Hedgehog is one creature that is hard to detect if it’s around or near you. Why? Well, a hedgehog is a nocturnal animal meaning it’s active at night when you are asleep and asleep at night. However, hedgehog tracks and signs can tell you if it’s around.
It might take a while to notice if a hedgehog is around your garden or house until you pay close attention to some of their tracks and signs.
Below, we will discuss common hedgehog tracks and signs to look out for. Keep reading to find out!
Hedgehog Tracks
Hedgehogs are little creatures that like to keep a low profile of their presence. However, if you want to know whether these nocturnal creatures visit in your absence, they leave back some tracks that show they visit. Let’s check them:
1. Hedgehog droppings
Hedgehog poo is a track hedgehog leaves behind to show they were there. If you are familiar with their poop, it is easier to identify their presence. However, this is not a pleasant way, but it is one of the best.
A hedgehog’s poo depends on its diet, whether dark or dark brown. The poo is usually sausage-shaped, 1.5-5 cm long, and you can also see some traces of exoskeletons of beetles or insects. You can check for their poo in your landscape or playfield.
2. Their Footprints
Another way to detect a hedgehog’s track is by finding its footprints. Hedgehogs have five toes on both their front and back feet. However, usually, four toes appear on their tracks. The front feet are wide and resemble the hand of human beings, while the back feet are long and narrow.
You can look for their footprints on softer grounds or mud. Another easy way to find their print is through a hedgehog footprint tunnel which is easy to make, or you can buy one.
Hedgehog Signs
While it’s hard to see hedgehogs around, you can still tell if they are present. So, how do you tell if there are hedgehogs nearby? The signs below can help tell if hedgehogs visit your garden or playfield.
1. Listen for Snuffling Noises at Night
One sign to tell that hedgehogs visit your home is listening for snuffling noises at night, especially during the spring and summer. Such little animals are very noisy, so it’s easy to hear them.
When looking for food, they make snuffling and pig-like grunting noises. So learning their noises can help you know if they are visiting your home.
2. Your Ground Foliage Has Been Disturbed
Hedgehogs love to sleep in dark and damp places, and ground foliage or leaves are one of those places. If you have ground foliage in your home and notice some disturbance there, it’s likely there was a hedgehog there.
You can also play a trick, place some leaves on the entrance of a hedgehog cage if you have one, and check in the morning if it has been moved. That means there was a hedgehog around.
3. If Your Neighbors Have Hedgehogs
Your neighbors’ hedgehogs will likely visit your garden because they like to travel at least a mile a day. If you love hedgehogs, you can create a hedgehog pathway in your garden so they can roam around freely.
4. Install a Night Camera
Installing a camera in your garden is the best way to know what happens when you are asleep. You can only sometimes get time to go into your garden at night to see what is happening, but you can always check what happened in the morning.
Get a professional camera installer to install the camera in places you suspect hedgehogs could be making their way through and out of your garden. This way, the camera will capture them perfectly.
How to Attract Hedgehogs in Your Home
1. Add a Hedgehog Cage
Adding a hedgehog cage in your garden will attract them. Ensure there is enough food in the cage. You can also add leaves to provide warmth if they want to rest there.
2. Create Hedgehog Highways
If you want hedgehogs visiting your garden, create gaps in your fence so they can move from one garden to another.
3. Leave Out Water and Food in Your Garden or Playfield
Leave clean water in a dish around the garden or the hedgehog’s cage. This way, they will keep coming into your garden.
When leaving out food, ensure you leave it in a Tupperware. Cut a hedgehog size-hole on it, turn it upside down, and secure it to the ground with a tent peg. This is to ensure no other animal feeds on the food.
Final Thoughts
So, when you master the above hedgehog tracks and signs, it’s not hard to figure out whether you have a hedgehog visiting your garden.
However, if you notice these tracks and signs, you can motivate them to keep visiting your garden by leaving out food or water.
