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Slugs are hosts to lungworm. Lungworm kills all mammals unless treated. Hedgehogs do not voluntarily eat slugs. While people still believe they do, hedgehogs will continue dying of starvation and parasite invasion. More info Please share this far and wide.

Hedgehog Cabin

39,265 subscribers

48,877 views • 3 years ago •via X (Twitter)

Anya Rossi• Live Now

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9 Comments

Martin Warren3 years ago

Yet more reason to conserve butterflies and moths, their caterpillars provide 43% of the diet of Mrs Tiggywinkle and her mates! @savebutterflies @RichardFoxBC #mothsmatter

Hedgehog Cabin3 years ago

@savebutterflies @RichardFoxBC Absolutely! The UK's butterfly decline is one of the biggest reasons that the hedgehog is red listed and close to extinction. If we destroy the butterfly larvae overwintering places then the following year the hedgehogs starve. It really is that simple. Not badgers Not roads. Us.

Dr Hedgehog 🦔 Hedgehog Research3 years ago

I think this is a misunderstanding. Hedgehogs do indeed eat slugs. Slugs are part of their natural diet. Endoparasites are very common (and natural) in hedgehogs, they co-exist. Only if the parasite burden becomes too high will the hedgehog need treatment:

Hedgehog Cabin3 years ago

No, this is no misunderstanding. It is fact, not only based on my own observations and experience over many decades, but backed up by every study of the hog's diet ever completed. Please do read this article, it will explain why the myth is so persistant:

Lindsey Melnyk3 years ago

Poor lil critters!!! They are really cool creatures and too cute to boot!!!! I always try to keep my animals, and wildlife like 🐿️🐿️🐿️ and birds fed!!! My 🐿️ Tiki loves almonds, pecans, and walnuts too!!!

Hedgehog Cabin3 years ago

Aw, good for you for watching over and helping the wildllife.🥰

Jenny🌷⚘🌻🌹Fleming(Hayes)3 years ago

We found a small hog just before christmas,who we got to rescue,he had lungworm and roundworm,we spotted him on cam in our feeding station,hes a chunk now and we are due to collect him in the next few months and put him back in our garden 😁🦔

Hedgehog Cabin3 years ago

Oh well done!! Not only for spotting him and realising he needed help, but for doing the right thing and getting him straight to a rescue. Your actions have saved his life!🥰And well done to the rescue for their successful treatment.👍

Hedgehog Cabin3 years ago

The pie chart is drawn from data calculated and tabulated by Professor Nigel Reeve in his 1994 book, Hedgehogs. The source data is from Grosshans, 1983 (N.W. Germany).

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Often I hear people say, "I know I have hedgehogs because I see empty snail shells." Hedgehogs don't eat slugs and snails. They eat caterpillars, beetles, larvae, grubs and a few insects. Slugs and snails carry lungworm, deadly to all mammals, including hedgehogs. If you see empty snail shells they are the leftovers from amphibians, or some birds - like this thrush here, using my exposed cherry tree root to winkle the snail out of its shell.

Often I hear people say, "I know I have hedgehogs because I see empty snail shells." Hedgehogs don't eat slugs and snails. They eat caterpillars, beetles, larvae, grubs and a few insects. Slugs and snails carry lungworm, deadly to all mammals, including hedgehogs. If you see empty snail shells they are the leftovers from amphibians, or some birds - like this thrush here, using my exposed cherry tree root to winkle the snail out of its shell.

Hedgehog Cabin

23,055 views • 11 months ago

Hedgehogs eat caterpillars, beetles, larvae, and a few insects. They DON'T eat slugs and snails, they are not on their menu no matter who tells you, or how much you trust them to be right about other things. Of course you might occasionally see this because an animal dying of hunger will eat anything to stop the pain. Starving children are seen eating mud, but that doesn't mean mud is on the human menu. Our hedgehogs are dying of starvation because we've destroyed their habitat and natural food. Common sense alone will tell you that if hedgehogs really did eat slugs, they would be fat and flourishing and would never need to hibernate for lack of food!😋 We all have plenty of slugs! So if you see this myth anywhere, please challenge it. Educate them. For hog's sake.

