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discobob
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We had one hedgehog in our garden years ago and then nothing. Last year one of the kids spotted one on the verge across from our house then this year we started to spot “signs” of hedgehog activity on our front lawn and then spotted one in our rear garden which was going for mealworms dropped from a feeding tray so my wife started putting some down for it. It was only small. 
 

And this is what we found last night!!!

DB92C5E8-834A-4D06-9355-77388B7D577A.jpeg

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7 minutes ago, johnphilip said:

Not sure if you all have seen baby ones , they look a bit different 

20200520_082358.jpg

lovely....

it was one thing about moving here - although more rural than where we lived (in the immediate area with it being the cotswolds) we saw more there than we had here - but only individual ones - never saw even two in the same are - never mind three!!

I am wondering if the right hand one at the front is a female due to being smaller and the other two are males that have followed her in - not sure on that and more than likely totally wrong

@johnphilip Do they breed in your garden - what do you do to help attract them - we have a dog who is only curious with them - the other dog is to old to care...

but we do get a lot of cats through the garden as well despite the younger dog's attempts 

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18 minutes ago, ShootingEgg said:

I rent a house out and my tenants are leaving, one thing they have told me is to make sure the new tenants look after the hedgehogs... It's great to hear and see that they are in the garden,and it's a small safe space for them.

Ours come off the lane (saw the small one on Saturday coming out of the rear passage from miners terraces (between the houses and their gardens - a lot of them are not maintained) but would love to make our garden more of a haven for them as the neighbours up the top/end of the lane in the big houses don't suffer from speeding if you get my meaning - which has increased recently since a new family have moved in (it's a shame as the guy who left was a shooter - and didn't speed)

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2 hours ago, discobob said:

lovely....

it was one thing about moving here - although more rural than where we lived (in the immediate area with it being the cotswolds) we saw more there than we had here - but only individual ones - never saw even two in the same are - never mind three!!

I am wondering if the right hand one at the front is a female due to being smaller and the other two are males that have followed her in - not sure on that and more than likely totally wrong

@johnphilip Do they breed in your garden - what do you do to help attract them - we have a dog who is only curious with them - the other dog is to old to care...

but we do get a lot of cats through the garden as well despite the younger dog's attempts 

No sorry it just a picture  I found on the Net , was curious  about them , we get the odd one in the garden , my dogs just give it a sniff then leave it alone  . They are so lovely to see ,  used to see lots when we were kids over 60 years ago .

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1 hour ago, derbyduck said:

Meal worms are bad for hedgehogs ,they are high in Phosphates and this causes calcium deficiency leading to brittle bones !

so please don't feed them MW.  

Thanks for that info - so what is best to feed them - considering we have had rats in the area (touch wood none seen in the garden so far this year)??

We went with that as it was what had attracted the first one in - and they do seem to love them from the crunching sounds last night

 

Just clarified with my wife - that although she is currently using a small bag of mealworms now - it has previously been calcium worms. We have just ordered a 5ltr tub of them from Amazon as these are listed as good for them

Edited by discobob
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Best of all is proper hedgehog food from some pet shops or garden centres and probably on line, but don't give them much as they need lots of protein and fats from snails etc. too, particularly by next month as they have to fatten up for hibernation. They also need access to drinking water and ideally a sheltered rough area in the garden to rest up.

They really shouldn't be out in daylight either and if they are it implies a problem or disturbance of some kind. 

It's recommended that they have a way in and out of the garden as they do a lot of roaming and tend to have several dens in the area to sleep.

Edited by Westward
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@WestwardThat was taken last night in the dark with my lad with the torch on his phone but no flash on my phone so we don't disturb them too much.

We have read that what we put out should be of a treat size amount - the trouble is with 3 (and 2 of them look like the George Foreman of the hedgehog world :D ) is how much is a treat.

I think that we will just spread it out over a few places so each one can get to some.

SWMBO is looking at getting some dried food for them - not keen on putting out dog/cat food due to it possibly attracting rats. They turn up at about 11pm each night so we put them out around 10

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37 minutes ago, discobob said:

I bet the hedgehog never went near - it was you sneaking out and scoffing them - "Just putting the recycling out dear" 😂

Strangely enough they were put out for the birds the next morning after a damned good Chinese takeaway.

We were rather surprised by the noise coming from the garden at about midnight and looked out to see two hedgehogs scoffing the lot!

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1 hour ago, discobob said:

Thanks for that info - so what is best to feed them - considering we have had rats in the area (touch wood none seen in the garden so far this year)??

We went with that as it was what had attracted the first one in - and they do seem to love them from the crunching sounds last night

 

Just clarified with my wife - that although she is currently using a small bag of mealworms now - it has previously been calcium worms. We have just ordered a 5ltr tub of them from Amazon as these are listed as good for them

I don't know what's the best food for them I just know that meal worms make them ill , all the best and its good to see the hogs, 

I don't get em in my garden we have a badger set about 50 yards from our house !

Edited by derbyduck
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1 hour ago, derbyduck said:

I don't get em in my garden we have a badger set about 50 yards from our house !

I know there used to be a Badger set up the top - but they are now extending a Smurfitt Kapa building over that area - perhaps this is why we have seen this increase - or rather - repopulation of them

 

7 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

There's a bit here on what they can be fed  https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/07/what-hedgehogs-eat/

I think water is the most important at the moment - never milk.

The white plate has water on it - I think we need to come up with something different due to the increase in numbers but don't want to leave standing water as that is another attraction for rats..

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