Support hedgehogs in autumn

You can give hedgehogs a good helping hand in the garden. Find out how to build a hedgehog house and whether you should feed a hedgehog here.

Cute face, black button eyes and pointed spikes - hedgehogs are welcome visitors in the garden. But even though gardens are one of the hedgehog's most important habitats, the cute animals have more and more problems finding a suitable place. A lack of hiding places, a scarce food supply and other factors make it difficult for many hedgehogs to survive. But helping hedgehogs in the garden is not that complicated - you can find out what a hedgehog house is and how best to feed hedgehogs in this article.

Why should you support hedgehogs in autumn?

Hedgehogs not only look interesting and cute, but can also be particularly useful in the garden: slugs and other pests are on the hedgehog's menu. Garden owners can therefore especially look forward to a hedgehog in the garden, because the prickly beneficial insect helps in the fight against insect pests in the garden. At the same time, you don't need to be afraid that the hedgehog will cause damage to the garden - because it helps He relies almost exclusively on animal protein in his diet, and neither nibbles nor nibbles on the vegetable patch Windfalls. The concern that hedgehogs will devastate the garden bed is therefore unfounded. Especially when there are children in the house, the hedgehog fulfills other tasks in the garden: The nice garden dweller is an ideal candidate to arouse children's interest in the garden and nature. Observing the hedgehog in the garden is exciting for the little ones and building hedgehog houses or laying out food for the hedgehog often creates enthusiasm and helps children to get a first impression of forest and garden animals obtain. However, an adult should always be present when observing the hedgehog to ensure that the children do not get too close to the hedgehog. Touching, such as caressing, not only means stress for the wild hedgehog, but also poses a risk of injury for the child due to the sharp spikes. A safe distance should therefore always be kept when observing.

Prepare the garden for the hedgehog in autumn

Hedgehogs are particularly dependent on our support in autumn, because the approaching winter is associated with great hardship for the small animals. Fortunately, you can help hedgehogs with little effort if you prepare your garden for the hedgehog in autumn.

Build a hedgehog house as winter quarters

Fewer and fewer gardens have enough possible winter quarters for hedgehogs in which they can hibernate. A simple but effective measure to help hedgehogs in winter is to provide a suitable shelter for hedgehogs. In larger gardens, it is advisable to set up a "wild corner" with piled up brushwood, thick bushes and piles of leaves, in which the hedgehog can find shelter. Rain- and wind-protected locations between bushes or next to walls are particularly suitable.

If you don't have space to create such a corner, you can still build a shelter for the hedgehog: A hedgehog house is an ideal shelter for the small animals and does not take up much space.

If you want to build a hedgehog house yourself, you don't even need a lot:

• 2 cm thick, at least 26 cm wide wooden boards
• Roof battens or other square timbers
• linseed oil
• Jigsaw
• Cordless screwdriver, 3-hole drill
• Wooden file
• 4 x 35 countersunk head screws
• paint brush

First the individual parts for the construction of the hedgehog house are drawn on the boards and then sawn out with a jigsaw. A 40 x 26 cm rear part and a 49 x 36 cm roof are required. You also need two angled side panels (24 resp. 26 x 30 cm) and a sloping partition (24 resp. 25 x 17 cm). Due to the slight slope of the roof, the rainwater can later run off better. The front is 40 x 24 cm in plan, but should have a 10 x 10 cm recess in one corner as an entrance for the hedgehog.

Dimensions of the components:

• Back wall 40 cm x 26 cm
• Side part (2x) 24 resp. 26 cm x 30 cm
• Partition wall 24 resp. 25 cm x 17 cm
• Roof 49 cm x 36 cm
• Front side 40 cm x 24 cm with a 10 cm x 10 cm exit

Once the parts have been cut out, all edges should be smoothed with the wooden arrows so that there are no sharp edges on which the hedgehog could injure itself. Now the front, back and side parts are connected to one another. It is best to pre-drill the holes with a wood drill before screwing the parts together. The partition is screwed inside the hedgehog house next to the entrance to the front of the house. This winding entrance area protects the hedgehog from possible larger predators such as dogs. For the roof, the depth of the interior is measured and two roof battens shortened accordingly. These are attached to the sawn-out roof so that they are with the side walls and front and back sides lock - so the roof can be removed, but does not slide down to the side if something happens gets stormier. Finally, the wood is coated with a non-toxic glaze (for example with linseed oil) so that it becomes more weather-resistant.

