Over friendly Hedgie!

[Smiler71]

Hi

I might be being daft here so bear with me! I’m lucky enough to have a mum and 2 babies in my garden and I feed them each evening. A couple of nights now there has been one of the young that doesn’t run away when I put the food down and in fact crawls on my foot and almost let’s me hand feed it.

Is it blind or is this friendly behaviour normal? While I love the interaction, I don’t want to make it lose the fear that may well protect it later in life.

It did get stuck in a ditch which I have since blocked and screamed (I didn’t even know hedgehogs made that noise) for help. So I picked it out using gardening gloves and a tea towel. This was a few months ago and it hissed the whole time I had it in my hands.

Both babies and Mum feed every night and are active on my wildlife camera so seem like they are coping.

Thanks for any insight. This website is awesome!

[Nic]

Hi Smiler71

Some hogs will become quite friendly, but like you I think it is better for them to preserve their natural instinct to be wary of predators – which is what humans are, in effect. Sadly, not all humans love hedgehogs. So I was glad to hear that when the little hog was in real trouble it kicked up a fuss. Well done for rescuing it, despite the hissing, etc.

It’s lovely that the family are doing well now and you are enjoying their visits. Watching them on wildlife cameras can be such good fun!

Good luck and happy hog watching.

[Smiler71]

Thank you for the reassurance! I’m hoping they are getting ready to hunker down for winter soon. So lovely to see them about and I will miss them over winter. But I think they have the right idea…brrrr! 😂

[Author]

Posts