Helping Hedgehogs

Native hedgehogs are vulnerable and should be treated with care, says Grace Johnson, hedgehog officer for Hedgehog Street. Here’s her advice on helping hedgehogs.

Don’t keep them as pets

“It’s best not to handle native wild hedgehogs. Evidence shows they can get quite stressed if they are handled unnecessarily,” says Johnson. “The wild species we have in Ireland is the west European hedgehog, which is a dark brown colour.”

“A lot of the pictures you see on social media are of African pygmy hedgehogs, which people keep as pets and often you see them dressed up doing cute things. African pygmy hedgehogs are much paler and quite distinct. We don’t recommend them as pets.”

African pygmy hedgehogs are solitary wild animals which are naturally nocturnal and have complex needs that can be difficult to meet to keep the animal healthy and happy.

Don’t pick them up unless you think they are injured or sick

“If you see a hedgehog out and about at night, you are very lucky. As long as it’s not trapped, or caught in netting or drains, leave it and watch it from a safe distance,” says Johnson. “They don’t have a fight or flight reflex like we do. If they are feeling threatened, they will curl up into a ball. They can bite, they are wild animals who will try to protect themselves if they need to.

“If you need to handle an injured hedgehog, wear thick gardening gloves to protect yourself and the hedgehog. Bring it inside and put it in a high sided box lined with an old towel or fleece that it can hide under, because it will be scared. Also put a hot water bottle filled with just warm water in there so the hedgehog can warm up if it needs to.”

Don’t move them too far away from the road

If you move a hedgehog which is precariously close to a road, it may disorientate the creature, Johnson warns. “In the summer months, that might be a mother who now can’t get back to her nest because she’s been moved away from it. Sometimes people might put them in a garden, but if that garden doesn’t have good access to other gardens and to their original nesting site, it can be dangerous. You could maybe steer it a little way from the road but not too far.”

Don’t use dog or cat flea powder on them

“Hedgehogs can be full of fleas, but they are host-specific so they can’t live on people or pets. If you see one in your garden covered in fleas, don’t use commercial pet treatments because they are generally going to be too strong,” says Johnson. “Seeing a hedgehog scratching is completely normal.”

Don’t give them milk or bread or fishy flavoured pet food

“We don’t recommend bread or milk or any human food. Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, so the milk will upset their tummies. Bread doesn’t provide any nutritional value for them.

“Feeding hedgehogs is a good idea – we recommend meaty cat or dog food – but try to avoid fishy flavours because they can sometimes upset the hedgehogs’ tummy. Dried kitten biscuits and things like that are fine. You can get hedgehog mixes – but some are padded out with wheat and rice. Go for a high meat content in mixes. And leave water for them too.”

Don’t think that they will keep your slug population down

Some gardeners might create what they consider to be a hedgehog feeding station using slug and snail-loving plants such as hostas, but slugs and snails can give them internal parasites such as lungworm, warns Johnson. “Slugs and snails don’t form a major part of the hedgehogs’ natural diet. They’d rather feed on earthworms, beetles, caterpillars and earwigs.”

Don’t go mad with the strimmer or mower

“Have a mixture of long and short grass, leaving a patch of the lawn to be a bit longer. Try to plant native wildflowers and mix annuals such as cornflowers and poppies with perennials like trefoils.

“Rethink weeds a bit. Dandelions are good for insects and pollinators, while low dense shrubs such as hebes and UK grown fruit trees will attract insects as the fruit falls.” And if you are strimming, check first that there are no hedgehogs hiding in the long grass.