Before now I have never heard of any myths surrounding hedgehogs but if u look for them I can find that there are actually many. Most ridiculous and some even laughable here are my favourites:
During the 16th Centaurus some farmers thought that hedgehogs drank cows milk in the night and so hunted hedgehogs. Thousands of hedgehogs were killed for this reason.
The Romans’ used hedgehogs to tell when spring was coming. If the hedgehog came out of its nest and saw its shadow
This is one of my BIG questions Why aren’t we so enthusiastic about snails!!
So basically we are programmed to like human babies so that we take care of them and so the human species will continue to thrive and sometimes animals share traits with our human babies for example; puppies have big eyes just like our babies. With hedgehogs it is probably those big eyes which are used for seeing in the dark, but to our brains they look like our babies big eyes. Also, their soft stomachs, even their little size. Fun fact mini copper manufacturers made the front lights on their cars big to mimic the big eyes on a baby and send our cute receptors firing! The reason we like cute animals is that because they look a bit like human babies and we need to look after our babies so we can survive as I have previously mentioned. Well to ensure we like our babies when our cute receptors fire it fires off good feeling chemicals into our brain.
But now have a look at an edited photo showing some of the reasons why we find cute:
Thought you all might like to see some more pictures of our favourite little hedgehog. Anyone out there who knows what a pregnant hedgehog looks like??!! Also shortened his name to Russ so it could be either Russella or Russell. I did a quick bit of maths this morning and I figured that we should see our little hoglets between the 1st of September and the 21st of September!! If she is pregnant is she is a she!
p.s. if any of you want one of these cameras they come from a charity in Wales called nature spy, they are called trap cameras. So just search up nature spy and go to their shop! I personally have the browning type, but there are loads of different cameras to choose from under the browning type and other types:)
This is the main reason why I have become so obsessed with hedgehogs and trying to save them. We sometimes go out at night and wait till our little hedgehog comes out. Then we watch him while he goes about his business. It is amazing to think that you have you own hedgehog in you garden and when he walks around it is so magical. You can hear him so loudly crunching on his food and scratching and once he even sniffed my foot, however as the summer drew nearer and nearer Russell was coming out later and later and eventually at midnight. Obviously I wasn’t going to stay out until midnight! Now you might be wondering how I know he came out at midnight. It’s because I bought a trap camera. It is motion sensitive and so when out little hedgehog walks into the frame it takes pictures of him. Here are just a few, of the ones I have, but sometimes we get 40+ in one night!
![P00[0:0] E[107:0681]G[076:0x17] BV[55:0] IR[L]](https://hedgehogheaven.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/1st-experiment.jpg)
![C[P] R0S0 T21C:P0000 CAMERA1 M7](https://i0.wp.com/hedgehogheaven.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_0027.jpg?w=546&h=307&ssl=1 "P00[0:0] E[107:0681]G[100:0x1f] BV[49:0] IR[L]")
![C[P] R0S0 T17C:P0000 CAMERA1 M4](https://i0.wp.com/hedgehogheaven.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_0001.jpg?w=546&h=307&ssl=1 "P00[0:0] E[107:0681]G[192:0x3c] BV[26:0] IR[L]")
![C[P] R0S0 T07C:P0000 CAMERA1 M7](https://i0.wp.com/hedgehogheaven.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_0012.jpg?w=546&h=307&ssl=1 "P00[0:0] E[106:0721]G[192:0x3c] BV[25:0] IR[L]")
![C[P] R0S0 T03C:P0000 CAMERA1 M3](https://i0.wp.com/hedgehogheaven.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/aruss-3.jpg?w=546&h=307&ssl=1 "P00[0:0] E[110:0606]G[064:0x14] BV[60:1] IR[L]")
Sometimes we get the neighbours cat and because we have a bird feeder we get quite a few other birds on there. Mainly pigeons! However we think that we saw two hedgehogs in June and since then there has only been one. Now hedgehogs mate around May and June and so we think that our Russell may be a Russella and we are expecting hoglets around about now. So stay tuned!!
Do hedgehogs hibernate?
