Should I feed the hedgehog in my garden?

  • Thread starter Thread starter -Wolf Girl Ali-
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-Wolf Girl Ali-

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If so, what with? I've heard cat food? I have a cat anyway, so I wouldn't be buying just for the hedgehog btw...

Is it good to feed them or would they get too dependant?
 
As exciting as it is having wild animals in your garden, by feeding these animals it encourages them to come back and depend on the food you feed them. What happens when you move away and the next people stop feeding them, because they've become so dependant on you they don't survive. You don't want that do you?
Now I'm one of the BIGGEST animal lovers you'll come across and love having all the native animals in my yard but I don't feed them for this reason.
 
I don't think it hurts to feed them, and yes cat food is what they recommend. I think you will find they will move on eventually anyway, so enjoy your little prickly friends while they are there.

:)
 
Yes cat or dog food , but not milk , hedgehogs are harmless and their dwindling numbers because of development ,can be helped by encouraging them to stay in the safety of you garden
 
yes cat or dog food will do they are great for eating all the slugs in the garden as well
 
Hi,

There is nothing wrong with supplementing their natural diet with things like meat pet food, plain minced meat or cat biscuits (or even proper chog biscuits!) and during bad unseasonable weather they will surely be grateful, A few bowls of drinking water around the garden will also be received well but be sure not to do it too often as they may come to rely on you for food. Feeding them bread as someone on here said is a definite no no as is giving them plain milk as it can cause diarrhoea which is a serious condition for them, especially when food/water is short. If you wanted to give them milk, then goats milk or at a stretch watered down cows milk (at least 50/50) could be beneficial before they hibernate.

It's good to give nature a helping hand but as you have already hinted at, just not too often as to make them dependant.
 
They will eat all sorts of stuff. Cat/dog food, biscuits or veg, but they will always come back every night if you start feeding them, so if you're worried about them being too dependant you might not want to start, because once you do, it's kind of like having a pet.
 
Poke it with a stick so it curls up, then roll it safely away. Not near a road!
 
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