Hedgehogs are waking up

Hello Mr. Womble!  He’s had a good winter sleep and now he’s waking up and he’s hungry.   After a good feed Womble went back into his nest, the weather isn’t quite warm enough yet for a complete abandonment of hibernation.  Some of the others who stayed with us are also stirring, the rest are still asleep. We’ve been putting a big dish of food out for the last month or so, hedgehogs are nocturnal so we don’t always know who is eating it.

If you have hedgehogs in your garden please put food out for them, the last weeks of hibernation are critical.  They need enough energy and body fat to survive till the spring finally comes.   Cat food is good (chicken not fish), also sunflower seeds or special hedgehog food.   A big dish of clean water is appreciated but not milk as it isn’t digestible for them.

Our hedgehogs have wintered in several nests of hay and leaves, all quite close to each other.  When the weather finally turns warm they’ll be up and away.  Not to find friends and family though, hedgehogs are solitary creatures unless they are looking for a mate.