Hedgehog is eating ferals' food

[Antonio65]

Two semi-ferals live in my courtyard, a female, about 6 yo, a male, 3 yo, both fixed.
They are lovely and don't go around much. They have a cat house in the most sheltered spot of the yard, and dishes for fresh water and food that I give them at least 4 times a day, every day. They also have vet care when needed, so I could say they are rather well tended.

The problem is that a hedgehog is visiting my courtyard every night after 8pm. It arrives, goes straight to the dishes, eats whatever is left in them, sometimes it tips them over and moves them around. And finally it drops a "souvenir" next or into the dishes before leaving.

I love all animals, and tried to leave some hedgehog food that I have bought for it. The fact is that it eats both its and cats' food, or even that the boy of the ferals eats the hedgehog food.
Raising the cats' dishes a bit doesn't help, the hedgehog is able to climb. I also have a garden table and I tried to put the cats' dishes on the table, but the female does not jump on the table to eat, so she can't eat at night

How could I solve this issue without harming anyone? I know that in a couple of months the hedhehog will hybernate, as long as the winter is cold enough, but I need to solve the problem during the other moths of the year.
Thank you.

 

[Meezers]

I too have 2 ferals in my garden. One for about 13 years. I also have a hedgehog. The food and water is enough for everyone who needs.

 

[klunick]

I honestly had no idea there were hedgehogs "in the wild". I only know hedgehogs as pets.

 

[Antonio65]

I too have 2 ferals in my garden. One for about 13 years. I also have a hedgehog. The food and water is enough for everyone who needs.

The problem isn't the lack of food, I ccan provide food for every animal who wants to come over.
The problem is that no matter how much food I leave out, the hedgehog seems to eat it all, and at least one of the ferals might not eat till the next morning. And the poop in the dishes!

I love hedgehogs, I recently rescued a baby hedgehog in the wild. It was wandering in the daylight and was just 5 oz. It was clearly in distress and danger, so I rescued it and took it to the facility where it will spend the next winter safely.

 

[di and bob]

I had possums that visited. I started leaving out enough for all to share, especially after finding they only have a two-year life span. Since they eat at night, you might start feeding that meal a little sooner until he moves on. Or putting a cheaper food out for that last meal. You could try trapping and relocating, after making sure it was not a nursing mama, but that may be difficult since they curl up when scared. One hedgehog shouldn't be too much, I absolutely hate the huge raccoons that show up and eat everything in sight. I couldn't afford to feed them! You could try dividing the food and setting it far apart, the cats may find one and maybe the hedgehog will just defecate on one, not two!

 

[Antonio65]

I honestly had no idea there were hedgehogs "in the wild". I only know hedgehogs as pets.

Over here, in Europe, keeping a hedgehog as a pet is illegal. Hedgehogs, and whatever wild animal must stay in the wild. Anyone who has a wild animal as a pet is liable to penal laws and a heavy fine!
But we can have what we call it a South African Hedgehogs, formally known as Four-toed Hedgehog, which is a complete different species.

 

[Antonio65]

I had possums that visited. I started leaving out enough for all to share, especially after finding they only have a two-year life span. Since they eat at night, you might start feeding that meal a little sooner until he moves on. Or putting a cheaper food out for that last meal. You could try trapping and relocating, after making sure it was not a nursing mama, but that may be difficult since they curl up when scared. One hedgehog shouldn't be too much, I absolutely hate the huge raccoons that show up and eat everything in sight. I couldn't afford to feed them! You could try dividing the food and setting it far apart, the cats may find one and maybe the hedgehog will just defecate on one, not two!

Well, actually this (or these) hedgehog(s) (it's hard to tell if it's the same visiting the place more than once each night, they all look the same), come and go.
The first visit is around 8pm, but I know they are still around at midnight and likely the whole night. If it's more than one and they come several times, I can't know how much food I should leave out, it seems they're bottomless, as we use to say over here, insatiable.
I tried to leave different dishes of food in different places, but it seems they're able to find them all. And eat it all.
I would like to keep the ferals' dishes out of the hedgehog's reach. But I don't know how to do.

 

[Norachan]

Hedgehogs can climb really well, but they need a rough surface with ledges to help them get up. They can't manage steep, smooth sided inclines.

Maybe you could put the cat's food on a table, that the cats could jump up on to, but that the hedgehogs couldn't climb? Something like pieces of smooth plastic drainpipe around each table leg might work.

Hedgehogs are often covered in fleas, so if your cats are coming into contact with them watch out for that.

 

[Antonio65]

Hedgehogs can climb really well, but they need a rough surface with ledges to help them get up. They can't manage steep, smooth sided inclines.

This is my setup. There's a cat house on the left, two rooms, one each floor, with insulation on all sides.
The boy's dish is on the last step of the short ladder. The entrance to the upper floor has been cut in the insulating panel on the opposite side. One night I've seen the hedgehog up that ladder and eating the cat's food.
The girl's dish is on sort of a metal tripod and in a flowerpot dish to keep it off the ground and ant-free. If I put the food dish on the table, the tabby cat won't jump on it and couldn't eat. But the hedgehog comes, tips the dish over and eats the content.

Maybe you could put the cat's food on a table, that the cats could jump up on to, but that the hedgehogs couldn't climb? Something like pieces of smooth plastic drainpipe around each table leg might work.

