the essentials in brief
- Hedgehogs love to eat insects. Even Nudibranchs, Toads and carrion are part of the food chain. The range of prey changes slightly over the course of the year.
- Hedgehogs may only be fed in exceptional situations. Feeding in the garden has more disadvantages than positive effects.
- Sick, weak and underweight animals need help. They can eat cat food but cannot tolerate milk.
What do hedgehogs eat in nature?
The natural menu is influenced by the season and weather conditions. Their digestive system specializes in certain foods, with the animals occasionally appearing as omnivores. Don't let this confuse you when you need to feed a hedgehog in distress.
also read
- This is how hedgehogs overwinter in your garden - tips for the right winter quarters
- Why, when and how do hedgehogs hibernate?
- Feeding hedgehogs correctly - guidelines for appropriate feeding
Meal plan in the wild
In nature, hedgehogs mainly eat snails, worms and other small insects
Hedgehogs have a very simple digestive tract that consists of a tube. Compared to their body length, their intestines are very short. An appendix is missing. The digestive system severely restricts the diet, even if hedgehogs occasionally appear as omnivores. The echinoderms are mainly insectivores. As nocturnal companions, they go in search of invertebrates in nature under cover of darkness.
Main food:
- insects: Ground beetles, millipedes and spiders
- Larvae: Caterpillars
- Molluscs: Annelids and snails
Occasionally the prickly four-legged friends eat carrion or they devour vertebrates. It happens that hedgehogs hunt frogs or mice. To a lesser extent, plant-based food sources are used in the garden to meet water needs or when the supply of invertebrates is low. This includes fallen fruits or roots. A purely vegetarian diet is not suitable for the animals. Your gastrointestinal tract cannot break down the plant-based food, so most of it is excreted undigested.
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Food spectrum in the course of the year
Hedgehogs are considered adaptable. The clever echinoderms know about the food supply that is available to them in the different seasons. They browse different sources where their main food is located. Due to their sweet tooth, hedgehogs are occasionally seen eating berries and windfalls.
| What do hedgehogs eat? | Influencing factors | |
|---|---|---|
| in the spring | Earthworms, millipedes and snails; occasionally bird eggs | Rainfall drive insects and worms to the surface of the soil |
| in summer | Beetles and, if available, nudibranchs | Drought favors warmth-loving beetle species |
| in the autumn | Apple, fruit and leftover roots | Insects in rotting parts of plants and overripe windfalls |
| in the winter | no food intake | Ground frost and snow limit the diversity of insects |
Digression
Is there really a lack of food in the dry summer months?
The situation is different with the insects, which make up the main part of hedgehog food. Warm weather has a positive influence on the development times of numerous warmth-loving species. As a result, certain beetles develop faster in hot summer months and can therefore reproduce more frequently. Several generations occur in a shorter time, which multiplies the hedgehog's food supply.
Can i feed hedgehogs?
Wild hedgehogs should not be fed
In general, the wild animals should not be fed. The habituation effect is too great, so that the animals quickly get used to the new and easily accessible food source. Even if young hedgehogs beg you with their heartbreaking gaze, refrain from additional feeding. They need the opportunity to prey on their own food. In these three exceptions, it is useful and necessary to support hedgehogs with additional feeding:
- Winter boulders: Hedgehogs are out of the too early Hibernation awake and find no food in the frozen ground
- Weaklings: Before the onset of winter, young hedgehogs weigh less than 500 grams
- illness: Animals are emaciated and suffer from a disease
Reasons against feeding
Domestic hedgehogs experience a rhythm over the course of the year that they have to adhere to in order to survive. If the animals are fed across the board in autumn and winter, their metabolism remains active. The risk is higher that they will not go into hibernation and will depend on solid food sources until next spring.
Hedgehogs should generally not be fed as they find sufficient food in nature. It is important to have a bowl of water in the hot summer months.
Hedgehog in need: what can a hedgehog eat?
Cat food is not good food for hedgehogs
No substitute food comes close to the quality of natural hedgehog food. If hedgehogs cannot find enough food between spring and autumn, you can think about emergency feeding. Remember that a feeding station needs to be kept clean. Dirty bowls carry a higher risk of pathogens multiplying.