Hedgehogs eat caterpillars, beetles, larvae, and a few insects. They DON'T eat slugs and snails, they are not on their menu no matter who tells you, or how much you trust them to be right about other things. Of course you might occasionally see this because an animal dying of hunger will eat anything to stop the pain. Starving children are seen eating mud, but that doesn't mean mud is on the human menu. Our hedgehogs are dying of starvation because we've destroyed their habitat and natural food. Common sense alone will tell you that if hedgehogs really did eat slugs, they would be fat and flourishing and would never need to hibernate for lack of food!😋 We all have plenty of slugs! So if you see this myth anywhere, please challenge it. Educate them. For hog's sake.

Hedgehog Cabin

12,734 views • 1 year ago

If the hedgehogs you kindly feed are absent from your garden this week, it's probably because they've found themselves a little patch of caterpillars like this. This is dining at The Ivy for hedgehogs.🥰 Caterpillars and beetles. That's what hedgehogs eat. Not slugs and snails (they carry lungworm - deadly to all mammals; hedgehogs have no magical defence). And your garden doesn't have to be 'messy' to support our precious wildlife. You can have the best of both worlds. If you mow a lawn, please leave the edges and the corners. You will get used to seeing it without it annoying you, I promise, and the difference it makes: the divesity of life that will thrive in your more natural, unregimented garden will bring you such joy. Patches of native, and naturalized or an archaeophyte plants (like the humble and easy to grow nasturtium) will provide food for the caterpillars which hatch from the butterfly eggs, and for the beetles which are the slug's natural predator, helping to balance your garden's ecosystem.

If the hedgehogs you kindly feed are absent from your garden this week, it's probably because they've found themselves a little patch of caterpillars like this. This is dining at The Ivy for hedgehogs.🥰 Caterpillars and beetles. That's what hedgehogs eat. Not slugs and snails (they carry lungworm - deadly to all mammals; hedgehogs have no magical defence). And your garden doesn't have to be 'messy' to support our precious wildlife. You can have the best of both worlds. If you mow a lawn, please leave the edges and the corners. You will get used to seeing it without it annoying you, I promise, and the difference it makes: the divesity of life that will thrive in your more natural, unregimented garden will bring you such joy. Patches of native, and naturalized or an archaeophyte plants (like the humble and easy to grow nasturtium) will provide food for the caterpillars which hatch from the butterfly eggs, and for the beetles which are the slug's natural predator, helping to balance your garden's ecosystem.

Hedgehog Cabin

32,491 views • 1 year ago

Just a quick one about slugs and snails, as it's still a common question (due to some recently published misinformation). Slugs and snails are the intermediate host of lungworm, so can pass this fatal parasite to any mammal that is unfortunate enough to be forced by starvation to eat them, or is contaminated by their slime trail. This includes hedgehogs - they don't have any magical protection properties. But slugs and snails are also our heros, here's why: As well as providing food for many amphibians, reptiles and birds, they protect us humans from all sorts of potentially fatal pathogens. Take bird poo for example. Birds don't wee. Any water they consume is used and absorbed by their body. This means they don't have to have a bladder, so they are lighter for flying. Instead of wee they pass pure uric acid paste with their poo (that's the white bit on top), and so their poo is water resistent. (Anyone who has tried to clean it off their car is painfully aware of this) So if it's water resistent, therefore the rain can't wash it away, why aren't we all knee deep in bird poo? Because of slugs! Slugs eat bird poo. Isn't that brilliant? Slugs and snails are decomposers that consume various organic matter, including rotting plants, dead animals, and animal droppings, finding bird poo a nutritious source of decay from which to extract nutrients from. So slugs - don't eat them, wash everything that touches them or their slime trail, but love them for being nature's most industrious clean up crew!🥰

