DO YOU GET HEDGEHOGS?

My parents had a hedgehog family take up residence in their garden for several years.  I thought of them when I found this information online. A friend of mine (in the UK) has a family in her garden. She takes very good care of them, as my parents did theirs years previously. 

I cancelled out of the website and realized later I had forgotten to make a note of it and its author. If I come across it again, I will come back and add it.  It seemed important enough to go ahead and share, for those of you who see them in their natural habitat. If there are any hedgehog experiences you have had, I would love to know about them.  

Wikipedia has interesting information about them at this link. According to them, “there are no hedgehogs living species native to the Americas.  However, the extinct genus Amphchinus was once present in America.”

Here’s the information I found.   

“If you find a "dead" hedgehog during the cold months, do not bury it, do not throw it in the trash...

No one wants to see a dead animal in their garden or road, but it could be a hedgehog hibernating from November to March.

They usually dig holes to stay safe, but we have less green areas, bushes or wooded areas these days and it’s becoming harder to find a safe place to spend the winter sleeping.

Some may come into your gardens seeking safety and warmth to hibernate, some are so exhausted from looking that they end up sleeping in various strange places like roadside streets or even on pavements.

When they are in hibernation, their heart rate and general body functioning slow down considerably, as a way of saving energy that can confuse a person that the hedgehog is dead.

Just in case you see a stationary hedgehog, make sure it is in a safe and warm place and that it can last five months.

If you find a hedgehog in your garden or somewhere on the street, make a hole in a cardboard box and in a dry, safe and quiet place so it can spend the cold months there.

Hedgehogs are an endangered species, they are completely harmless and very important in our ecosystem. They eat beetles, snails, frogs, lizards, snakes, including poisonous.

They also destroy mice nests.

They are not afraid of bees or wasps. The hedgehog can easily destroy a hornet's nest and eat its inhabitants by ignoring their bites.

Scientists have long noticed the immunity of hedgehogs to strong poisons, including bites from insects. This antidote phenomenon is not yet known to scientists.

Be aware when you see a hedgehog in the cold months. It costs nothing to help such a fragile wee thing.”

(Images are from pixabay.com)