I want to encourage hedgehogs!

[Lumpy]

To cut a long story short we want to encourage hedgehogs into our lottie by building a hogitat for them.
Our lottie was the former kitchen garden of a small stately home - it is surrounded by the house gardens, trees etc and we know they have hogs milling about.
We have a corner that has hedges as a boundary so.....
how do we build a hog house and how do we encourage the little beasts into it?

[Kristen]

I'd like to encourage some hedgehogs into my garden. Only ever seen one, and it didn't stay although there might be some that I haven't seen of course

There was a thread recently that might be of interest:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tat_83164.html

[dogsbody]

Some general advice on encouraging them in can be found here The RSPB: Advice: Homes for hedgehogs

[Knight of Albion]

Some excellent general info on hedgehogs

http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/faq.php

[Penellype]

I love hedgehogs but rarely see them as they don't tend to come out in the daytime. I know there is one around here somewhere though as he leaves poo on the lawn sometimes. Hedgehog poo is very distinctive - about finger sized and black with white chunks in it. It is probably the best way of monitoring whether you have hedgehogs or not, because if you see a hedgehog in the daytime its probably a sick hedgehog.

[Lumpy]

Thanks P - poo spotting tomorrow me thinks!

[greenishfing]

If you have got hedgehogs don't let your dogs roll in the poo- the stench is revolting- and for some reason Jack Russells seem to find it irresistable.

[Kirk]

Thanks P - poo spotting tomorrow me thinks!

It is winter and cold, any self respecting hedgehog will be curled up asleep in hibernation.

For hedgehogs you need unkept areas where they can get into and under and feel safe to sleep in. Not sure they actually have a sort of "home". At least not until it is time to hibernate when a nice hog hotel is searched out and they are preparing for their winter sleep.

They seem to like cat food but so do cats.
Think the best you can do is make a couple of areas suitable to them, maybe construct a wooden hog house and site them at good places and then wait and see what transpires.

[dogsbody]

Some info on buying or building (scroll to bottom of the page) your own hogitat Hedgehog Houses � Epping Forest Hedgehog Rescue

[Nicola.P]

It is also worth contacting some local wildlife rescues, come spring they will often have hogs that they have had in over winter that need to be released somewhere where the hogs are safe and can thrive. I know some often re home into peoples large gardens.

[richie_f82]

hogs

In my last house we didn't have a large garden (30ft by 30ft) but at the back there was an old hedgerow of trees and fallen debris which made a perfect run for the hogs so I built a box from the RSPCA website for them to hide in. Never saw any hogs or their poo for the 3 years we were there, however since we moved out (August last year) I found out that this winter that they have finally been seen in the garden.
Unfortunately where we live now is too built up with no natural habitats for them so no chance of a repeat.

[PyreneesPlot]

We found a hibernating hog at the bottom of a pampas grass a few weeks ago so need to buy/make a fancy house, just dedicate a 3mx3m patch for a plant!
(We were in the process of cutting down the foliage in order to move the thing, so another project delayed.)

[Mr Bones]

A couple of years back I came across an adolescent hedgehog one afternoon, happily running back and forth on the busy main road near the lotties. I flagged the traffic down, scooped it up then let it go on the allotment.
Top tip, when netting crops use chicken wire at ground level, hedgehogs easily get tangled in light weight mesh.

[Gillykat]

Our plot is right on the edge of the site and bordered by a hawthorn hedge and Hulne Park on the other side of that so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will be visited by a hedgehog I plan to have the plot completely organic and as attractive to wildlife as possible so it'll be interesting to see what turns up I'll be making a pond in the coming months too which should help enormously.

[Moopmoop]

I love hedgehogs but I daresn't encourage them in to the garden with my dogs

I do quite fancy a bee hotel, and after seeing this online a few days ago I think everyone needs to be jumping on the bandwagon.

Bees are directly responsible for the production of 70% of fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts that we consume on a daily basis.