couple of weeks as I thought I might only attract the wrong sort of visitors. I might try a couple of nights now though – that footprint tunnel looks interesting. I will have a ponder.

(Miss my hedgies 🙁 )

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