make my garden hedgehog friendly?

[bitzy]

Hello, new here, hope you can help.

My garden has been overrun by slugs and snails for years, I hate the idea of slug pellets and, as I have cats, I can't think about any control that involves poisons or anything that would cause unnecessary suffering to the slugs or harm my cats.

This is a slug/snail problem that has a totally organic solution: the hedgehog!

We had Hedgehogs (HH) in this garden about 8 years ago, they would breed happily and parade their babies for us - quite enchanting. Then we got new neighbours and for whatever reason, the HH disappeared. We also have a very healthy fox (F) population, there is quite probably a link.

Now we have a new neighbour who is potty about wildlife too, so we're going to attempt re-introduction of HH. We've reduced the access holes in the perimeter fences to cat/HH size, hopefully the F will be too big to get through (there is some evidence that this has worked as there has been no F poo in my garden since) and HH will be safe from disembowelment in my patch.

I know HH aren't due to come out of hibernation for a couple of months yet, but I've constructed a home for them from strategically placed hide made from logs and bark, lined with fresh chopped hay, that should be cosy, wind and waterproof, close to my boggy corner that attracts load of slugs and snails (yum), and has a winding entrance to keep out my 6 cats (yes, I know, but my cats are wussie pussies and will leave the HH alone after their first prickle).

So, in the absence of HH estate agents (realtors US?) how do I advertise this new property to would be tenants? Should I be asking HH Rescue for prospective clients or do we just wait, and hope that there are still a few homeless HH left that have not yet succumbed to F ?

Meanwhile, the new season of slug and snail is about to begin, I usually supply them with cheap canned beer that sees off around 2 dozen each night, but seems to encourage more slippery PH visitors. How to break this cycle while keeping my conscience clear?

[sarahkeast]

Cant help on hedgehog advice, but will be watching this thread to get some ideas.

I have a little wildlife pond in my garden and 'adopted' a couple of jars of frogspawn from a nearby park pond; lots of little froglets were hopping around the garden later in the year, hopefully munching on the slugs. Chickens love the slugs too, but wreck the garden/veggies, so get fed them when I pick any up.

[darkbrowneggs]

I think it is the badgers rather than foxes which eat more hedgehogs.

When I was a child there were hardly any badgers, and always hedgehogs, but once the badgers were protected they ate all the hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs will, apparently eat slugs, though they don't enjoy them all that much and eat generally as a bit of a last resort (at least that is what is says in the books)

You could try the nematodes for slug control if you can't establish hedgehogs.

all the best
Sue

[MKG]

Hedgehogs are route-obsessive animals. They come out, amble round their feeding route, then go back in. It takes a world war to make them change that route. However, world wars (in the shape of new fences, new houses, etc.) do happen in the hedgehog world. You already have a hog-friendly garden. Now you have to ensure that, should a hog decide to vary its route, it can actually get into it. It isn't just your fences - you need to check that there is hog access all around you too.

We have the perfect hog garden. But as our surrounding neighbours have hermetically-sealed properties, we have not a single hedgehog.

We do, though, have hundreds of frogs.

Mike

[MKG]

Whoops

So good, I said it twice.

[lunalucy]

If you have a shed, putting piles of logs and leaves behind it will attract them. Also make sure you've not got any 'sheer drops' (i.e. manmade ponds, uncovered drains) that might trap them. Putting out hedgie food is the best incentive to get them to visit - a mixture of mealworms, dried fruit, nuts, etc will help. I know Noah's Ark Wildlife do a special hedgehog feed that they love (and keeps cats away - www.arkwildlife.co.uk). Also as others have said, plenty of routes in and out of your garden will encourage them to travel - I think they can do up to and over a mile a night on their foraging route, so if there's food in the vicinity they may well choose to stay. Basically, the more undercover, rambly, dry areas you can offer, the better. I've found that my hedgehog houses have laid empty and they've plumped for a big nest of dried twigs and leaves behind some trellis instead.

And the best part is when you see a mother hedgehog chaperoning her litter through the garden at dusk... good luck. Hope you get some hoggy residents soon :)

[MuddyWitch]

Our local hedgehog rescue woman is always appealing for hog-friendly gardens to release into. Try contacting your local branch.

Good Luck

MW