Hi everyone, we've been feeding hedgehogs since they came out of hibernation this year. We are very lucky and sometimes get three or four a night, though that has dwindled naturally as the year has gone on. I have two hog feeding stations and use dry biscuits, semi-moist feed, and a wet cat-food style food, rotating them every few days, but usually offer more than one food type each night. The hogs have without fail been clearing all food (and leaving their little, or sometimes big, presents around the garden to prove it...). As of about three weeks ago, they stopped taking any food - just very abdruptly stopped. I use trail cams so i know that hogs are still visiting regularly, but they ignore the feeding stations now. They don't even go inside them anymore. Just wondered if anyone has had a similar experience. Could it be they have other priorities right now, like building hibernation nests, or maybe there is more natural food to forage (we have a very 'buggy' garden and lots of slugs right now). In previous years we've had it where hogs stop visiting for a few weeks/months and then turn up again, but never had it where they are still around, but not taking any food at all (wood mice are happy with this situaion i should add - more for them!). It just seems so sudden and abrupt!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Afternoon Neil,
Like Wendy, I've no experience of hogs ignoring food, although our experience with hogs is that consumption does go up and down.
I'm not sure that slugs are at play; my understanding is that they only make up---on average---a small portion of the natural diet.
In your place, I'd ask myself if there's anything that's changed re the food you're giving.
We give a dietary supplement to a neighbouring cat (with no home), and a few months ago she went from eagerly eating it to looking at it like it were a threat. No food manufacturer is immune from manufacturing error, and there have been some pretty appalling cases these last few years where animals have died after consuming "bad" food, from fairly respectable manufacturers.
Even if you've not changed food but have opened a new bag (which can mean a new manufacturing batch), that might be the culprit.
Try beef, minced. Should be fairly safe.
Good luck -
Dave
Mine here have always devoured the Tesco brand kitten biscuits but they recently changed the formula & hoggies all over the Country have refused to eat them ... this caused much angst as you can imagine but the posters on 'HH' all chipped in with what successes, or not, they'd had with alternative dry & wet food! I personally tried Purina but it's quite pricey ... found Iams kitten on Amazon slightly more reasonable, also started to put out Whiskas chicken in jelly (tins more reasonable than sachets) for the babies in order to fatten them up quickly, seems to have been a successful combination so far! Wet food has to be fresh every day as flies are laying eggs in anything left over, usually only the jelly! Certainly I will post your question, see what response there is!
Edit: Have now posted, question has gone to Admin for their approval to publish, hope for replies soon!
In reply to WendyBartter:
A local rehab centre uses Purina hypoallergenic for hogletts, Wendy. It's the usual protein breakdown thing, and might be a mono-protein.
But as you say, "vet food" isn't cheap.
But if you have a lot of animals, it feels cheaper (I write from experience).
All the best -
Ouch! That's mighty expensive in comparison!! It's the grain proportion to protein content that has to be checked as many really cheap ones are bulked out with too much cereal!
I started off using Spike's dry & semi- moist but not very well received by my original Mum who turned up with three babies in tow out of the blue three years ago now!