Hedgehogs and the real truth about slugs

Many people assume that by having a hedgehog visit their garden or allotment it will automatically solve their slug / snail problem. We now know that this is simply not true – it is just another ‘Old Wives’ Tale’. Slugs and snails form less than 5% of a hedgehog’s natural diet. The rest comes from earthworms, caterpillars, beetles and other insects. The truth is that they will only eat slugs and snails when they are starving and there is nothing else for them to eat.

Slugs carry the intermediate stage of lungworm. Lungworms are deadly parasitic nematode worms that live in a hedgehog’s lungs and the hedgehog becomes infected after eating infected slugs. A hedgehog with lungworm will have severe breathing problems, will be underweight and also have secondary infections / pneumonia. Once the worms are well established, there is little that can be done to save the hedgehog and it will die a slow and agonising death as it struggles to breathe.

We have learned over time that lungworm is extremely prevalent amongst Autumn juveniles at exactly the time when there is little or no other natural food for them to eat in the wild – during the Autumn / Winter months. Lungworm accounts for a high percentage of hedgehog deaths and if not treated quickly the hedgehog will soon die.

There is another danger hedgehogs face when eating slugs, and that is when the slug has consumed deadly slug pellets. This can cause secondary poisoning when the slug is eaten by the hedgehog. PLEASE DO NOT USE SLUG PELLETS, USE AN ALTERNATIVE OPTION which is WILDLIFE FRIENDLY.


Please help the hedgehogs in your garden by regularly leaving out a dish of meat-based cat food and fresh water every evening, so they will not have to eat slugs and snails which can be potentially fatal.

Lungworm is awful frankie the hoglet I found in October had it , sadly and died and I believe Lucky Ludo had it too and es given several courses of antibiotics .

The treatment for lungworm is very effective but very harsh, the weakest hedgehogs often can't handle it and the injections are quite painful for the hog as the medication stings. Slugs are the bane of my life, 95% of the hogs I get in have lungworm.

Out of the 95% how many recover from it - would you say apart from cars, this is the major "killer" of hedgehogs ?? x

It depends on how sick they are to be honest. Those that come in cold and limp have virtually no chance and usually die the same day. Those that make it through the first night usually recover.

I don't have our statistics to hand but we have an 80% success rate and that includes hogs which were taken straight to the vet to be put to sleep. So the prognosis for a lungworm hog is good if they are found early enough.

Thanks Gemma - it really is interesting to get these facts and figures and also to know that they can recover if caught quickly - the one thing I have found with the APH is that the quicker you act on any symptoms the better - they go downhill so quickly so anything out of the norm should be checked sooner rather than later.

How many hoggies have you got in at the moment?

I have about 30 at the moment so it's quite quiet.

I have a nice photos example of what lungworm can do to a hog.

This was Amy when she came in, it was purely lungworm she had. You can see how emaciated she was.

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This is Amy today before being released back where she was found.

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wow, what a difference x

That is some difference - horrible disease - may sound silly but is it highly likely that she will get it again?

No more likely than any other hog.

Still cannot get over the difference - so nice to see them healthy after the treatment