hedgehog

Hedgehog Hints

next day nature diary previous page back Wild West Yorkshire Nature Diary,
Tuesday 30th November 1999, 2/2


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hedgehog hedgehog IN MILD WINTERS hedgehogs are seen looking for food in December.

No hedgehog flea has ever been found living on another animal.

Hedghog traps;

  • Plastic rings from six-packs of drinks cans
  • Strawberry netting
  • Yoghurt pots
  • Tin cans with their lids still attached
  • Slug pellets; hedgehogs can eat 70-80 slugs in a night so toxins can soon build up.
the same hedgehogIf you must use slug pellets, hide them in a long drainpipe or under a slate. Alternatively provide a rival attraction to vulnerable seedlings by putting a pile of rhubarb leaves or potato peelings nearby.

Leave water in a heavy bowl, slightly below ground level if possible. Bread and milk isn't the evil that it's sometimes painted but water is fine.

Nine out of ten hedgehogs prefer beef or liver based cat foods. Feeding is probably most valuable to hedgehogs in autumn when their natural food is least abundant and it can also be a help in spring.

80% of hedgehogs die in their first year.

A hedgehog must attain a weight of 1lb 4oz by November to survive hibernation through the winter.

Be careful when using strimmers, the blade itself can injure hedgehogs and the long grass under hedgerows can be one of their last refuges in a garden.

To keep cats and dogs off food intended for hedgehogs put it under an upturned box with suitably sized entrance holes. A cardboard box will do provided you keep it in a dry part of the garden, for instance, under a conifer.

Thanks to Phil Saye for these notes

Richard Bell
Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator

E-mail; 'richard@daelnet.co.uk'

  
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