Encounter with Our Hedgehog in the Garden

We always feed our hedgehogs in the fall so they can go into hibernation round and healthy. For that, we cut a small entrance door into a flower bowl, and the food is placed underneath it.

Today we came into the garden and one of our hedgehogs was sitting in the feeding house looking for food. Since the bowl was already empty, we quickly put a filled bowl next to the little house. And then we watched him with such joy as he munched and munched ... it was simply so lovely to see.

I’d like to share this joy with you here and show you our hedgehog. By the way, the food is available at Dehner (also online). It has the most natural composition, and our hedgehogs like it best.

Aaawwww... How cute! I could have watched that for hours, too...

That’s so cute, dear Monika! Last week on our evening walk with our dog, I also spotted two hedgehogs right away—even my dog sniffed one of them before we’d even noticed it ourselves. It was such an enchanting sight, and I didn’t have my phone with me

Have a wonderful day, best wishes, Ines

By the way, my mom is working on the poncho :) though in different colors; she’d like to knit it exactly in the colors from the pattern, so now I’m quickly trying to get those, and it’ll be part of her birthday present next week

He sure has an appetite!

We’re also working on creating different sleeping spots using branches and leaves in the garden—which isn’t hard in our overgrown garden. We definitely have one hedgehog; he comes by every night to eat.

That’s so cute—I’d love to feed him, too.

Many years ago, we also had hedgehogs in our garden, but unfortunately not anymore.

How cute ;-)

Oh, how cute. Thank you, dear Monika, for sharing this lovely moment with us. You don’t see these cute hedgehogs around here nearly often enough. I think they’re so adorable, just like the little squirrels that pop by every now and then.

OMG, that’s so cute. Hedgehogs are just so adorable. Dear Monika, thank you so much for sharing these cute pictures, and have fun with your hedgehogs!
Best regards
Elke

Oh, how cute! With a food supply that’s always promptly replenished, the hedgehogs are naturally happy to come back again and again. 

Great photo, dear Monika. Most of the time, you don’t have a camera with you at moments like that. Your garden is home to some lovely little creatures, and they’re cute and useful, too. If I were a hedgehog, I’d want to live in your garden, too. I had no idea you could buy special hedgehog food.

We have hedgehogs in our garden, too. But they find enough food here to get them through the winter.

Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful photos. They’ve put us all in a great mood!

Oh, my dears, I’m so happy that you’re sharing in my joy. We stood there yesterday as if rooted to the spot and couldn’t tear ourselves away from watching him eat. Then my husband quickly went into the apartment and grabbed the camera. That’s how we were able to capture these beautiful moments. We’re also happy that our hedgehog looks well-fed and will surely make it through the winter just fine.

By the way, we only started feeding him after a hedgehog was sitting under our bird feeder in the middle of winter. Back then, we contacted the hedgehog rescue center, which advised us to set up a little house like this outside for the food. The cats would always steal the cat food, though. So we looked for special hedgehog food and found some.

I’ve done a lot of research on hedgehogs. With these nighttime temperatures, they can hardly find any food anymore. But they need it to survive hibernation. They can’t go into hibernation, though, until the temperature stays consistently below 5 degrees day and night for a few days. Since we’ve been doing this—also in the spring to help them gain weight, by the way—we haven’t had any sick or skinny hedgehogs in our garden anymore.

We also have a garden with lots of overgrown corners. In one of these corners, we’re going to put down some straw and then add small twigs, leaves, and so on. That’s where they can go to sleep.

By the way, we also made a short video, but unfortunately I can’t upload it here (at least I don’t think I can). I’m sure you’d enjoy it, too.

I just discovered these photos on my photo album. They’re from August.

He hasn’t come out to eat for the past three days. I wonder if he’s already hibernating? It’s not really that cold yet. Or maybe, with all the rain, he’s found something better than cat food (which I can understand).

Oh, what a magnificent specimen, Petra. Wow! He’s well-fed.
Ours are still relatively small, and right now they’re eating day and night. It’s just too warm to sleep. We’ve now made them a bed with several places to hide. Let’s see if they’ll use it. The next few days will still be relatively warm, so they’ll have a chance to put on a few grams. I’ll post a photo of their sleeping spot later, too.

Now we’ve set up a luxury winter home for our hedgehogs. We got some straw from a farmer and placed our hedgehog house next to it. Now they have a choice of what they like best. In November, we’ll add leaves and twigs on top.

We also have two corners of the garden where we’ve piled up the trimmings from the hedge. Leaves are still falling from the trees there, so everything is all set there, too.

Unfortunately, we’re probably the only ones in the area with a garden suitable for hedgehogs to sleep in. All the other yards around us are neat and tidy but look pretty bare. There aren’t any cozy nooks for sleeping there.

Here’s a photo of the luxury version. :-)

 

Monika, that really is a luxury hotel! The hedgehogs are sure to love it there!

Yes, Ruth, I think so too. We bought the house years ago from someone who builds these houses specifically for hedgehogs. It had just been sitting in the basement until now, but we’re going to leave it in the garden year-round. In the summer, it serves as a great retreat, especially when the hedgehogs have young.

Oh, Monika, the little hedgehog will surely be delighted—and who knows, maybe a little male or female will move in too, and then there may soon be babies next year.
It looks very inviting and serves a good purpose as well.

Monika, your luxury villa for the hedgehogs looks great. I’m sure they’ll move right in.

Well, we see it as a luxury villa. Hedgehogs might see it a little differently. ;-)
Basically, it doesn’t matter whether they hibernate under or next to the house in the straw. The main thing is that they’re well protected. Right now, they’re eating less, which also means they’re getting ready. The nights are already pretty cold.

Ines, every hedgehog needs its own spot to hibernate. Especially once they’re sexually mature. They’re basically loners, except when they’re still small. To hibernate, they should weigh at least 500 g. Judging by our hedgehogs, I’d say they’re probably there.

I’m really curious to see which of the spots we’ve offered they’ll prefer. :-)