Hedgehogs in your Garden - Information from Warrington Hedgehog Rescue

Hedgehogs in your garden
If you are lucky enough to have hedgehogs visiting your garden then putting out food for them will encourage them to keep returning and possibly hibernate or even raise a family in a quiet corner of the garden, foods that hedgehogs like are =



Tinned cat or dog meat (but not fish flavour)

Dry cat food (but not fish flavour)

Crushed Peanuts (not salted)

Sunflower Hearts

Dried Mealworms

Sultanas/Raisins (make sure your pet dog can’t get to these as they are toxic to dogs and can make them very ill)

The odd digestive biscuit as a treat

Leftover cooked chopped chicken (no bones)



ALWAYS PROVIDE A SHALLOW BOWL OF CLEAN WATER FOR THEM TO DRINK.



NEVER GIVE MILK TO HEDGEHOGS, THEY ARE LACTOSE INTOLERANT AND MILK WILL MAKE THEM VERY ILL AND COULD KILL THEM.



If you have never seen hedgehogs in your garden but would like to encourage them to visit ( providing they CAN get in/out) then try putting out food/water for them and if there are any in your area then they should start to appear but be patient.

Slug pellets and other pesticides are responsible for the deaths of many hedgehogs every year, if a hedgehog eats slugs that have previously eaten slug pellets then the hedgehog can also die, there are alternative safer methods to control the slugs in your garden.


If you have a pond make sure that any hedgehog that falls in can get out again, either by making a ramp out of wood or by hanging something over the side of the pond so the hog can climb out or just have a wildlife pond with shallow sloping edges.

Make sure there is no strawberry/fruit/veg netting left lying on or close to the ground as the hedgehog may not see it and could attempt to walk through it, if it does this it will be unable to back out due to it's spines getting tangled.


Take care when digging in your compost heap, there could be a sleeping hedgehog in there which could be injured by the fork or spade.



If you have pet dogs take care when letting them out in the garden after dark as they may rush to “investigate” the prickly ball on the lawn and both hog and dog could be injured.

Please check long grass/undergrowth before using a strimmer/lawnmower, every year many hedgehogs receive terrible injuries or are killed by the careless use of these machines.


Providing a hoghouse in your garden can also encourage hedgehogs to visit and maybe even stay.

Interesting, we have never been lucky enough to see a hedgehog in our garden, but my mum has had a couple recently xx

I have just ordered a hedgehog house but i do have a empty shed so thinking about doing that out for my wilde family i have in my garden ..x Didn't no about the biscuits interesting read .x