Just a quick one about slugs and snails, as it's still a common question (due to some recently published misinformation). Slugs and snails are the intermediate host of lungworm, so can pass this fatal parasite to any mammal that is unfortunate enough to be forced by starvation to eat them, or is contaminated by their slime trail. This includes hedgehogs - they don't have any magical protection properties. But slugs and snails are also our heros, here's why: As well as providing food for many amphibians, reptiles and birds, they protect us humans from all sorts of potentially fatal pathogens. Take bird poo for example. Birds don't wee. Any water they consume is used and absorbed by their body. This means they don't have to have a bladder, so they are lighter for flying. Instead of wee they pass pure uric acid paste with their poo (that's the white bit on top), and so their poo is water resistent. (Anyone who has tried to clean it off their car is painfully aware of this) So if it's water resistent, therefore the rain can't wash it away, why aren't we all knee deep in bird poo? Because of slugs! Slugs eat bird poo. Isn't that brilliant? Slugs and snails are decomposers that consume various organic matter, including rotting plants, dead animals, and animal droppings, finding bird poo a nutritious source of decay from which to extract nutrients from. So slugs - don't eat them, wash everything that touches them or their slime trail, but love them for being nature's most industrious clean up crew!🥰

Hedgehog Cabin

46,973 views • 7 months ago

Folk are begining to realise that by not allowing our green spaces and gardens to have natural, untamed areas, we are killing our precious wildlife. But it's not soon enough for our hedgehogs. They are on the verge of extinction. Dying of starvation. We must not tolerate this.

Folk are begining to realise that by not allowing our green spaces and gardens to have natural, untamed areas, we are killing our precious wildlife. But it's not soon enough for our hedgehogs. They are on the verge of extinction. Dying of starvation. We must not tolerate this.

Hedgehog Cabin

32,178 views • 3 years ago

The question I'm being asked most often lately is: "Where have all my hedgehogs gone?" If the hedgehogs you regularly feed haven't made an appearance lately, don't worry. It happens every year at this time. They have found a natural souce of food - possibly a clump of nettles full of newly emerged caterpillars - and they will make the most of this bonanza while it lasts. (Hedgehogs will ALWAYS prefer their own naturally foraged food over what we provide, so you can never overfeed them or make them dependent on you). So please keep a little food out every night, as they will return when the bonanza runs out, and it'll be when you least expect it. Put a saucer over it, to keep it fresh for longer and to keep the slugs out. And this is the perfect time to make the most of their absence by giving their house a good clean and preparing it for autumn.

The question I'm being asked most often lately is: "Where have all my hedgehogs gone?" If the hedgehogs you regularly feed haven't made an appearance lately, don't worry. It happens every year at this time. They have found a natural souce of food - possibly a clump of nettles full of newly emerged caterpillars - and they will make the most of this bonanza while it lasts. (Hedgehogs will ALWAYS prefer their own naturally foraged food over what we provide, so you can never overfeed them or make them dependent on you). So please keep a little food out every night, as they will return when the bonanza runs out, and it'll be when you least expect it. Put a saucer over it, to keep it fresh for longer and to keep the slugs out. And this is the perfect time to make the most of their absence by giving their house a good clean and preparing it for autumn.

Hedgehog Cabin

12,872 views • 2 years ago

Hedgehogs hibernated early last year and I'm hearing from people all over the country that they're already waking up. This is catastrophic! It's far too early for there to be any natural food around so they will either starve or succumb to parasites. Please provide cat food.

Hedgehogs hibernated early last year and I'm hearing from people all over the country that they're already waking up. This is catastrophic! It's far too early for there to be any natural food around so they will either starve or succumb to parasites. Please provide cat food.

Hedgehog Cabin

131,842 views • 3 years ago

A hedgehog scratching is a common sight, but not for the reason most think. Despite the myth, hedgehogs do not have fleas. Well, no more than any other animal. In fact, it's quite rare for a hedgehog to have fleas, and when they do, the fleas are species-specific, so they can't infect any other animal. Fleas on a hedgehog are a huge red flag - a sign that the animal is sick, malnourished, or otherwise so weakened that his immune system is unable to fight, making him a target for opportunistic parasites. The real reason hedgehogs are often seen scratching is simply ringworm, which is intensely itchy. Ringworm, despite its name, isn't a worm at all but a fungal infection. For more information see: The hedgehogs in these four hospital pens here all have ringworm. It's not the reason they were admitted, but it's being treated, while they are here being treated for various other life-threatening conditions. This was last night, Friday. Merlin and Luca both had their ringworm treatment baths that morning. Compared to Anya and Christian, whose baths weren't until this morning, you can see how the treatment has dramatically relieved their symptoms. So when you see or hear the silly old myth of hedgehogs being fleabags please correct it, and help restore the reputation of these charming, harmless little animals.🥰

