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How To Help Hedgehogs In Your Garden

Hedgehogs are a protected species in the UK but have been having trouble for some time. A loss of natural meadows from the countryside has left these prickly foragers homeless and hungry.

The State of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2022 report has come out and given us some figures. Their numbers in the UK have declined by between 30 and 75 per cent in countryside areas since 2000.

However, in urban areas, their numbers appear to have stabilised and be making a recovery. This shows the importance of local action and that a small effort can be a great help to a vulnerable species.

This article will show you what to feed hedgehogs, their habits and the best ways to make sure your garden is a friendly space for them. 

What Do Hedgehogs Eat?

A hedgehog's diet would normally consist of creepy crawlies in the undergrowth.

Insects that can be food for a hedgehog include:

• Earthworms
• Slugs
• Caterpillars
• Millipedes
• Earwigs

They are generalists and will eat almost any invertebrate they can get their paws on, as well as other things they can scavenge. This means their diet can include things like carrion, frogs, bird’s eggs and fallen fruit. 

You can supplement their natural diet by leaving food and water out for them in a shallow dish. As natural sources of food and water become scarce during hot and dry weather, this is even more important. Whether urban hedgehogs are reliant on food from people is not clear. The common understanding this that they eat the things we leave them as a supplement rather than a staple.

They are, after all, scavengers and foragers by nature. So, our offerings are probably just another lucky windfall to them.

The best things to give them are:

• High-quality cat or dog food
• Specialised hedgehog food
• Crushed cat biscuits 

See our specialised hedgehog food here: Vale Hedgehog Food

To make sure that nothing else is eating the food you put out, you can make a hedgehog feeding station. This can be as simple as a small shelter made of bricks with a lift-off top.

What Shouldn’t Hedgehogs Eat?

• Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, so do not feed them milk or cheese. Try to avoid bread as well, as this is also difficult for them to digest. Large chunks of meat can be hard for them to chew as well.
• Hedgehogs find mealworms to be absolutely delicious. However, they can be harmful in large amounts. This is because of an unbalanced nutrient content. The same goes for sunflower hearts and peanuts as well. A hedgehog that eats nothing but mealworms (and they happily will) can develop serious health issues. This can be because they have a bad balance of calcium and phosphorous. A poor diet like this can cause them to get metabolic bone disease (MBD). For this reason, we recommend that you do not feed mealworms to hedgehogs. 

Hedgehogs will eat just about anything. But that makes them liable to gobble up food that’s bad for them without knowing when to stop. Especially sweet, salty and fatty foods.

A Hedgehog’s Calendar

When Do Hedgehogs Hibernate?

They tuck in for the winter from between October/November through to March/April. Relying on their fat stores during this time to sustain themselves. Which is why it's vital that they feed properly in the months before hibernation. So, this is a time when it's important to give them a helping hand with extra food.

They don't hibernate constantly though and may wake up to look for food if they get hungry. Especially young ones born late in the year. It doesn't hurt then to leave some covered food for them during the middle of winter.

When's Their Breeding Season?

Hedgehogs mate any time between April when they wake up and September. May and June are when they're at it most, during a period known as 'the rut'. They'll then give birth sometime in June and July to the baby hedgehogs, called hoglets.

Tips For A More Hedgehog Friendly Garden

As well as leaving out food, there are plenty of small things you can do to help out the hedgehogs.

Make A Hedgehog House

Giving hedgehogs somewhere to stay is a great way to encourage their activities in your area. Leaving a section of your garden wild with piles of leaves, logs, or compost heaps is a good idea. It'll give them a place to rest during the day and hibernate during the winter. 

Planting a hedge will of course also provide them a great habitat to nest and forage in. Hazel and hawthorn hedges will attract nighttime moths which means more caterpillars for the spikey bush piglets to eat. Other native plants like dogrose, honeysuckle, and blackthorn are also great for nighttime nectar production and as caterpillar food.

Make Hedgehog Highways

Hedgehogs can roam as far as a mile each night so need to have neighborhoods of multiple connected gardens for them to flourish. Making the space under gates and between fences for them to pass through is a great help to your spiky local friends. A gap of just 13 x 13cm can be enough.

Make Your Pond Safe

Making a safe exit from your pond could save a hedgehog's life. Sloped sides, some stout rope netting or a tastefully placed log will let critters that go for a swim get out without a fuss.