The ideal food for hungry hedgehogs this winter
Why you should not serve prickly garden visitors milk, bread - or tinned cat food
At this time of year hedgehogs should be hibernating, but occasionally they do wake up during the winter, and bumble sleepily around the garden.
If you find one, it will probably need feeding, says wildlife charity ASPAS.
Tinned cat food is no good as it might freeze, but sultanas, raisins, small cubes of cheese, chopped unsalted peanuts and dried cat food will be welcome – chicken flavour is generally their favourite. Do not feed them bread and milk as they cannot digest it, and do not feed them fish-flavoured cat foods. Do not give them salty foods, either. Give plenty of water as hedgehogs drink a lot of it.
If you find a hedgehog weighing less than 600grams, it will need specialist care as it does not have enough body fat to survive hibernation. In fact, hedgehogs do not have to hibernate; it is a survival mechanism to get them through the months when their normal food (insects, beetles and worms) is scarce.
During hibernation, a hedgehog stops moving, its body temperature falls and it feels cold to the touch. It stops moving, and will not breathe for long periods. Its heart rate drops to around 20 beats per minute. When waking up, it can shiver violently for up to an hour, in order to raise its body temperature and get its blood circulating again.
Sometimes hedgehogs wake up because the weather is unusually warm, or because their nest has become waterlogged or is too cold. It is, therefore, a good idea to provide a safe nesting place. A solid wooden box filed with straw, covered with a waterproof sheet, and raised off the ground (on bricks for example) with a covered tunnel entrance is ideal.
To protect sleeping hedgehogs, keep an eye out for them while tidying the garden.
Do not burn piles of leaves or garden waste without first checking carefully for sleeping hedgehogs, and if you find one, move it to a safer place.
Contact ASPAS (www.aspas-nature.org) for their leaflet containing all you need to know about hedgehogs and how to help them (in French only).