Tips
Cat food is an alternative for exceptional cases. It is not ideal food, because it is not adapted to the needs of the hedgehogs as the main insect eater, but to the demands of the cats.
What do little hedgehogs eat?
A baby hedgehog that weighs less than 120 grams is not yet used to solid food. Such boulders are given substitute milk for puppies in rearing stations. In any case, feeding with cow's milk should be avoided. The lactose contained in it cannot be broken down in the intestine, so that the little hedgehog gets diarrhea. In the worst case scenario, he will die as a result of malnutrition.
What is a hedgehog not allowed to eat?
In numerous hedgehog guides it is reported that a homemade muesli is a varied substitute food. You should refrain from such experiments. The simply structured gastrointestinal tract is not able to utilize the food. Fructose leads to the formation of tartar and tooth decay. As a result, old animals often suffer from tooth loss and die from starvation.
- What hedgehogs are not allowed to eat: Milk, cheese, quark, yogurt and hazelnut biscuits
- What they cannot utilize: Raisins, apples, bananas and avocados
- What echinoderms do not destroy: Carrots, onions, lettuce, potatoes, leaves
What do hedgehogs drink?
Hedgehogs should never drink milk!
In nature, the animals satisfy their need for fluids by absorbing water from puddles, streams and ponds. Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and cannot break down milk sugar.
Tips
Weak hedgehogs can be pampered with a mixture of lukewarm chamomile tea and a little honey. However, the sweetener is not suitable for permanent feeding.
frequently asked Questions
Are hedgehogs good against snails in the garden?
Snails are on the menu of hedgehogs. These are destroyed in spring and summer when the damp garden beds offer optimal living conditions for the mollusks. However, hedgehogs are no guarantee of a snail-free garden. Only ten percent of the insect eater's entire food spectrum is replenished by snails. Since it eats snail clutches, it can somewhat curb the spread of the culture pests.
What kind of snails do hedgehogs eat?
Snails are considered emergency food for echinoderms. They are of less importance in the food spectrum. Which species are captured depends on the offer. During spring, hedgehogs eat snails that frolic between damp grasses. Later in the year, nudibranchs are not spurned either.
Snail species on the hedgehog menu:
- Tiger snails (Limax maximus)
- Garden slug (Arion hortensis)
- Ground keel cone (Tandonia budapestensis)
Slugs are avoided as far as possible. In Germany, hedgehogs are among the mammals that eat the Spanish slug (also known as the nasturtium). Before it becomes edible, the animal rolls its prey on the ground. The process, which takes up to half an hour, serves to remove the bitter-tasting mucus.
How can I help hedgehogs properly?
Piles of leaves are the ideal wintering place for hedgehogs
Much more important than supplementary feeding is a natural garden design so that the hedgehog finds a natural retreat with abundant sources of food. Make sure you are planted with native shrub species. Dead wood provides protection in undisturbed areas of the garden and offers winter quarters. Leave piles of leaves and grass to grow until spring. Old fruit trees that no longer bear well are considered biodiversity hotspots. They provide a habitat for heat-loving insects.
Can I keep hedgehogs in captivity?
Echinoderms are among the specially protected animal species and must not be caught and kept in the home for no reason. In exceptional cases, temporary accommodation is permitted if the animals are sick or weakened and would not survive the winter without human help.
Greens versus an attitude:
- Temperatures that are too warm let the metabolism run at full speed
- Energy reserves are used up too quickly
- If it is released too late, there is a risk that areas are already occupied
- overwintered juveniles have no experience in catching live prey
Anyone taking in a young animal for one winter runs the great risk that it will have poorer chances of survival in the coming year. The hedgehog may need human help again next winter. In nature, the cold season acts as a selection of well-adapted and weak hedgehogs.
What do hedgehogs like to eat most?
Hedgehogs especially like to stay in musty piles of dead wood to look for their main food. They like to eat insects that cavort under the bark and on the surface of the soil. These provide the echinoderms with proteins, trace elements and vitamins. Since their intestines have already digested the food after 20 hours, a hedgehog has to fill its stomach at least twice a night.