Unit 9, Lower Soldridge Business Park, Soldridge Road
GU34 5JF Medstead, Hampshire
Hours 08:00 - 20:00
To prevent other animals from accessing food, a feeding station can be created with an upside-down wooden box, with two small entrances around 11cm large. Make a corridor with a corner down which only a hedgehog can pass.
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Leaving uncultivated, undisturbed and wilder areas in our gardens will always promote and help all wildlife including hedgehogs.
Small structures can be left where hedgehogs can feel safe and protected during its winter hibernation.
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Be careful when clearing woodpiles and vegetation and leave these jobs until later in the spring so not to disturb hibernating hogs.
If a hedgehog has not been able to put on the amount of fat necessary to survive the hibernation (happens mostly in late litters), it will wake up. During winter the insects on which the hedgehog feeds will not be available due to cold conditions.
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The hedgehog may starve to death.
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The rescuing of underweight hedgehogs in view of the winter is necessary.
However, call the authorities near you or local authorized centre for advice since weight advice varies geographically.
There are however conditions in which even small hedgehogs can survive in special conditions. However these are unfortunately rare.
Another way to protect hedgehogs in winter is to not tamper with or destroy any burrows.
There could well be hedgehogs under sheds, heaps of wood, large piles of leaves and other accumulated garden waste.
Our cat is massive by the way !!!
There is always a huge discussion of how much a hedgehog must weigh to safely survive hibernation during winter.
The minimum weight required to overcome the winter can depend on geographical location (plains, hills, mountains).
Also now climate change is changing hedgehog hibernation behaviour across Europe. Click the button.