The answer is yes they do, although they do not hibernate continuously throughout winter every few days they get up to find food. Putting food out during the winter can be a life saver (literally) for hedgehogs, but don’t out out tinned food like tinned cat or dog food as it will freeze! And if you can put water out regularly otherwise this will freeze too.
Hedgehogs traditionally begin hibernation between October and November, however due to climate change hedgehogs are starting hibernation later and later. Some even begin in January as that is the coldest period of winter.
Did you know that during hibernation a hedgehogs body temperature drops to 1-5 degrees, compared to their normal foraging temperature of 34 degrees.
What weight do they have to get up to?
Adult hedgehogs should be at least 500 – 700g. This ensures they have enough fat to keep them going throughout the winter. Despite their regular forages food in Winter is very scarce and so they must put a lot of weight during the plentiful summer to make up for it.
Why do hedgehogs Hibernate?
Hibernation saves energy. As I have already mentioned food is scarce in the winter and if hedgehogs were as active as they are in the summer they would use more energy foraging than the energy given to them by eating food. Therefore to stay in a good energy balance hedgehogs only eat every few days.
Where do hedgehogs hibernate?
Pretty much anywhere in your garden: under a shed, in a compost heap, under piles of brambles of logs, or they might choose a bonfire. This is why you should always check your bonfire before lighting it as this is one way hedgehog numbers have severely reduced.
Hedgehogs have been around for about 15 million years. There 16 different species of hedgehog spread around the world, but in England hedgehogs are in serious decline. We built a hedgehog house a year ago and we’re lucky enough to have a resident – Russell.
In our garden I’ve watched my hedgehog grow from a little hoglet to a young adolescent. I would hate to think that Russell (our hedgehog) is part of a dying breed. It’s strange that children in prehistoric times would have looked at hedgehogs almost exactly the same as Russell.
Here are a few tips on how to keep hedgehogs like Russell safe for the next 15 million years!
Check your lawn before cutting it- if you’re cutting anything with strimmers check for hedgehogs as strimmers can cause serious harm to sleeping hedgehogs and they may die from their wounds, also if you are cutting your lawn with the lawn mower check first for hedgehogs, hedgehogs are usually nocturnal, but can sometimes come out in the day to get grass and leaves for their nest, if you do see one out in the day and have any concerns you can ring The British Hedgehog Preservation Society.
Keep your pond topped up and put a shallow ramp in that a hedgehog could walk up to escape the pond. Also you can put a few raised stones in the pond for hedgehogs to stand on. If you take these precautions hedgehogs should be fine as they are actually very good swimmers, but like humans cannot swim forever. Some hedgehogs can drown if the pond isn’t topped up enough.
Check bonfires before lighting them as they provide quite a nice sleeping place for hedgehogs.
I am going to post regular updates on Russell and try and take a good pic, but Russell is quite camera shy and waddles back to his house as soon as he sees a camera!
Hedgehogs have to eat LOADS of food before hibernation, they have to have lots of fat reserves to keep them going all Winter. Giving hedgehogs food is a really good way to help stop hedgehog populations declining. Also if you put the hedgehog food out in the open the hedgehog will come and get it and so if you go out in evenings you can see your hedgehog close up, I sprinkle them around the garden and you can hear the hedgehogs crunching on them. I have just gone and brought hedgehog food from a supermarket but you can buy them online and in wildlife shops, and my hedgehog always eats all of it, he is surprisingly good at finding all of the little nuggets. I put out my hedgehog food out every other day so that my hedgehog doesn’t become dependent on it, but has enough to keep him in the area and interested. I put out about a handful of pellets by his hedgehog house and then I sprinkle a few more pellets around the garden. This is so that I keep, the hedgehog moving around the garden so he/she can find slug and snail hotspots and as I have mentioned before I can also see my hedgehog close up.
In the wild hedgehogs eat pretty much everything here is a list of what
they eat:
So my dad for the Autumn and Winter moves the compost heap over to near the hedgehog house.
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society is a great website that can give you even more detail on how to look after our prickly friends.
hedgehog heaven 