Woodmice eating the hedgehog food

[henryherbert]

I have a hedgehog feeder crate as designed following a talk given on hedgehogs. It has an entrance towards one side of the crate, a partition in the middle with an offset doorway on the opposite side which is meant to deter rats. It’s always been quite successful in the past & the hedgehog has had a good feed & drink. So although I have seen a rat on the camera, it is now the woodmice that whizz in to eat the Spikes hedgehog food. Can mice be kept out of anywhere?

[Nic]

Hi henryherbert

No, sorry to say that if the hedgehogs can enter somewhere, a mouse will find it simple. So would a rat for that matter. You might just have been lucky in that respect in the past.

Luckily with the woodmice, they don’t eat too much, which is lucky as it’s a bit of an occupational hazard when feeding hedgehogs that you end up feeding the occasional woodmouse as well. The hedgehogs don’t seem too bothered about them, though, which is lucky.

[Echinoserious]

The best way to feed hedgehogs is to restore, maintain and reconnect their natural habitat where possible. Flowers, shrubs, bushes, long grass, leaf litter, dead wood, piles of stones and shallow-sided ponds are what they need for nesting and hunting, and it benefits a whole ecosystem of creatures, with hedgehogs just being one very important part of the food chain. If you want to feed the hedgehogs extra food, it is best to do so in moderation. If mice benefit from it too, that’s good for the mice, who are also important creatures. As long as they both have a balanced ecosystem to live in, they can both eat without starving each other.

[Author]

Posts