Something to always bear in mind is the food availability in hedgehog homes. Not only is this the thing that will attract the hogs in the first place, but also it's the thing that will keep the hogs near to you. They will always return home, even if they stray quite far, provided there's a ready supply of hedgehog food there for them.
It also doesn't hurt to ensure that the hedgehog home can keep the hedgehogs warm. A great way to do this is to add in a little of the hay that you might pick up for a pet rabbit or guinea pig - if they can nestle and burrow into the hay, the hogs will be able to insulate themselves a little, keeping themselves warmer, comfier, and happier.
In this article, we're going to run through a few things that might make the best hedgehog houses. It's not going to be a totally exhaustive list, but it's a list that we're certainly proud of. Take a look through our article, and then browse our range of hedgehog homes - we're sure there will be something perfect for any hogs near you.
Hedgehog House
A hedgehog house is a simple thing, often rarely more than four walls. The thing that makes a great hedgehog house, though, is the addition of a small entrance tunnel. This might sound strange, but if a hog has the illusion of burrowing into this safe space, then they'll feel safer in there.
To boost that safeness, you could collect leaves, and use them to cover the tunnel entrance. While this won't do a wonderful camouflage job for the human eye, it will break up the outline, hiding the home from hedgehogs and predators alike.
Hedgehog House Features
Some great features in hedgehog houses are those that combine to keep hedgehogs safe in a quiet spot. Surprisingly, these two things really add up to the same end result - resilient, strong materials used in the construction of the hedgehog house.
Thicker wood and other premium materials will be enough to protect the hogs from any predators that might want to harm them. Premium materials will also generally be thick enough to dampen a lot of the sound outside the box, keeping the hogs safe and happy.
Dutch Hedgehog Protection Society
This society, and others like it, make sure to offer their best ideas to designers of any hedgehog house out there. This has been really helpful for us, as some of their core design principles for ensuring that hogs are safe and happy have been key in our design process.
Something that we've been really glad to include is a waterproof roof. A roof that will keep hogs dry is ideal as not only will it keep the hogs safer and happier, but also it will ensure that their scent is a little deadened.
Smells travel well through moister air, so a great way to prevent predators is to ensure that the hogs, and their home, are as dry as possible.
How to choose the best hedgehog house?
The best hedgehog home should have a range of features designed to ensure the safety of the residents. This could include a removable roof for the human caretaker to replenish the food and water in the home, or pitched roofs to ensure that rain and snow easily drop off the habitat.
Something that we want to point out here is that a very important feature is a tunnel entrance. This will ensure that the hedgehog home feels more secure the hedgehog within it, while also decreasing the chances of a hog that will attract predators.
If the sounds of a hedgehog are at a short distance from the last place a predator saw the hedgehog, they can become confused, and leave the hog well enough alone after a while.
Where to put a hedgehog house?
Aside from ensuring that the hedgehog house is always in the same place in your garden, you should ensure that it's also in a sheltered, quiet part of your garden. This will allow the hogs to be in quieter, safer conditions while in the main chamber of the home which, in turn, will make sure that they remain in your garden, where you can somewhat ensure their safety.
How to secure a hedgehog house
The simplest way to secure a hedgehog home is to ensure that there are some heavy weights on top of the home. At the end of the day, a craft fox could potentially gnaw at some duct tape securing a lid, though it wouldn't be able to lift a few bags of sand, no matter how hard it tried.
Waterproofing a hedgehog house
The best hedgehog houses have built-in waterproofing. This is because, as small mammals, if a hedgehog catches a cold, it can be fatal. We would suggest always making sure that the hedgehogs in your garden are dry.
An interesting way to do this that we spotted online was by using the upholstery of recycled car seats. This, while not perfectly watertight, provided an easy surface for the rain to slip from, and may be worth considering in your garden.
Entrance to the hedgehog house
Getting into the hedgehog house for access to some great dog food or cat biscuits should be easy for the big, but secluded enough that they feel secure. Ideally, it's worth concealing the entrance to the hedgehog home under some level of leaf litter - hogs will naturally search for a den in that space, and you can provide one easily.
Increase their comfort
The best way to increase their comfort is to prevent the buildup of dirt and mess in their home. Once a year, ideally in early April, when it's unlikely there will be a hog in residence, you can remove the home from the ground and clean it out.
While you've got the home up and away from the ground, consider repositioning it. It should never face north, as that's the direction from which cold winds come in the UK. Ensure no cold draught can get through the hedgehog home.
When you do replace the hedgehog house in the spot it was originally in, make sure to offer some meaty cat food. The scent will attract hogs, and it's very likely you'll soon have some in residence.
We hope that our guidance on hedgehog houses has been able to make sure that the homes in your garden are safe, secure, and perfect for hogs.
