Caring for Hedgehogs - Everything you need to know!
From feeding
Important facts about feeding Wildlife
Although well-intentioned, offering bread and milk to hedgehogs (or ducks!) can do more harm than good. Unlike humans, wild animals — including hedgehogs — are not designed to digest milk after weaning, and bread offers little to no nutritional value.
Never give milk or bread to wildlife.
Hedgehogs are insectivores by nature. In the wild, they thrive on a diet of beetles, earthworms, caterpillars, millipedes, earwigs, and other invertebrates.
If you’re unsure what to feed or how best to help, please don’t hesitate to contact us — we’re always happy to advise. 🦔💚
Feeding guidelines for Hedgehogs
To support their natural foraging habits, it's best to offer cat food just twice a week between June and October — this is enough to supplement their wild diet. During the colder months, from October to June, you can increase feeding to 4 to 6 times per week when natural food is scarcer.
It's a good idea to check with neighbours to see if others are also feeding the local hedgehogs. Too much supplementary food can lead to over-dependence on humans and reduce their natural foraging. It can also cause weight gain, which isn't healthy — overweight hedgehogs may struggle to curl into a tight ball, making them more vulnerable to predators like dogs, foxes, and badgers.
How you can help a garden Hedgehog
Make a feeding station. A plastic storage box upside down with a CD size hole about 5 inches square, with a tunnel in the hole, will allow hogs to get in for the food but keep cats and other larger animals out.
Put a bowl or 2 of cat food in but keep the water outside, as hogs will walk in and sometimes poop in the water bowl. A couple of heavy bricks on top will stop a bigger animal toppling it over and you have a perfect Hedgehog restaurant. If you use a clear box you can watch your Spiky Butt without disturbing him.
We don't know if they can tell the time but you might have one, 2 or 3 hogs visiting your feeding station the same time each night! Maybe they can tell the time using the moon and the stars?? Clever Spiky Butts!
What do Hedgehogs eat? Their diet...
Hedgehogs are always grateful for an extra meal, especially during the colder months. While a natural diet is best, cat or dog food in jelly — particularly lamb or chicken flavours — can be a helpful supplement when needed.
⚠️ A quick caution: Snails can carry lungworm, a parasite that many hedgehogs pick up from their diet. This can cause serious respiratory issues, including pneumonia, and can be fatal in severe cases. For this reason, it’s best to leave snails off the menu.
Dry food is a great addition too, as it helps maintain healthy teeth. And don’t forget a shallow dish of clean, fresh water — always appreciated!
While hedgehogs enjoy a treat now and then, their favourites remain caterpillars, beetles, and earthworms.
Fun fact: Hedgehogs have such keen hearing, they can actually detect insects moving underground!
Choose Hedgehog-Friendly Bowls
It’s important to ensure any feeding or water bowls are accessible and safe for hedgehogs. Bowls with high sides can make it difficult for them to reach the food, and in some cases, they may even fall in and become trapped.
Casserole dish lids — particularly glass ones — make excellent shallow feeding dishes and can often be found in second-hand shops. Opting for dishwasher-safe varieties is ideal, as cleanliness is essential, especially if slugs or snails have visited.
Shallow water dishes are equally important, as they’ll be used by hedgehogs as well as other wildlife and birds. Fresh water should be provided daily, and during colder months, the bowls should be checked regularly and any ice broken to ensure continued access.
Bonfires & Compost: A Hedgehog’s Hidden Home
Compost heaps are also a lovely warm snug bed for the cold months so before burning any leaf litter or garden waste please check CAREFULLY that a hedgehog has not moved in for the winter.
Hedgehogs can move in over night so if you must burn a bonfire, then set a small fire a distance away and feed the fire from the large pile or even better, just leave it to rot down naturally and increase the biodiversity for insects, frogs and hogs.
