While we are on a common subject of hedgehogs at the moment, I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread about what they eat and just as importantly what not to give them to eat.

I read in a previous thread you shouldn't give them bread as it fills them up but isn't nutritious, is that correct?

bread is not the best thing to feed hedgehogs although cows milk should definitely not be fed to them. It can upset their stomachs quite badly.

I make hedgehog food from a mixture of puppy and kitten biscuit, dried fruit (bananas, mango, sultanas, raisins, currants etc), chopped nuts inc coconut, crunchy nut cornflakes, rice crispies, rabbit/guinea pig food and a bit of actually hedgehog food. I've always found it to be very popular, even with the pickiest of hedgehogs!

Most important though is to provide water. Hedgehogs can easily become dehydrated and drink far more than most people realise.

Definitely lots of water! And I too have heard bread is not really a great idea, the same with other animals too.

Mine (although I have not seen any thins year yet fingers crossed eat dried cat food, sunflower seeds and peanuts.

Thanks for the posts, glad I was right about the bread, I'll spread the word as I know people who have fed bread to hedgehogs in the past. Cat a dog food seems to be a popular choice so I'll go for that and see how it goes down with the local hedgehog population!

Cazzagirl, how picky do hedgehogs get? Do they each have their own specific tastes? It seems like you have quite a large range of food there!

We had a hedgehog in our garden, and we fed it cat food (becasue we have a cat, but she wasn't too happy about her food going to some prickly ball!) It went down really quickly, and it turned up every morning at the same time ready to be fed!

Strewth, these hedgehogs are better fed than me!

Does feeding them have any effect on the amount of slugs and snails in your garden?

That is a very difficult question to answer.

It reduces the number becasuse there are more hedgehogs being fed so more can survive;
But it can also increase their amounts becasue the hedgehogs are eating the food we supply them, and not the snails and slugs.

I think the snails and slugs are in constant balance with the hedgehogs.

I certainly noticed a decrease in the number of slugs in my old garden, but as my old garden used to absolutely crawling with slugs and they would eat all the veg I was growing anyway I was glad to see the back of a few of them. Slugs and snails contain parasites which can make hedgehogs very ill if they eat only them, which is why hedgehogs need the varied diet.

In response to the picky hedgehog question I can say every hedgehog I've had in has had different food preferences. Some adore fruit, others won't touch it, some love grass pellets, others pile them in a corner and poo on them (how's that for a display of their feelings towards things???) which is why I feed such a variety of food to them. At least then there should be something in there they will eat

I read somewhere that hedgehogs will be extinct sometime in the not too distant future; something like 25-30 years away.

When do hedgehogs come out of hibernation? Last year was my first year watching them but I have not seen any yet this year.

When its mild they might not even hibernate, just sleep the odd few days through winter. About now onwards you can expect to see them out and about in the evenings

It's great how they all have different tastes and personalities, makes them really interesting to watch and hear about.