Midnight visitor

[DanTheMan3]

This fellow came visiting last night.
Its only a baby.
.

.

[smiffy49er]

Awwwwww he's lovely

Did you feed him ??

[DanTheMan3]

He is eating the seed that has fallen from the bird feeder.

And there are plenty of slugs and snails around.
.

[smiffy49er]

We used to feed the ones we had in the garden

but they turned their noses up at slugs in the end so
we stopped feeding them so much lol.
They are very noisy though aren't they??

[playtowin]

awe lovely,

[astral276]

Very rarely get them nowadays since they build on the open ground to the rear of my property. Used to get lots.

Always a problem feeding them anyway as whatever you put out the local cat population were into straight away, I have enough problems with them without encouraging them.

[TexasAda]

Very cute, Dan. Hope he ate some slugs if you have any. And Smiffy, how are they noisy?

[ruthiewildchild]

He is eating the seed that has fallen from the bird feeder.

And there are plenty of slugs and snails around.
.

I thought this too, untill I started reading up on hedgehogs. This is from one of the hedgehog rescue sites:


Gardeners wrongly think having hedgehogs in the garden is all they need to keep the slug and snail population down.

• Hedgehogs mainly eat beetles and caterpillars, not slugs and snails
• The idea that they only eat slugs and snails is very wrong. Only approximately 5% of their diet naturally will be slugs or snails.
• ·They will only eat a lot of slugs and snails when they are starving and no other food is available.
• A hedgehog that is forced to rely only on slugs and snails will not survive long.

Offering a hedgehog additional food is the best thing for the hedgehog.

Slugs and snails are the primary carriers for the lungworm which is the biggest killer of hedgehogs except for us and our careless behaviour.

When the lungworms breed inside the hedgehog they rapidly multiply, fill the hedgehog's lungs and the hedgehog either dies from drowning (Pneumonia) or bleeding from the lungs.

Hedgehogs with lungworms have terrible breathing problems, are very thin and underweight, often have bad diarrhoea and will have secondary bacterial infections. Once the worms are well established the hedgehog coughs like an old smoker and gasp for air before dying in agony. Post mortem examinations often show the lungs as a solid mass with very little lung tissue left.

[ruthiewildchild]

Always a problem feeding them anyway as whatever you put out the local cat population were into straight away, I have enough problems with them without encouraging them.

Make a hedgehog feeding box - I have and it keeps the cats out a treat

http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/feedingstation.htm

[astral276]

Make a hedgehog feeding box - I have and it keeps the cats out a treat

http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/feedingstation.htm

I tried that. I made one out of some spare bricks but they didn't seem to like it (or it was too expensive to eat there.

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