Attracting hedgehogs: seven tips for a pet-friendly garden
Created: 09/18/2022, 09:00
By: Ines Alms
If you design the garden to be hedgehog-friendly, the beneficial insect will find the ideal habitat there and will eat away at numerous snails as a thank you.
Autumn is the time for hedgehogs to stock up on reserves for hibernation.
The little beneficial creature usually finds enough snails and insects in the garden at first, but for a warmer shelter that protects them from enemies, they could use human help.
Attracting hedgehogs: seven tips for a pet-friendly garden
The hedgehog likes a bit of disorder in the garden and offers him opportunities to hide.
© Ikon Images/Imago
From mid-November to March or April, hedgehogs sleep through the cold season in winter quarters.
When the temperatures are mild, they sometimes wake up and go in search of food.
So that they can find them, it makes sense to make the garden animal-friendly all year round.
The
Naturschutzbund Deutschland
has a lot of suggestions on how to lure hedgehogs into the garden and provide them with a good habitat there:
1. A heap of dead wood, twigs and leaves provide shelter for the animals.
So-called hedgehog houses filled with leaves are also gladly accepted.
2. Insect-friendly plants increase the hedgehog's food supply, even if he wakes up in winter and finds less overall.
In autumn, perennial beds with anemones, yarrow, stonecrop or cranesbill are ideal.
3. Provide access to the garden: Several small gaps in the fence close to the ground allow the animals to slip in and out of the garden.
4. Prudence when gardening: If at all, you should be careful when mowing, vacuuming leaves or trimming hedges, and not rearranging piles of leaves or brushwood from November onwards.
Instead, leave a bit of weeds, grass and piles of leaves.
5. All kinds of traps, such as cellar shafts and pits, can be fatal to the animals and should therefore be checked regularly or ideally covered.
6. Offer water as well as food: The drinking bowl or a small pond should be designed in such a way that the animals cannot fall into it.
Daily cleaning of the drinkers is also important.
7. Avoid unnecessary chemicals in the garden when fighting pests and instead use natural measures.
You can find even more exciting garden topics in the free 24garten.de newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
Autumn in the garden: ten jobs that are now pending before winter
View photo gallery
By the way, if you still see hedgehogs looking for food in mild winters, it is best to leave them alone.
Only noticeably malnourished or sick animals are a case for a hedgehog advice center or hedgehog station.
Hypothermic hedgehogs are warmed up with a lukewarm hot-water bottle wrapped in a towel.
