How to care for hedgehogs

Kya deLongchamps has ideas on how to welcome these protected animals into our gardens 

Consider linking gardens up with like-minded neighbours by creating gaps in hedging and fences through which hedgehogs can pass safely. Picture: iStock

Hedgehogs (in Irish, inexplicably, gráinneog or horrible-one) are said to have been introduced into Ireland in the 13th century when they were farmed for their meat: shocked emoji. Now a protected animal under the Irish Wildlife Act, after 800 years of rambling harmlessly around our lives, they are still categorised as non-natives. We now, at least, treasure them. With intensive farming and sprawling suburbs putting pressure on their ancient habitats, what can we do to invite these delightful urchins into our gardens and help them to thrive this winter?

Hedgehogs are nimble and when elevated on their delightfully rubbery, black legs, they can travel as much as a kilometre or more during their nightly outings. The Vincent Wildlife Trust reports that males have been recorded over an area of 56 hectares. It’s often difficult to establish how many spiny little nomads are actually visiting your garden as territories can intersect, so you may be naming three thinking you only have a sole trespasser.

If the going is safe on either side of your garden, without dogs or hazards, making a passing point under fencing will increase their available feeding, resting, and hibernation areas. In the UK, the Hedgehog Street campaign www.hedgehogstreet.org has persuaded neighbours to foster highways between urban gardens and habitats within adjoining gardens to help their local hogs flourish year-round. You can buy cute hedgehog crossings for fencing from about €13.50 at thegardenshop.ie.

Hedgehogs are insectivores and therefore act as perfect pest controllers for any garden, snuffling about and devouring everything from beetles to worms hanging around your lawn and borders. As autumn draws on, rake those fallen leaves into a pile in a quiet corner with good cover, and add some decaying logs around to provide both hiding and sustenance for your hogs.

Homely garden

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

Hedgehogs favour day nests. If you like you can add a hedgehog house or hibernaculum, widely available for around a tenner to over €60 for the Ritz Carlton. Choose from wicker, wood, plastic or ceramic, or simply recycle what you have, leaving a large ceramic pot on its side or a piece of timber set against a fence or tree to form a shelter. A heavier timber model with a tunnelled entrance or “porch” gives some extra protection from cats and dogs.

Hedgehogs first arrived in Ireland in the 13th century.

Stuff some clean rabbit hay or dry grass clippings in there to create a snug duvet, and hide it with a piling up of leaves. It should be cloaked from view, with the entrance away from the prevailing wind. Avoid disturbing, including the wide boundary around them with mowers, strimmers, or any digging or hedging tools. 

Poking a mower under a hedgerow could easily clip a resting hog. Keep in mind that the underside of a shed set on blocks or timber runner is ideal for over-wintering hogs, and unless you want them inside, check they have not already moved in, and then keep the door firmly shut.

Be very wary when forking over a compost heap at this time of year. 

Barbed wire should be kept 30cm off the ground, or it can spike a hog, which will instinctively curl up and around the line, tangling and injuring it further. If you must burn your leaves, move the entire heap by hand and check for tenants first.

Elsewhere in the garden, assess potential hazards. If you have a pond, ensure there is a means for any mammals who fall into it, to escape. This could be a length of the plank or a shallow shore that runs into the water, creating a couple of bags of pebbles from the garden centre. Open drains, even the little ones below your rainwater system, can trap an unwary hog.

Fruit netting is a notorious danger for many small mammals and birds. Cut back on heavy chemistry, especially conventional slug pellets — a known hedgehog poison. Choose an alternative and don’t use old boxes of products that include metaldehyde.

Hibernation

Between now and hibernation, hedgehogs are fattening up. It is possible to feed them a supplemental diet to help them during this crucial period, but you should be very particular about this. Don’t put out trays by the nesting site, as this can lead predators to their homes. September can produce second litters, and these babes will be out and about across the garden at just four weeks old. Young hoglets that eat the wrong food, or something choking, could get sick or even die as a result. Bread and milk will upset the digestion of any hedgehog, so don’t be tempted to just throw scraps out the back door, which will more likely attract rats.

Remove uneaten food for the same reason. Dog food and (wet) cat food are relatively safe but don’t be surprised if stray cats and foxes also take an interest. Crunchy dog biscuits can be broken down with a rolling pin, and provide a good chew for a hog. Filthy dishes and an unkempt dining area can aid the spread of disease, so put food out daily, around dusk and keep the area as clean as you would for indoor pets. Otherwise, leave the hedgehog alone.

Healthy Irish hedgehogs hibernate between November and early March.

Chances are, unless they are moving their nesting site, having a snack, sick, or disturbed, you shouldn’t see them around, especially by day. Never allow children to capture a hedgehog or to “save it” when it’s most likely just sleepy and needs to return to hibernation. Hedgehogs make terrible pets. They are crawling with fleas and ticks, completely wild, and they are protected animals, not toys.

In most cases, if the hog is lively, clearly not injured, or suffering from something serious like fly strike or lungworm, you should leave it alone. If the hog has woken from hibernation, you could put out some food after dusk; chances are it will feast and go back to bed.

Hedgehogs are insectivores and therefore act as perfect pest controllers for any garden.

If you have a doubt, for instance, the hog seems listless, or is out in the open during the day in December, there are steps you can take. Put on some gardening gloves and, in a quiet manner, lift the hedgehog into a deep cardboard box. In very cold weather, you can add a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel for it to lie against and warm up. Choose a quiet, indoor area and offer the hog a little wet pet food and some water on a shallow saucer once it comes to. 

Just watch the hedgehog and if it seems lively after a rest and feed, try returning it to a suitable spot in the garden.

Keep a lookout in the coming days, and if the hog is not recovering, contact a vet or local wildlife centre. An underweight hoglet of 600g or less will be over-wintered indoors until April and gradually released, as they will not survive hibernation — a long undertaking, and the work for a licensed specialist.

My direct experience of helping sick hogs has involved sympathetic local vets, who, after emergency treatment (I have never been charged for a wild animal) usually know “the” person to call in the locality with the right skill set for rehabilitating that animal.