Habitat:
Hedgehogs can be just as happy in rural or urban locations Hedgehogs are abundant in urban and suburban areas. Gardens can provide hedgehogs with a plentiful supply of food, both natural and supplementary, as well as many potential nest sites for breeding, resting and hibernation. For these reasons urban areas have become a stronghold for hedgehogs in recent years.
Hedgehogs have home ranges but are not territorial so will not fight to defend these areas. They can roam an average distance of 2km each night. Male hedgehogs in the breeding season can cover up to 3km in one night in their search of females! Access between gardens is critical for hedgehogs. To help urban hedgehogs gardens need to be linked up so that they have a sufficient area to roam
Feeding:
Hedgehogs are generalists and feed on a wide range of things, but the majority of their diet is made up of invertebrates (or creepy crawlies). 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.
When you are putting out food for hedgehogs, you can replicate the hedgehog's natural diet by using unsalted nuts, mealworms and meat-based dog and cat food.
Hedgehog breeding and babies:
Hedgehogs reach sexual maturity in their second year of life, and after this can breed every year until death. Reproduction occurs any time between April and September, but the period of greatest activity, ‘the rut’, occurs in May and June in Britain.
How do hedgehogs mate?
The actual process of mating is a predictably delicate operation, with the female having to adopt a special body position with her spines flattened as the male mounts from behind.
Baby hedgehogs are called hoglets:
Most baby hedgehogs are born in June and July, with an average litter size of four or five young, of which two or three are usually weaned successfully. The mother is liable to desert or even eat the young if she is disturbed. Young hedgehogs will leave the nest when they are around three to four weeks old to go on foraging trips with their mother. After around ten days of foraging with their mother the young will wander off on their own.
Hedgehog hibernation:
Hedgehogs are one of the few mammals that are true hibernators. During hibernation hedgehogs are not really asleep, instead they drop their body temperature to match their surroundings and enter a state of torpor. This allows them to save a lot of energy but slows down all other bodily functions making normal activity impossible.
When do hedgehogs hibernate?
Hedgehogs usually hibernate from October/November through to March/April. Research has shown that each individual is likely to move nesting sites at least once during this period and so can sometimes be seen out and about. During mild winters hedgehogs can remain active well into November and December.
While in hibernation the hedgehog’s fuel supply comes from the fat stores it has built up over the summer. Eating enough before hibernation is vital.
Predators of the hedgehog:
Badgers
Badgers are the principal natural predator of hedgehogs in the UK, as they are the only creature strong enough to overcome the spiny defences.
Pets
Dogs can and sometimes do attack hedgehogs. Often adult hedgehogs will be sufficiently protected by their spines but sick or young hedgehogs may be killed. Cats are less of a threat as they will usually leave hedgehogs alone after investigating them.
Foxes
Foxes are known to sometimes predate hedgehogs, though usually an adult hedgehog will be sufficiently protected by its spines. The stomachs of urban foxes are quite often found to contain parts of hedgehogs, though it is likely that this is from scavenging road kills rather than through active predation
Other predators
Tawny owls and golden eagles are known to very occasionally take hedgehogs in Britain whilst in Europe hedgehogs are regularly taken by eagle owls.