What to feed hedgehogs (and what never to)

Feed hedgehogs meaty cat or dog food, cat or kitten biscuits, or a hedgehog food with meat listed first, plus a shallow dish of water. Never milk: hedgehogs are lactose intolerant. Skip bread, which is nearly worthless to them. Mealworms are an occasional scattering at most. Put food out at dusk, in a covered station if cats are a problem.

That’s the easy part. The more useful thing to know is how small a part food plays.

The food that works

Both hedgehog charities give the same short list. Hedgehog Street says hedgehogs “will relish any combination of meat-based wet dog or cat food, hedgehog food or cat biscuits”. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) recommends “good quality meaty hedgehog food, meaty cat or dog food or dry biscuits for cats”, and The Wildlife Trusts suggest plain kitten biscuits or meat-based wet pet food.

• Wet cat or dog food. Choose a meat-based one. The BHPS says “meaty” every time it mentions pet food.
• Cat or kitten biscuits. They are cheap and easy, and they keep. The Woodland Trust notes that a bowl of cat biscuits left under cover “will stay dry and edible for at least a week”.
• Hedgehog food. This is fine if it’s meaty. The BHPS’s test is simple: “Check meat is first ingredient listed.” The Wildlife Trusts add that specialist hedgehog food “isn’t regulated and can vary in quality”, so the label matters more than the picture of a hedgehog on the front.
• Water. Put out a shallow dish of fresh water, and only water. The BHPS poster says it in eight words: “only water to drink”. Water matters as much as food in a dry spell or a hot summer. The BHPS suggests putting water out at several spots.

What never to put out

• Milk. Hedgehog Street says “Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant so please do not give them milk”. The BHPS poster heading is blunter: “Bread & Milk Harms Hedgehogs”. The BHPS says only water to drink, so a “pet milk” is out as well.
• Bread. Hedgehog Street says it “is low in energy so fairly worthless to them”. The Wildlife Trusts say bread and milk can cause diarrhoea.
• Fruit and veg. The Woodland Trust lists apples, cucumber, strawberries and carrots as foods to avoid putting out, because hedgehogs “can’t digest them properly”. A windfall apple that a hedgehog snuffles at on its own is a different matter from a plate you put down.

Mealworms, peanuts and sunflower hearts: the straight answer

You’ll read confident claims on both sides of this, so here is what is actually known.

The Woodland Trust says bird food, “including mealworms, seed and peanuts”, is “thought to cause health problems when eaten in large quantities”. Wildlife rescues advise against mealworms because they are high in phosphorus and low in calcium, and rescue staff report seeing the effects in hedgehogs that have filled up on them. Neither Hedgehog Street nor the BHPS includes mealworms in its recommended list. Both recommend meat-based food instead.

What we couldn’t find is a published study showing that mealworms harm wild hedgehogs. The concern comes from clinical observation in rescue centres. That’s worth taking seriously, because rescues see a lot of hedgehogs. But it isn’t the same as proof.

Our position, which matches our hedgehog page, is this:

• Mealworms: an occasional scattering at most, never the main dish, and never a substitute for meaty food. Don’t put them out as a staple, and don’t panic if a hedgehog has found some.
• Peanuts and sunflower hearts: these are bird food. Don’t put them out for hedgehogs. A ground-feeding hedgehog may find what drops under a bird feeder, which is one more reason to keep bird feeding tidy (see feeding garden birds).

Why a feeding station, and what makes one

Cats and foxes will eat hedgehog food. A feeding station is simply a covered box a hedgehog can get into and a cat can’t easily reach into. The BHPS design is the one most people copy:

• A plastic or wooden storage box, upside down, with a 13cm square opening cut in one side. The BHPS and Hedgehog Street top-tips leaflet both give 13cm. Tape over any sharp cut edges.
• Food at the back, as far from the entrance as possible.
• A large stone or brick on top so it can’t be knocked over or lifted.
• A second brick about 13cm in front of the entrance. The BHPS says this makes it harder for cats to reach in. The hedgehog walks round it.

The Woodland Trust describes the same idea: “a small entrance and a tunnel or sharp angle that prevents pets or foxes stealing food”. An internal wall or short tunnel is another way to build the same idea.

A few habits make any station work better:

• More than one, if you have several visitors. The BHPS says splitting food between sites “may help reduce aggressive interactions around food bowls”.
• Some food scattered. The BHPS and The Wildlife Trusts both suggest scattering small amounts in grass or undergrowth so hedgehogs forage naturally.
• Clean dishes every time. The BHPS advises cleaning dishes after every use with an animal-safe disinfectant, rinsing and air-drying. Keep the dishes and brushes separate from your own and wear gloves.
• Not in the house. Don’t feed inside a hedgehog house. Hedgehogs don’t usually eat where they sleep, and food draws predators to the door.

If you want to know who is actually eating the food, a trail camera will soon tell you.

How much, and when

How much. None of the sources we read gives a portion size. A hedgehog’s range takes in many gardens, and the food is a top-up, not a full ration. So a small dish is plenty to start with. Then go by what’s left. The Wildlife Trusts say to remove anything uneaten that will go off and to put out fresh food in the evening.

When in the day. Put food out around sunset (Hedgehog Street) or at dusk (The Wildlife Trusts).

When in the year. The Woodland Trust advises feeding all year round. Spring food helps hedgehogs coming out of hibernation thin. Late summer and autumn food helps them build fat. In winter, keep an eye on the forecast and put food out when mild nights are expected, because hedgehogs do wake and move about. Hedgehog Street adds that supplementary feeding helps most in cold or dry spells, when natural prey is scarce. None of the sources gives a date to stop. Our own approach is that if food goes untouched for a week or two in winter, put out less and keep the water going. See when do hedgehogs hibernate.

Food is the supplement. Access is the help.

Hedgehog Street is clear that what you put out “is only supplementary to their natural diet”. That diet is mostly slugs, ground beetles, caterpillars and worms. The Woodland Trust says it isn’t clear how much urban hedgehogs rely on food provided by people.

The biggest single thing a gardener can do costs nothing. Hedgehog Street and the BHPS say that a 13cm × 13cm gap at the bottom of a fence or wall “will let hedgehogs through” but is too small for most pets. A hedgehog travels 1–2km a night. A dish of food in a sealed garden feeds the one hedgehog that happens to be stuck there. A hole in the fence opens up the whole street to all of them. After that, don’t use slug pellets and pesticides that strip out their natural food, and leave a wild corner where beetles and worms can live.

The honest bit

The basics are solid and consistent across every tier-1 source we read: meaty pet food or meat-first hedgehog food, biscuits, water, and no milk or bread. The mealworm question is genuinely less settled than either side makes it sound. The caution rests on rescue-centre experience, not a published study, and we’ve kept our advice to “occasional at most”. The 13cm feeding-station entrance and the brick in front come from BHPS practical guidance, not from trials. Portion size has no official answer at all, so go by what’s left in the dish.