Wild Hedgehogs should only be kept in enclosed gardens if they cannot cope in the wild because of an injury such as an amputated leg. However its worth remembering that a hedgehog with an amputated front leg will not be able to climb or dig, but an hedgie with a amputated back leg will still be able to climb and dig.
Healthy hedgehogs will travel a couple of miles each night in their search for food and would not settle in a confined enviroment. If you are lucky enough to acquire a hedgehog in need of a safe environment the following will help you to look after him/her. Never take a healthy hedgehog from the wild as it may have babies that will die if the parent does not return to the nest.
HOUSING YOUR HEDGEHOG
Line a box with thick newspaper on the base and fill it with dry straw. Sprinkle a little flea powder that contains Pyrethrum and is suitable for cage birds, onto the newspaper (and on to the hedgehog if possible) to deter fleas and ticks.
Emergency house - short term. Bag of straw, knot open end, punch hole at ground level and poke 3-4 holes in the top of the bag.
Your garden must be 'hedgehog friendly', i.e. no pesticides or slug pellets used, escape ramps of chicken wire or rocks placed in ponds and no netting to trap delicate legs. Ensure that swimming pool covers are well attached in the winter, and that the pool is checked every day in summer. Polystyrene floats left on the top of the pool can sometimes help to save a life.
Never spray hedgehogs for fleas or use any organophosphates in the garden as these are lethal to hedgehogs.
[Organophosphates are also the basis of many insecticides, herbicides, and nerve gases. Organophosphates are widely used as solvents, plasticizers, and EP additives.]
Captive hedgehogs must be fed everynight, even when on holiday, they will of course eat garden pests but will also need a supplementary feed, and the best time to feed them is at dusk when all the flies have gone and any left over food removed early morning.
Tue Mar 13, 2012 9:58 am
