Feeding Hedgehogs

What to feed them:

Hedgehogs can be fussy, but despite this there is a range of things you can feed them.

-Tinned or dry 'Spike's Dinner Hedgehog Food' can be fed. Available online at Spikes World as well as other quality foods. It can also be bought from various pet shops.

-You can also feed Cat/Dog Meat, this should be chicken flavours. Not in gravy as this gives them diarrhoea. Non fishy flavours are best because this is not their natural diet, also it may encourage wild Hedgehogs to dive into ponds and try to catch fish, which is very dangerous for a Hedgehog.

-You can also feed them Cat/Dog Biscuits, as these will help clean the teeth and gums, again non fishy flavours.

-Digestive Biscuits, mash, beans, cheese (cut up) Banana, cereal, chopped peanuts (non salted!), minced meat, chicken & scrambled egg can also be fed.

-When ever you feed a Hedgehog, make sure you include fresh, clean water


What Not To Feed Them:

-Bread or Milk:

-They just can't Digest bread, and the swelling of it in their stomach can kill them, as well as the fact they can't digest Milk, it will just sit there in their stomach where Bacteria will multiply, giving them a nasty infection or killing them. It's a very dangerous wise tail!

-Salty foods like Bacon and Corned Beef.

Please remember:

-If you ever start feeding the Hedgehogs, never stop. Please feed them all year round.

-From September to December foods with high fat/oil content should be fed.

Strimmer Posters

Here are some of my Strimmer posters I recently created.

Please help by printing them out putting them up around where you live.

With thanks to Derek for letting me use and edit his pictures of Hedgehogs, which I have included in the posters.

The European Hedgehog- Do You Care?

You can now visit my website for lots of information about the European Hedgehog. This includes:

-An Introduction page
-Hedgehog Facts (breeding, sizes etc)
-Hedgehog care:
Hedgehog first aid & sick and injured Hedgehogs
-Their natural diet
-Dangers to the Hedgehog
-Strimmer Campaign
-Pictures & Videos
-Stories
-Links to other websites
-Glossary, which includes words around the website that you will find.

All that plus more!
visit the European Hedgehog Website now at:

www.europeanhedgehog.webs.com

And help a Hedgehog in need.

Pictures- A Selection Of Baby Hedgehogs

Here are some pictures of the Hedgehogs that Derek of Epping Forest Hedgehog Rescue has been looking after recently. Click to view the larger picture.




Here is a link to his website: www.thehedgehog.co.uk
Here is a link to his forum: www.hedgehoghelp.co.uk

News- Tiny Hedgehogs

The following is some News about Hedgehog Rescue Centres Flooded with tiny Hedgehogs because of the bad weather.

''So much heavy rain has fallen that many hedgehogs are struggling to cope, their tiny bodies exhausted by constant cold and hunger.

Animal lovers from across the region are now turning to Knoxwood for help.

In the last six days alone, the centre has taken in 20 rain-battered hedgehogs, bringing the current total now resident there to 30.

Hedgehogs are being brought in from as far afield as Alston and Gretna to the north and Preston and even Watford to the south.

Knoxwood founder George Scott said: “We’ve had more than 100 hedgehogs brought into the centre this year – more than we’ve ever had. It’s all down to the exceptionally wet weather.

“Normally, they don’t mind the damp because it brings out slugs and snails which hedgehogs like to eat but enough if enough.

“When we keep getting sudden downpours, the rain gets between their spines and down to the skin, taking away most of their temperature. When it keeps happening, they eventually just roll over and give up.

“People have been bringing them in from all over the place, including the north east, Lancashire, and even Watford.

“Once they recover, we’re releasing them as fast as we can but we’ve now got 10 babies in at the moment which we’ll probably have to keep through the winter.”

The centre is also getting phone calls from worried animal lovers asking how they can help hedgehogs they have found struggling in gardens.

George said people should initially help the animals dry out, putting them in a cardboard box with a carefully wrapped hot water bottle to avoid scalding.

When the hedgehog is active again and showing signs of recovery, they can be fed with cat food, scrambled eggs or scraps of chicken.

He fears that if the wet weather continues, the species may see an appreciable fall in numbers in the year ahead.

George added: “Other animals are suffering because of the wet weather.

“We’ve got wood pigeons, marsh harriers, a red squirrel, and a buzzard. The weather is against everything just now.”

News- Blond Hedgehog

The following is an Article from the Shropshirestar. It is an interesting Article about a Blond Hedgehog which was found, which is, sadly a problem; and Hedgehogs like that do not survive very long in the wild.

''One of Britain’s rarest hedgehogs rescued in the Shropshire countryside has been nursed back to health by RSPCA workers.

The baby, blonde hedgehog was spotted by a member of the public in the Gobowen area near Oswestry in the summer.

With the hedgehog obviously in distress its finder contacted the RSPCA and it was taken to the charity’s wildlife centre at Stapeley Grange near Nantwich.

