Hedgehog Food

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Hedgehog Food

What do Hedgehogs eat?

OK, now onto my favourite subject….yes thats right Hedgehog FOOD! What do Hedgehogs eat?

 

Oh food, food, Hedgehog food… I dream of you every night, I love you, I adore you and I just want to be surrounded by you always. In fact, I’m really quite obsessed with food and I am a little picky as well as prickly,  so I’m here to help you understand our little quirks and habits so you can help us stick around (and keep me one very happy, healthy hedgehog). The first subject of confusion that I’d like to tackle is….

  • MILK :   ‘Int Milk brill?’……..NO, seriously, Milk isn’t brilliant! It’s a really BAD idea, I can’t digest it, it gives me diarrhoea and could even kill me, I know your only helping but save it for the Calves and leave out some  fresh water instead. I think this video sums it all up very nicely…..

  • SLUGS & SNAILS:  I have to be honest, here,  I think your all a little confused when it comes to the subject of Hogs, Slugs and Snails. It isn’t the main Hedgehog food diet. I found an article on the rubbish pile yesterday, it said “Calling all Gardeners, cure your Slug problems forever, Adopt a Hedgehog” . Well actually I’m not a slug terminator, I am a multifaceted creature with hidden layers  and to be honest they can be a little slimy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eat them, a few here and there but they can be very harmful and are the number 1 killer of Hedgehogs. The little slime balls are full of Lungworm and that’s killed more of my friends and family than a trip across the M60. The lungworms multiply in our lungs until we can no longer breath or cause us to bleed to death. We actually prefer cute little Caterpillars.

 

  • MEAL WORMS and TREATS:  Yum…meal worms, meal worms, dried meal worms…my favourite Hedgehog food! Don’t worry if you can’t get them, I may be fussy but I do eat a pretty varied insect diet including beetles, caterpillars and worms. I’d just appreciate a bit more help when its coming up to hibernation time. I like Birds Eggs too, but don’t use that as an excuse to blame me for any latest reduction in bird species….thats your fault, but ok yes, I admit, I can be a little opportunistic on occasions. On the subject of Eggs, I don’t have a beak, so don’t bother leaving me seeds – keep them for the birds, I do like them but just find them quite hard to chew, the same with dried fruit, I only have a tiny set of teeth, the dried fruit sticks to them and a trip to the dentist can be a little tricky. There are loads of different Hedgehog Food you can buy ready-made, you can also make up your own for almost nothing. I prefer my food very moist so try mixing up a handful of unsalted crushed peanuts, dried meal worm, some small pieces of fresh fruit with a can of cat food or fresh chicken! Heaven…..
  • CAT FOOD:  Gourmet cat food please ( I am a little fussy and have a tendency to turn my nose up at the cheap stuff! Chicken flavour is my favourite by the way, but no fish flavour or jelly as that makes me really sick). Cat biscuits are also totally tasty, but again no fish flavours please. In fact I’ll have any leftover pieces of meat you might have, chop it up really small so I can get my tiny choppers around it, but nothing salty like bacon or corned beef

Please remember, we’re creatures of habit

  • Once you start to feed us Hedgehog food, don’t stop – leave it out every night with some water please
  • When you’re away ask a friend to help out so we don’t starve whilst your soaking up the rays
  • Please leave food and water out while we’re hibernating – just a small bowl will do,  we sometimes wake up for a midnight snack and it could save our life

 

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