Summary building a hedgehog house:

• Saw out components with a jigsaw
• Smooth edges
• Connect the front, side and rear panels with screws
• Screw on the partition next to the entrance inside the hedgehog house
• Measure the depth of the interior and cut two roof battens to length
• Screw the roof battens onto the roof
• Paint the hedgehog house with linseed oil

If you have built your own hedgehog house, it still has to be placed correctly. A quiet, undisturbed space that is also protected from the weather is ideal. It has proven useful, for example, to set up the hedgehog house in or under a hedge. Hedgehog houses are particularly well received if they are covered with brushwood and leaves. But what do I fill a hedgehog house with? Basically, the hedgehog house should only be filled in the sleeping area and not in the entrance area: hay, ideally in organic quality, is best suited to fill the hedgehog house. The sleeping area can be well padded with hay.

Should you feed hedgehogs in winter?

A big problem that many hedgehogs have in the garden is that they cannot find enough food. Feeding hedgehogs can therefore make sense, especially in the beginning of spring, in late autumn and in very mild winters with a sudden rise in temperature. Because immediately before and after hibernation, but also when they wake up early during a warm weather period, the animals have an urgent need to strengthen themselves with some food. It is important to pay attention to suitable and hygienic feed. Above all, animal protein, which they ingest in the form of beetles, snails and insects, is essential for the survival of these cute animals. Inexperienced young animals in particular often cannot find enough food to make ends meet. Animals that do not have a typical pear-shaped shape in autumn, but rather appear elongated or even have sunken flanks, are clearly malnourished and in need of human help to get through the winter survive.

Garden owners can easily support the animals by feeding the hedgehogs. Wet cat food is particularly suitable as hedgehog food, as, unlike dog food, it only has a small percentage of grain and contains a lot of animal protein. Unseasoned scrambled eggs and special hedgehog feed from the animal market can also be fed to hedgehogs without any problems. Milk is also recommended as feed for hedgehogs - but this is not suitable for feeding hedgehogs because the animals cannot digest the lactose (milk sugar) it contains and often with gastrointestinal problems react. Also human leftovers or fresh fruit are unsuitable for hedgehogs, because hedgehogs are mainly carnivores.

It is best to place the food on a plate in a sheltered place in the garden. An upturned wooden box with a hatch for the hedgehog can also protect the food from moisture and other animals such as cats or birds. During the day, the feed should always be checked and leftover residues should be removed if necessary so that mold does not develop.

summaryFeed the hedgehog:

• Suitable feed for hedgehogs: wet cat food, hedgehog food, unseasoned scrambled eggs
• Unsuitable food: milk, fruits, leftovers
• Place the feed in a sheltered place
• Daily control and removal of leftover feed

tip: To check whether the food has actually been eaten by the hedgehogs in the garden and not for A game camera can be set up at the feeding station to attract rats, cats or madmen will.

Hedgehog-friendly garden design

How can you help hedgehogs? This question is easy to answer: The best protection for hedgehogs is not help in an emergency, but rather creating a hedgehog-friendly garden. A hedgehog-friendly garden should be designed as close to nature as possible in order to offer the hedgehogs suitable shelter and feeding opportunities. Particularly dense, flowering hedges are a paradise for hedgehogs, because they not only serve as shelter, but also attract numerous insects, which the hedgehogs use as food.
The hedgehog, on the other hand, does not like fences because they exclude him from the garden. If you already have a fence in your garden, you can provide this with a 10 x 10 cm hole on the ground - this way the hedgehog can get in, but possible larger enemies such as dogs remain outside. The hedgehog also loves "wild corners" with tall grass, piles of leaves and native shrubs. For the hedgehog, on the other hand, water is a curse and a blessing at the same time: the animals do drink places instructed, hedgehogs drown again and again in garden ponds, as they do not have persistent ones Are swimmers. A gentle slope into the garden pond is therefore ideal in a hedgehog-friendly garden - steep Edges, on the other hand, should be defused by a sloping board protruding into the water as an aid to getting out of the water. If you don't have a garden pond, you can set up a shallow bowl of water for the hedgehog to drink.

You should also take the hedgehog into consideration when managing your garden: insecticides and Slug pellets have no business in a hedgehog-friendly garden, because they rob the animals of their food sources or even poison them. Another danger point in gardening that is often underestimated is mowing the lawn: Robot lawnmowers in particular pose an enormous danger for small animals. They often mow the lawn at dusk or during the night, i.e. at the time when the hedgehog is active. If there is a confrontation, the animals often suffer cuts on the mouth and legs, which can be fatal. It is therefore better to mow the lawn yourself and pay particular attention to the prickly animals near piles of wood and piles of leaves. With these simple measures you minimize the sources of danger for hedgehogs in the garden and support these useful helpers in the garden.

A hedgehog-friendly garden is characterized above all by the following:

• Design close to nature with "wild corners"
• Flowering hedges as a boundary
• Fences with passage for hedgehogs
• Garden pond with gentle slopes or an exit aid
• No insecticides
• Avoiding robotic lawn mowers, especially mowing at night

Besides hedgehogs, do you care about the other visitors in your garden? Here's how to attract and support insects by using a insect friendly garden design.

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