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A Surprise Guest.
As I was looking out into the garden around noon, there was an unexpected guest: A small hedgehog was rustling around in the leaves, obviously looking for food.
Now... it's still very early spring, and not very warm outside, so the proper place for a hedgehog is somewhere cozy, resting and waiting for it to be warmer. Also, the proper time for a hedgehog to forage for food is dusk and dawn, but not the bright noon sun.
So I went off to raid the emergency cat food stash (which is two cans of cat food, as she can't eat the canned food without getting digestive trouble anymore) and offered the small guy some of it. That was promptly followed by something that looked suspiciously like food coma (as in sitting down after two steps and not moving anymore), so I went to secure it.
The little guy has now been weighed (a meagre 328 g) and is sleeping in a box in our living room, where it's nice and temperate and it can relax and regain some strength. More cat food to be served soon...
Comments 2
I believe things like 'meal worms' - the larva of some grain eating pest in the wild - is probably better for hedgehogs and similar foraging guests. They are used to feed various insectivorous birds, lizards and small mammals (like hedgehogs) and can be bought fresh or more commonly in frozen packs, from better 'Pet' stores. The frozen packs should keep in the freezer for quite some time so they can be on hand to help out any yard guests, furred or feathered.
Fortunately there's several German pages (like pro-igel.de and https://www.aktiontier-igelzentrum.de/) giving help on how to care for a hedgehog in need - and they do all agree that good quality cat food is a very good thing to base their diet on. Some say it's enough, others say you should supplement with something like scrambled eggs (no spice or salt) or ground meat (no salt or spice), but it's definitely a good start. Meal worms can be fed, but as they are larvae, they are very high in fat and if too much are part of the diet, there's problems with the vitamin balance.
Our little guest definitely has fleas, plus severe digestive problems and probably parasites, so we're due a vet visit this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed he can be helped!
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