Hegdehog info
The hedgehogs you see in this directory are the European Hedgehog species; they are different than the African Pygmy Hedgehogs, which is what Pixie is. (my pet hedgehog)
It is prohibited by law to keep wild animals, incl. a hedgehog, in your house or garden and restrict it from being able to leave. This is a wild animal. On the photos you can see that i give them supplemental food in my garden, but my garden is not closed by any means, they can freely come and go, but supporting them with the right food and always with water helps them survive through tough winters and as a whole, since their population is dramatically decreasing in the past 10-20 years. I also observe “mine” and take them to a special rescue center for treatments that sometimes last for months. Sometimes I find babies out in the day without a mother nearby and I must act immediately – bring it/them to the center and keep observing the area for more of them. A few important notes:
- NEVER EVER give milk to hedgehogs, gives them diarrhea, dehydration and ultimately leads to their death.
- Only feed special hedgehog food or cat food. It is best to avoid food that contains nuts and grains.
- always, winter and summer, have a shallow dish always full with fresh water, not only for the hedgehogs but also for other animals, such as frogs, cats, birds etc.
- If you find a hedgehog in daylight, it is almost 100% certain that there is a serious problem; hedgehogs do NOT sunbathe, ever. The only chance of seeing a hedgehog in daylight is if it is a mother collecting nesting material, meaning in a few days she will give birth. In the other cases, please detain the hog for a bit, in a dark box with air holes and call the nearest hedgehog or wild animal shelter to seek advice.
- If you find a hedgehog at night, please do not yell, shine light in its eyes, it stresses them, keep quiet and observe and touch it only if you really really have to, and ALWAYS with gloves, not because they are pokey (they are indeed so), but also because they can have ticks and fleas as well as some fungus infections that won’t transmit to you, but can transmit to another hedgehog if you touch it after, that’s the reason to wash your hand with the gloves and soap on after touching every hedgehog (or use different gloves)
- if you find a “dead” hedgehog in the middle of winter among your leaves etc, it is NOT DEAD, it is hibernating. Please do not disturb it and wait until april-may to ocean up your garden. Waking up wastes a lot of energy of the hedgehogs and if they are already weak, it could mean their death.
- If you find a nest with babies and a mom, do NOT disturb them, do NOT open the box, better if you want to see what’s going on, buy a wifi or a security camera and place it outside and observe this way, I do that and it’s a lot of fun. Try Blink cameras, or VicoHome cameras from AliExpress, super nice options. Mothers, when stresses, kill and eat their babies (very cruel, but it’s better than a male hog or a predator to do this). Males also often kill the babies, even if they are their own, they just detach and don’t take care of the babies, therefore they don’t know it’s their babies, but they DO want to mate with the female again, so they do this.
- You could place a hedgehog house in your garden, fill it with straw and (DRY) leaves and hope that a hog will like it for overwintering next season 🙂
For more information, check out these sources: