Hedgehog food: These foods are suitable – and this one is not

Animal diet
Which foods are suitable as hedgehog food – and which are not?

Hedgehogs are foraging all year round – unless they are hibernating. While the animals have no difficulty in finding enough food in the warm months, in autumn especially young, orphaned, injured or sick hedgehogs have too little winter fat on their ribs. The same applies to weakened hedgehog mothers who, having raised their offspring, have not (yet) been able to eat enough to survive the cold season unscathed. The nocturnal wild animals primarily eat insects, but you can also treat them with special Hedgehog food strengthen. This article explains which ingredients are suitable and which are not.

Feed the hedgehogs – but only in exceptional cases

Just because you have seen a hedgehog looking for food in your garden several times does not mean that you have to intervene in the menu. On the contrary: if the animal is healthy and active, you can harm it by adding hedgehog food. Nevertheless, it can of course happen that a loner is dependent on your help – for example because he is sick, injured or weakened. The most common triggers that you should encourage action and feed are the following scenarios:

If one of the above-mentioned cases occurs, it is entirely permissible to feed hedgehogs. However, you should bear in mind that the animals – according to the Federal Nature Conservation Act – are protected and may not be caught. This is why you should Hedgehog food better lay out outdoors. What you have to pay attention to is explained in the next paragraph.

Hedgehog food: what do the animals normally eat?

Typically between October and November, hedgehogs start preparing for hibernation by eating a decent pad of fat. Depending on when and how quickly the temperatures drop, weight gain can start earlier. The wild animals mainly feed on insects (for example beetles, butterfly larvae, earthworms, beetle larvae, earwigs). Nuts, fresh vegetables and fruit, on the other hand, are not on their menu – on the contrary: hedgehogs cannot digest these foods so well, but still eat them in an extreme emergency (i.e. if they are hungry for a long time).

So if you want to buy ready-made hedgehog food to support a hungry animal, you always have to pay attention to the composition. Dried fruits and vegetables should be sparingly in the ready mix, instead meat, insects and egg products are among the best ingredients you can give a hedgehog. There are both specials Wet food as well as dry food for hedgehogs (for example 500 grams, 800 grams or 1000 grams). You can also mix the latter with some cat food (including a high proportion of meat) and wheat bran. Other foods that are suitable for the wildlife are hard-boiled eggs, Dog Food and minced meat (cooked).

Which foods do hedgehogs not tolerate?

As already mentioned, foods that are difficult to digest, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, are not suitable as hedgehog food. But also raisins, cakes, rice and pasta or bread should not be in the Food bowl of the animals land. The same goes for baby food and porridge for toddlers. However, the worst thing you can give a hedgehog is milk! No matter whether pure or in other products such as yoghurt – the animals are lactose intolerant, i.e. they cannot digest the lactose it contains. Not only do you get diarrhea, but you can even die from it. If you want to offer a hedgehog something to drink, water is the only right choice.

Feeding time: what to keep in mind

If you want to feed a hedgehog, the amount of feed should be made dependent on two factors: the weight of the animal and its state of health. To find out how light the weakened animal is, you can weigh it with the help of a towel and a kitchen scale (please outside). As a guideline, young hedgehogs should weigh between 500 and 700 grams, while adult animals weigh up to 1000 grams. If the reading is significantly lower, you can feed the hedgehog once a day in the evening – but only as much as in a cup ( i.e. a maximum of 150 grams) fits. Weigh the animal regularly; ideally, it should initially gain 15 to 20 grams a day from the hedgehog food. With weight gain, ten to 15 grams is enough.

The feeding station: safety first

The hedgehog food not only attracts the small wild animals, but also other animals such as rats and cats or even foxes. For this reason, you should not put the food bowl unprotected in the garden, but build a kind of feed box. To do this, take a small cardboard box without a bottom, in which you cut a small hole for the hedgehog – and weigh it down with a stone. Since the animals often dump their droppings where they eat, they have to be collected regularly. It is also important to clean the bowl thoroughly every day and to dispose of the leftover food. Because hedgehogs are also clean.

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