A hedgehog scratching is a common sight, but not for the reason most think. Despite the myth, hedgehogs do not have fleas. Well, no more than any other animal. In fact, it's quite rare for a hedgehog to have fleas, and when they do, the fleas are species-specific, so they can't infect any other animal. Fleas on a hedgehog are a huge red flag - a sign that the animal is sick, malnourished, or otherwise so weakened that his immune system is unable to fight, making him a target for opportunistic parasites. The real reason hedgehogs are often seen scratching is simply ringworm, which is intensely itchy. Ringworm, despite its name, isn't a worm at all but a fungal infection. For more information see: The hedgehogs in these four hospital pens here all have ringworm. It's not the reason they were admitted, but it's being treated, while they are here being treated for various other life-threatening conditions. This was last night, Friday. Merlin and Luca both had their ringworm treatment baths that morning. Compared to Anya and Christian, whose baths weren't until this morning, you can see how the treatment has dramatically relieved their symptoms. So when you see or hear the silly old myth of hedgehogs being fleabags please correct it, and help restore the reputation of these charming, harmless little animals.🥰

Hedgehog Cabin

13,018 views • 2 months ago

Just a quick update: Darling Christian was successfully treated and released back to the wild on Sunday night. Before leaving he self-anointed with the smells of the open pen, and the tree stump beside the garden exit, so he'd know his way back.🥰 When hedgehogs self anoint they lick an object and make a saliva froth of all its scent molecules, then contort themselves to spread this scented froth all over their body. Officially nobody has discovered why hedgehogs do this, but after decades of observing thousands of hedgehogs I am pretty sure it's a memory aid. All hedgehogs self-anoint, even newborns. The sense of smell has a unique, direct highway to the emotional and memory centres of the brain, and I think our clever hedgehogs use self-anointing as an aromatic memory map, employing this powerful connection between scent and brain to navigate their world. Godspeed, sweet Christian. 😘

Just a quick update: Darling Christian was successfully treated and released back to the wild on Sunday night. Before leaving he self-anointed with the smells of the open pen, and the tree stump beside the garden exit, so he'd know his way back.🥰 When hedgehogs self anoint they lick an object and make a saliva froth of all its scent molecules, then contort themselves to spread this scented froth all over their body. Officially nobody has discovered why hedgehogs do this, but after decades of observing thousands of hedgehogs I am pretty sure it's a memory aid. All hedgehogs self-anoint, even newborns. The sense of smell has a unique, direct highway to the emotional and memory centres of the brain, and I think our clever hedgehogs use self-anointing as an aromatic memory map, employing this powerful connection between scent and brain to navigate their world. Godspeed, sweet Christian. 😘

Hedgehog Cabin

14,914 views • 2 months ago

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In2ThinAir

131,518 views • 1 year ago

🔊 Spring is in the air, the daffodils are coming out, and so are the hedgehogs. Some of these hedgehogs haven't eaten for 5 months. Yes, five whole months. Amazing, isn't it? But the insects they depend upon remain slumbering deep beneath the earth, which is still freezing at night. This is Arthur, who went into hibernation in October. He rose from hibernation a couple of nights ago, and used the last of his energy to get back here, where he trusted he would find good safe food and clean water. And he wasn't disappointed. Please make sure you have food out waiting for your returning hedgehogs. And if you haven't fed hedgehogs before, now is a great time to start. All you need is a dish of dry kitten food and a dish of clean water. More of Arthur last year:

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Hedgehog Cabin

14,470 views • 1 year ago

You know how a wide, shallow dish of water will evaporate quicker than the same amount of water in a tall cup? That's because the wide dish has a large Surface Area To Volume Ratio. And that's what hedgehogs have: A wide, fat, flat-ish area of body holding a small amount of volume (blood). Most mammal's blood is around 10% of their body weight. But with hedgehogs it's only 8%. This means that hedgehogs get dehydrated quicker than other mammals, so need to drink lots more water. So please go through that cupboard in your kitchen where you keep the flan dishes and baking tins that you never use, and put one by your front door and one by your back door. Fill them up with water, and refresh that before you go to bed. It's never been so easy to save a life.

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Hedgehog Cabin

16,762 views • 2 years ago

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