A badger and a hedgehog feeding together on a lawn. Badgers are hedgehogs' main predators in the UK. They are the only animals strong enough to tackle a hedgehog's spiny defences. Hedgehogs and badgers share what's known as an asymmetric intraguild predation relationship.
Predators. The various species are prey to different predators: while forest hedgehogs are prey primarily to birds (especially owls) and ferrets, smaller species like the long-eared hedgehog are prey to foxes, wolves, and mongooses.
Cats are a significant threat to birds in our gardens and many small mammals. But they don't pose much threat to hedgehogs. Hedgehogs are very well defended, and after an initial investigation, cats generally leave them alone.
Hedgehogs are insectivores. But they can also eat other ground-dwelling creatures such as slugs and snails. The European hedgehog dines on earthworms, beetles, millipedes, caterpillars, slugs, snails, earwigs, and birds' eggs and chicks.
Diet of Wild Hedgehogs
Occasionally, hedgehogs even eat vertebrates, such as snakes, lizards and frogs.
Weirdest thing I've seen in a while...” We've known for quite a while now that hedgehogs do sometimes eat rodents and a study in 1976 by Derek Yalden found mammal remains in 12% of the hedgehog stomachs he surveyed; including remains of mice.
Even though the hedgehog will naturally 'ball up' at any hint of danger, many dogs will still pick them up or paw them causing injury and untold stress. When the spikes hit home in a dog's mouth, many will have a natural instinct to bite harder which very often proves fatal for our little hedge-dwelling friend.
Your dog can also contract salmonella from your hedgehog, especially if your doggo has a weaker immune system. Some signs your dog may have contracted salmonella include fever, diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy, dehydration, depression, and a lack of interest in activities.
Tea Tree oil/ Eucalyptus/Thieves - this includes: tea tree shampoo, tea tree oil, tea tree sprays and anything tea tree. Even Candles inhaled can harm your hedgehog!
The most important invertebrates in their diet are worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs and millipedes. As well as these, they also eat a wide range of other insects. More infrequently, they will take advantage of carrion, frogs, baby rodents, baby birds, birds' eggs and fallen fruit.
HEDGEHOG. Hedgehogs get a special mention because although they do not produce venom, they have been observed to use venom in their defenses. That is, they use venom from other animal sources. Some hedgehogs chew on the skin of poisonous toads and then use the toad venom to coat their own spines.
They are great swimmers
Fans of Sonic the Hedgehog may have been led to believe that Sonic (and all other hedgehogs) can't swim, but it turns out that real life hedgehogs are strong paddlers in natural bodies of water. Nocturnal creatures, hedgehogs can run and swim up to 2km a night in search of food.
Diet. In the wild, African pygmy hedgehogs are natural omnivores eating spiders and insects, plants and bird eggs.
Motion activated sprinkler repellents provide an innovative way to deter unwanted animals, such as hedgehogs. They use a blast of water to safely and effectively scare away intruders and keep your garden free of pests.
Hedgehogs and foxes can live together peacefully. Foxes sometimes attack hedgehogs, although usually adult hogs are protected by their spines. However, hoglets can be vulnerable to foxes, and we do see leg injuries where a fox or other predator has tried and failed to catch the hedgehog.
Although they do not injure hedgehogs, bait box rat traps can also be lethal to hedgehogs. Hedgehogs can also get inside these traps and will eat any poison left out and be poisoned themselves. Small hedgehogs are around the same size as a rat. This is why it is difficult to keep rats out of hedgehog feeding stations.
A dog bite can be hard to spot on a hedgehog. Long canine teeth can sink into the flesh beneath the spines. Though the wound may quickly heal over if it is infected it will go on to cause problems for the hedgehog weeks after the event.
As opportunistic eaters, hedgehogs will readily consume food left out in your garden. The best foods to provide are: Meat-based cat or dog food.
Hedgehogs can be handled (they are not too prickly), although some patience is required to make sure your hedgehog is both safe and comfortable in your hands.
If you're thinking about getting a hedgehog as a pet, you may undoubtedly be wondering whether or not they hurt to touch. They can seem frightening and fragile at first, but once you become accustomed to the right way to handle a hedgehog, you should find his quills very tolerable to touch!
Hedgehogs can bite you, but very rarely will that happen. This usually happens when they are young and think your fingers are going to feed them (if they have been fed via a syringe as they had no mother).
We also know that hedgehogs will readily take eggs, although the size and shell thickness makes some eggs more vulnerable than others. There have been many attempts to discern the palatability of different eggs to hedgehogs and to get a handle on the potential level of nest predation.
After a little snuffle, they do.
Classified as insectivorous, hedgehogs eat insects. They're famous for eating a diet consisting of Dubia roaches. Even so, they can be seen rummaging around for all sorts of plant and animal matter and are more scavengers than anything else.