The female, believed to be just a few months old when she was found in July, is not a true albino but instead has a creamy-coloured coat and spines.

“She weighed just 110 grammes or about four ounces when she was brought in to Stapeley Grange, underweight for a typical hedgehog of that age,” Dr Andrew Kelly from the centre said.

Since first being admitted to the wildlife centre on July 25 she has tripled her weight and should be ready for release in a few weeks’ time when she reaches the optimum release weight of 600grams.

Dr Kelly said: “We receive around 600 hedgehogs a year at Stapeley Grange, often orphaned juveniles, but we’ve never had a blonde hedgehog before. They’re extremely rare so it’s a real delight to have one in our care.”

She is one of only a few blonde hedgehogs to be found in the UK. They are rare except on the Channel Island of Alderney where they have become common since a pair was released in the 1960s.

Their unusual colouring, caused by a rare recessive gene, means blonde hedgehogs have little change of survival in the wild as their conspicuous coats often prove attractive to predators such as foxes, badgers and dogs.

The Shropshire hedgehog will be released in a specially selected enclosed private garden where she can be fed and monitored. All hedgehogs are partially protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and it is illegal to trap them or kill them without a licence.

They are in danger from traffic, mowing machines and strimmers, pesticides including slug pellets, garden waste heaps or bonfires where many choose to hibernate and garden ponds. Although able to swim, many hedgehogs drown in ponds as they cannot climb out.''

Origional URL: Click here
Shropshire News.com: Click Here

Feed The Hedgehogs

In Winter, Hedgehogs go into a deep sleep called 'Hibernation'.

They do this because in Winter there is not much food available, and it is very cold. In order to Hibernate successfully, Hedgehogs need to be 600g or over, with fat reserves which will last them through the cold Months.

It is now Autumn, and Hedgehogs will be going into Hibernation very soon.

Many Hedgehogs do not put on enough weight for Hibernation, especially the late born; and they wake up in the cold months starving. They will then use up valuable energy looking for food which is just not there. Many will die, having starved to death.

But you can help. By feeding Hedgehogs at this time of year, you can build up their fat, therefore helping them survive through the cold Months. This will be offering them a life line.

Here is a list of some of the things you can feed them:

-Cat or Dog meat. Chicken Flavours are best

-Cat or Dog Biscuits

Please Don't feed:

-Bread or Milk!

-IAMS Cat foods

-Fish flavour Cat Or Dog Meat

-Gravy based or Gravy flavoured Cat foods

Thank you for reading this post.

Image Note: From Epping Forest Hedgehog Rescue. 'Joy'- July 2004 to January 2008

Hedgehogs Being Attacked By Foxes

Quote from Derek of Epping Forest Hedgehog Rescue:

''The numbers of urban foxes are out of control. They have become increasingly vicious, fearless and aggressive.We previously thought that hedgehogs would be safe from foxes and only the occasional baby or weak hedgehog was preyed upon. Experiences over the last couple of years has taught us differently.Foxes have learned how to grab hold of and maim or kill hedgehogs. What happens is:
-The fox pounces on a hedgehog which curls up on contact.
-The fox freezes and stays perfectly still about 2 foot away from the rear of the hedgehog.
-The hedgehog hearing nothing, thinks it is safe and slowly uncurls. As it puts its back legs out to run the fox springs, grabs the hedgehog's back legs with its long snout and bites and twists & throws the hedgehog up in the air.
-An adult hedgehog will curl up again but the damage has already been done, in a split second the fox's sharp strong teeth make deep slashes into the flesh and break and crush the bones or bite the leg off completely. The hedgehog will be left screaming and crippled to die in agony from its injuries.
-A small or weak hedgehog won't be able to curl up quickly enough and the fox will bite the underneath and eviscerate the hedgehog (rip out its guts).
-Foxes are not even afraid of dogs any more. Instead of running away they turn and fight and even attack the dogs.''

Click here to see how Derek came to this conclusion.

(Read down the page abit). The link will also give you more information.

As you can see from the pictures, this causes horrible injuries. I have only displayed the minor injuries in this Blog, because some are so horrific. The link above shows those pictures.

There is also video evidence on the 4th page on the forum.

EDIT:
I think it is important that we are aware that there might be a problem with Foxes and Hedgehogs.

Please consider that, in the area where Derek lives, Foxes are a problem without question. He has seen for himself what Foxes have been doing to the Hedgehogs. He also has a video on his forum which is proof to suggest that some Foxes are a problem to Hedgehogs.

Please contact me if you have any videos, pictures ot anything which backs up Dereks views on Foxes. That way, if we get people from all over Britain with proof that Foxes are a problem to Hedgehogs, then we can be a bit more certain.

All I know is that Hedgehogs are on the edge of extinction. And although this is nature, we can't just let this wonderful creature die out.
Please feel free to comment on this post, as I'm sure you all have different oppinions.