Watch out, hedgehog children: Why you should be careful in the garden now
19/9/2024
Translation: machine translated
Do you have a garden? Then keep your eyes peeled! There are currently baby hedgehogs on the loose, which you can easily injure while gardening.
What's even cuter than a spiky ball with legs? A spiked ball with legs that squeaks like a rusty garden gate:
Bird babies are currently scampering through gardens in many places. In September, they leave their nests, scout out their surroundings and build up fat reserves for the winter. In doing so, they enter particularly dangerous terrain. Here's how you can help them:
1. brush cutter, trimmer and lawn mower
You should be extremely careful when trimming bushes and the lawn. Never leave robotic lawnmowers running at dusk or at night when the animals are out and about. Use models with collision sensors and/or set the maximum cutting height to prevent them from cutting the hedgehog babies.
2. leaf vacuum and rake
3. poison
Pesticides can also be deadly. Use them sparingly during this time. Or even better, choose products that are not harmful to hedgehogs. This can be seen on the packaging, for example it says "gentle on pets and beneficial insects".
4. pets
Dogs sometimes like to play with small hedgehogs. Not only can they be dangerous to the hedgehogs, they can also injure themselves. Therefore, don't let your dog run around the garden unsupervised at the moment. That way, you can react immediately.
What to do with boulders
If you discover a baby hedgehog in a nest, don't rush things. Leave the baby for around two hours and watch it from a distance. If the mother does not return, you should take it to a hedgehog centre.
Have you spotted hedgehogs in your garden? Tell us about it in a comment.
Header image: Shutterstock/slowmotiongli
Darina Schweizer
Senior Editor
Darina.Schweizer@digitecgalaxus.chI love anything with four legs or roots - especially my shelter cats Jasper and Joy and my collection of succulents. My favourite things to do are stalking around with police dogs and cat coiffeurs on reportages or letting sensitive stories flourish in garden brockis and Japanese gardens.
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