I could try a small raised platform with smooth sides and see if she wants to eat up there, though I doubt it, she's very suspicious of every novelty.

Hedgehogs are often covered in fleas, so if your cats are coming into contact with them watch out for that.

Yes, I know it too well.
Both my ferals have a Seresto collar with the function of both protecting them against ticks and fleas, and being a place to hang their tags on

 

[Babypaws]

Is it possible for you to train them to be fed at certain times during the day? I have a female feral cat that I feed 3 times a day. The latest is before it gets dark. I call her and leave it out for awhile and then bring it inside. i dont leave any food outside over night because I don’t want to attract any other animal. I also got her in the habit of coming to the porch door to be fed.

 

[Antonio65]

Is it possible for you to train them to be fed at certain times during the day? I have a female feral cat that I feed 3 times a day. The latest is before it gets dark. I call her and leave it out for awhile and then bring it inside. i dont leave any food outside over night because I don’t want to attract any other animal. I also got her in the habit of coming to the porch door to be fed.

Well, I guess I could, but it could take time.
Furthermore, the two ferals do not show up at the time of the day that I would like. I mean, they're there in the morning and very often at noon. They're also there (not always) late in the afternoon when I go back home from work, but they do like to roam when it's dark, because they are cats , so, before I go to bed, I leave some food out for when they come back. But in the morning I find the clear signs of the passage of the hedgehog.
Yes, I could skip the night meal, but I'd feel sorry for the two cats that might wander to look for something to eat.

A year or so ago there were two feral and rather angry cats who would come over, beat my ferals and steal their food, but they're gone for a year now. so I don't have to worry about other animals but the hedgehog.

 

[moxiewild]

I had possums that visited. I started leaving out enough for all to share, especially after finding they only have a two-year life span. Since they eat at night, you might start feeding that meal a little sooner until he moves on. Or putting a cheaper food out for that last meal. You could try trapping and relocating, after making sure it was not a nursing mama, but that may be difficult since they curl up when scared. One hedgehog shouldn't be too much, I absolutely hate the huge raccoons that show up and eat everything in sight. I couldn't afford to feed them! You could try dividing the food and setting it far apart, the cats may find one and maybe the hedgehog will just defecate on one, not two!

Please, please, please never relocate wildlife.

This is dangerous for the same exact reasons that it is dangerous to trap and relocate feral cats. They do not survive.

I’m a wildlife rehabilitatator and work at a wildlife sanctuary. We put significant effort into prepping native wildlife to be released (whether orphaned, an adult who had been injured/ill, or who was simply a “nuisance” to someone) over a very long period of time, and we choose places that we already know have an appropriate food and water source, balanced competition, and no obvious predators. We set them up with a “beginner” shelter and leave food for them to forage for the first week or two, gradually decreasing.

They often still do not make it, even with all of those provisions in place.

Knowing your territory is directly correlated to survival in the animal world, even for transient species (like opossums). Please never trap and relocate!

 

[moxiewild]

Well, I guess I could, but it could take time.
Furthermore, the two ferals do not show up at the time of the day that I would like. I mean, they're there in the morning and very often at noon. They're also there (not always) late in the afternoon when I go back home from work, but they do like to roam when it's dark, because they are cats , so, before I go to bed, I leave some food out for when they come back. But in the morning I find the clear signs of the passage of the hedgehog.
Yes, I could skip the night meal, but I'd feel sorry for the two cats that might wander to look for something to eat.

A year or so ago there were two feral and rather angry cats who would come over, beat my ferals and steal their food, but they're gone for a year now. so I don't have to worry about other animals but the hedgehog.

Most cats adjust to a feeding schedule very quickly.

Sometimes one refuses or doesn’t catch on, and at that point, you can revise your plan to hedgehog proofing, but I would try scheduled feeding first.

Do any of the cats come to eat immediately when you first place food down? For those cats, you can start using a “silent” dog whistle after setting food down so they start associating food with the noise. These cats will catch on almost immediately once you switch.

For the ones who are more sporadic, it might take some time for them to figure out when they need to be there, but the whistle will help everyone know when food is out even if they aren’t immediately nearby.

Alternatively, if you feed any dry food, you can just leave that out during daylight hours and pick it up at night, that way there’s a much larger window for the cats to eat.

That can even help with an overall transition - first, they’ll get used to eating only during the day, then, you can get them used to scheduled meal times.

It only takes most cats just a few days to catch on, though.

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

I don't have hedgehogs but I have Mom, Dad and 5 raccons babies along with 2 possums, Treasure and Sopdet with once again nightly visits from Gypsy to the food bowls. I kind of leave food and water in 4 spots in the yard for all of them although I have not seen any dangerous situation, unless it's Treasure pestering the raccoons. lol Gypsy only comes at night otherwise I would take up the food before bed but my cats come from an excessive and abusive background so I do what I can for all of them.

 

[fionasmom]

I have the same situation with possums and raccoons. This morning a very large, overly domesticated raccoon came to the food I had just put out for the ferals, which is about 2 feet from my back sliding glass door. The upshot is that this guy was not going to leave so I put out a decoy bowl with cheaper dry food in another part of the yard and directed him to it. It is probably not a solution but it calmed everyone down.