OK, I'm stupid but always wondered ......

They woke me up one night, they were making so much noise! I watched them for a while going round in circles as part of their mating ritual, but didn't stay for the finale, lol.

I'm not quite as stupid to not understand the basics !
We are lucky enough to have quite a few hedgehogs using the "fast food station " each evening. Normally, once I open the doors to water/ protect young plants they scuttle away PDQ.
Never before witnessed the courtship rituals, or seeing the female flatten her spines to allow mating .
And no, I'm not a perv. !!

How do hedgehogs mate?

Very carefully

Purplepixie, I once read that bluebottles can smell anything dead from a mile away.

Mealworms are popular as food for wild birds but they are not good for hedgehogs either.

We DO NOT recommend feeding dried meal worms to hedgehogs, they contain almost no nutritional value and can harm their health.

The x-ray of the entire hedgehog shows the effects of feeding large quantities of mealworms, she had severe metabolic bone disease. She could not walk, only shuffle forwards. In her x-ray the bones are not bright white as they should be in a healthy hedgehog as shown in the second x-ray. This is because the calcium in her bones has been drawn out into her bloodstream to counter the low levels caused by the high levels of phosphate – a result of eating mainly meal worms.

www.pricklesandpaws.org/blog/2019/2/1/feeding-advice#:~:text=We%20DO%20NOT%20recommend%20feeding,had%20severe%20metabolic%20bone%20disease.

Hellogirl1

Yes, many years ago I inadvertantly killed a poor little hedgehog that was in our back garden. I gave it a bowl of bread and milk, which it ate straightaway, seemed to love it, next morning I found it dead, and all because I was too stupid to know.

You weren't stupid, it's a myth that's been doing the rounds for years.

Yes, many years ago I inadvertantly killed a poor little hedgehog that was in our back garden. I gave it a bowl of bread and milk, which it ate straightaway, seemed to love it, next morning I found it dead, and all because I was too stupid to know.

Shandy57

Our local hedgehog rescue is asking for wet cat/dog food donations, they have large numbers in with strimming injuries

It is advised not to gives hedgehogs milk, they cannot digest it.

That's right, they're lactose intolerant.

Last summer we were feeding one in our gardens, I added meat, not fish, flavour cat food to my supermarket order and my neighbour put it out for him/her.

nanna8

nanna8 you are awful, but I like it!!

Our local hedgehog rescue is asking for wet cat/dog food donations, they have large numbers in with strimming injuries

It is advised not to gives hedgehogs milk, they cannot digest it.

Ask the expert

youtu.be/DiiPka-VkUM

They run in circles beforehand and are SO noisy that the "hog" bit of the name makes complete sense!

Well, we can all make mistakes said the short-sighted hedgehog, as it clambered down off the hairbrush!

I love hedghogs,found one under my bookcase once,it climbed through the patio door and i only knew it was there because my cockatiel was going mad,then i heard it.
Gave it some warm milk and bread and put it in the garden,where a family of them lived under the shed.
Noisy when mating for sure.
And yes they mate like dogs.

Carefully , that’s how. They are very vocal though!

how do they mate with lots of oohs and aahs I would think and perhaps a few ows

Hedgehogs can be really noisy. I've heard them in the past, during rivalry or otherwise but I know they can make a din.

Purplepixie

How do maggots manage to find a dead person? I used to type out post-mortems for our local hospital and there was once a body found in a locked house and it was full of maggots. Poor soul didn’t have any friends, relatives or neighbours.

Flies. Opportunist buggers...

how do they mate?

How do maggots manage to find a dead person? I used to type out post-mortems for our local hospital and there was once a body found in a locked house and it was full of maggots. Poor soul didn’t have any friends, relatives or neighbours.

I get hedgehogs and all I can say is they make an awful lot of noise!!!.....??????

I’m sure there is an off colour joke about little pricks somewhere around but I am just hedging my bets. Don’t want to hog the conversation.

Please tell ?

Tell us please ...?????