Hedgehog dangers x

BONFIRES

Bonfires pose a real threat for hedgehogs. Hedgehogs often nest for hibernation in piles of leaves, which turn out to be bonfires. Bonfires are then set on fire, and the hedgehogs die. If you build a bonfire, move it to another location before you light it. This way you can find any hedgehogs. Just leave them for a bit, and they will soon wander off.

HEDGEHOG ROAD DEATH

Sadly, many of us will have seen squashed hedgehogs on the roads. When surveys have been carried out to find out which animals are killed most often on our roads the poor hedgehog often comes out in the top four.
Surveys have calculated that about 12,000 to 15,000 hedgehogs are killed on our roads every year. This seems a very big number, but if the hedgehog population can suffer these deaths, and yet not go extinct, surely this is a good thought.

CUTTING THE GRASS-LAWN MOWERS AND STRIMMERS

Hedgehogs are often hurt by lawn mowers and strimmers, especially if the grass is long. Ensure you check what you are cutting very carefully.

THE DANGERS OF SLUG PELLETS

The main ingredient in slug pellets is a substance called metaldehyde. The reason it is used is because it is (usually) harmless to other animals, and because it takes only small doses to kill slugs. To kill a slug, it takes between 5 and 20 micrograms of metaldehyde per gram of slug. Whereas a hedgehog sized animal would need 200 - 1,000 micrograms per gram. So it would take 40 - 50 times as much to kill a hedgehog than a slug. That is a lot, but many other factors need to be considered. For example, will hedgehogs eat slug pellets? They do not usually like hard, dry things but post mortems have found slug pellets in hedgehogs, proof that they will eat them occasionally. However, this is not proof that they died as a result of eating the slug pellets. Another question is: what if hedgehogs eat poisoned slugs? Dead or sick slugs are an easy target for hedgehogs, so it would seem that many hedgehogs could get metaldehyde in this way. But metaldehyde soon decomposes in dead slugs, so the risk is minimal. If however, a hedgehog did eat poisoned slugs, the sort of doses involved would mean that a hedgehog would have to eat about 5,000 slugs for it to prove deadly. Some tests show that to kill a 1lb (500g) hedgehog it would take about 250 milligrams of metaldehyde, much more than would be consumed by eating poisoned slugs, or pellets themselves.
This seems to suggest that slug pellets are safe, but this does not take into account the effect of small doses which could cause smaller problems from sickness to birth defects. It would seem that more research needs to be done in this area.

There are some things that you could do though:

Purchase only pellets that contain blue dye and taste nasty to hedgehogs.
Use slug pellets sparingly.
Try hiding them where slugs can easily get, but hedgehogs can't. Under a propped up paving slab is a good idea, as this sort of shady place actually attracts slugs, but hedgehogs can't get here.
Remove and bury dead slugs.

Good to no some of these at this time of year .x

Please don't use slug pellets at all. You can't possibly collect up all the slugs that eat it, many bury themselves. Frogs eat the slugs, hogs eat the dead frogs.

Rat poison is the same. Hogs won't eat it but they will eat the dead mice and rats. We get at least 2 hogs in each year with blue poo (slug pellets) or vivid green poo (rat poison).

If you have plants that must be kept slug free then use [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] which is the preferred method for the National Hosta people.

I don't use slug pellets at all ... thanks for sharing the info Gill .x

Thats really interesting that... I thought it was in case the hedgies ate the poisoned slugs... never thought about them eating the poisoned frogs, toads or mice and rats....

xoxox

Why it is good to have an excellent wildie carer on the forum - that way we all get to learn what we should and shouldn't do