General Chat

Elrick thanks for your comment but I am only keeping it indoors to feed it up as it is under weight to get through the winter. They have to weigh at least 500 grms to 550 grms. This one is 454grms so would'nt survive the winter. Once it is the right weight I shall release it back to our 6 and a half acre garden.

Mine has shredded newspaper in its bedroom and plenty of clean just on the outside if it wants more. His run bit is lined with newspapers which I get from the local shop as we only have one a week!!

I would'nt put hay or straw in its bed. I used to have a pet shop so know all about what effects certain beddings can have on different animals and birds.

It is illegal to capture and keep a hedgehog. They are wild animals and do not take to captivity very well. Best release him back to his home. Wild animals arent there to be made into pets!

About as much as a small horse and they wee as much too.

I have wintered several hedgehogs and made few mistakes along the way.Mine have only ever had cat food,they like the supermeat best I find. I had a cat who only liked the gravy and left his meat so the hedgehogwould get the meat.They like cake too but that's another story..

You don't want to delve into their eating habits in the wild,it is just about anything including carrion and their dung stinks too.

I have had hedgehogs who would not drink water but did seem to get enough fluid from their food but then one of then dehydrated so,the last time I had a hedgehog in,and I haven't seen one for a couple of years now,I put the meat in a deepish sugar bowl with some water.

Watch out for their feet.I put hay in te sleeping quarter and one of mine lost toes through getting a piece wound round his foot.

I would love to hear from anyone who is feeding hedgehogs in their gardens or indoors or have hedgehog boxes in their gardens or feeding stations.

My hubby made me a hedgehog box as I had been feeding one in the garden for about two weeks and we saw it many times via the outside light. The night we located it at the bottom of the garden under the camelia the hedgehog moved in!!!! We were so surprized to see it actually enter the box after feeding.

I used to put down plenty of food in two cat dishes with a water bowl at the side. Then we did'nt see the big one for a while and then spotted little Hogwart. Fed it for a couple of weeks and hubby caught it in his fish net, popped it in a carrier bag and brought it in where we weighed it in the kitchen scales. That night it spent in a large cardboard box with another box in it for it's nest in a coldish room indoors.

Hubby then adapted my smallish chicken ark by making another bedroom place within the nest box and raising the ark on a stand he made for it.

We have little Hogwart who weighed in at just under a pound (in old money).

He is the muckiest little thing going. I cannot see where he puts all the food offered each night but every morning I have a lot of little presents from it. I serve a selection of dried cat food and tinned, peanuts and sultanas and anything else I can find to offer suitable for hogs.



Since having the hog indoors I have looked at many Hedgehog sites but do you think I can find anywhere how much to feed a night?

I have ordered special Hedgehog food for it at the local pet shop and am hoping there will be some kind of feeding guidelines on the packet.

How much do your hogs eat?