Can a hedgehog tear off the heads of chickens? Hedgehog - description, species, where it lives, what it eats, reproduction, photo

That's all today more people chosen as pet hedgehog IN last years It became possible to purchase specially bred hedgehogs of various breeds. In this case, what to feed African hedgehog at home, you can find out in detail from the breeder. But many people pick up cute animals while walking in nature. They have a question about what to feed forest hedgehog at home. This article will talk about this in detail.

What do hedgehogs eat in the wild?

To understand what to feed little hedgehog If you come to your home, you need to know well what hedgehogs eat in the wild. Thanks to children's fairy tales and cartoons, many people mistakenly believe that hedgehogs eat mainly mushrooms, apples and milk.

The hedgehog is an omnivore, but its main food is various insects: beetles and their larvae, snails, slugs, caterpillars, earthworms. In addition, reptiles and amphibians, baby mice and rats become food. Hedgehogs destroy bird nests on the ground. The diet is supplemented with various berries and fruits.

What to feed a small hedgehog at home? Fortunately, hedgehogs are not picky about food; the main thing is to choose the most suitable and healthy diet.

What to feed a hedgehog at home

Premium or super-premium dry cat food can be used as the main food for hedgehogs. Carefully study the composition - meat and vegetables must be in the first positions, but starch-containing products (such as potatoes and corn, for example) should not be at all. There is no food that is completely suitable for hedgehogs and can satisfy all their needs, so dry food must be supplemented with meat, insects, and vegetables.

So, answering the question “what to feed a hedgehog at home,” we can say that you need to use either dry food with additives or natural food. Let's look at the products necessary for hedgehogs, more details.

What kind of meat should I give my hedgehog?

Meat is the first thing you can feed your hedgehog at home. It is better to use lean meat - chicken, turkey, duck, veal, rabbit. The question remains: in what form should the meat be given - boiled or raw? The fact is that hedgehogs eat raw meat much more readily than cooked meat, this is especially true for recently caught hedgehogs.

Various by-products can also be used as feed: liver, lungs, heart, stomach, tongue. Boiled liver - favorite treat hedgehogs

The meat is boiled or steamed without salt and spices. There is no need to cook meat for a long time to disinfect it - a few minutes will be enough for small pieces.

Should I give my hedgehog fish?

Is it necessary to give a hedgehog fish, since it does not eat it in nature? The hedgehog will happily eat some fish. For feeding, you can use trash fish or waste, tripe. You should not feed hedgehogs salted or lightly salted fish, as well as stale or rotten fish. This may cause poisoning.

Fish can be used as a treat and a healthy addition to the main diet, but not as a main food. Eating large amounts of hake, pollock, and haddock can cause anemia. Use large quantity pike, bream, whitefish, carp, tench, crucian carp, perch can lead to vitamin deficiency.

It is best to use mackerel and horse mackerel as food. The meat of these fish is comparable in properties and effect on the hedgehog’s body to the meat of farm animals. Fish is also boiled or steamed without salt and spices.

Concentrated animal feed

What to feed a little hedgehog? Special concentrated animal feed can be used as additional feed. It can be bone and blood meal, meat and bone meal, fish meal. These feeds are produced in factories using heat treatment.

Insects

Insects are the main food of hedgehogs in nature, so animals must necessarily receive this type of food. IN major cities insects can be purchased at pet stores. These can be cockroaches, grasshoppers, crickets, zoobass and other feeding insects. Mealworms are also a delicacy for hedgehogs.

How to breed insects

What to feed a small hedgehog at home? If you plan to leave the hedgehog for a long time, you can take care of the constant presence of insects. At home, you can breed large mealworm larvae.

To do this, take a small tightly knit wooden chest (it is better to cover the inside of a wooden box with foil) or Plastic container. A small hole is made in the upper part for air access, tightly covered with a fine mesh.

Bran is poured into the box in several layers, separated by natural fabric or gauze. Now the mealworm larvae are placed in the container. They can be purchased at a pet store or market. The box is placed in warm place. Mealworms develop into pupae and later into beetles. The bugs again lay eggs, from which worms emerge. Some of the worms are left for further reproduction. Bran is periodically added. Other insects can be bred in a similar way.

How to catch and store insects

Not everyone wants to have a box infested with insects in their home. IN summer period they can be caught and collected in nature. Almost any insects will do: flies, beetles (hedgehogs are especially fond of cockchafers), grasshoppers and locusts, as well as larvae of any insects and worms. Flying insects can be collected in a light trap. May beetles are collected from trees.

Caught insects can be stored. First, the closed jar is immersed in a saucepan with hot water. When all the insects are dead, they are dried in the sun. The feed can now be crushed and stored in glass jar with a tight lid.

Ready-made insect food

Previously, hedgehog lovers had to prepare insects for the winter, dry and grind them, and then store them in jars. Of course, this can be done today, but there is an easier way.

Many pet stores sell food for insectivorous birds, reptiles, hedgehogs and sugar gliders. Be careful - there are foods for insectivorous birds made from cereals that imitate insects with the help of flavorings. Look at the composition and choose food containing insects. The choice in online stores is especially rich: mixtures of dried insects of several types, wet insect food in jars, and even canned insects. Dry food can be mixed with chicken or quail egg, you can add minced meat to this mixture. Wet and canned food is ready to eat.

Vegetables fruits

In nature, hedgehogs do not refuse plant foods. In order for your prickly pet to receive all the necessary vitamins and microelements, he must be offered plant foods. What to feed a hedgehog at home? Which plant foods can I offer him?

First of all, a hedgehog will appreciate sweet fruits. You can treat him to apple, pear, apricot, peach, watermelon, kiwi, banana, melon, papaya. The pet will not refuse the usual forest berries: cranberries, blueberries, blueberries, raspberries. Eats garden strawberries, wild strawberries, and cherries (without pits).

The animal will also like vegetables: carrots, cucumber, zucchini, spinach, asparagus, green beans, peas.

Fresh vegetables can be replaced with baby purees in jars. The composition should not contain starch or sugar.

Can hedgehogs have milk and eggs?

When people think about what to feed wild hedgehogs At home, most people think of apples and milk. Indeed, in old recommendations you can find advice to feed the hedgehog cottage cheese, cereals with milk, and offer cow's milk as a drink. But modern zoologists are unanimous - you cannot give milk to adult hedgehogs, they do not tolerate it well.

But hedgehogs eat eggs in nature, and if an animal comes across a bird’s nest on the ground, it will definitely feast on it. Eggs can be offered both chicken and quail, raw and boiled.

Food from the table

There are people who believe that since a hedgehog is an omnivore, any food is suitable for it. And they don’t have the question “what to feed a hedgehog at home.” Indeed, a hedgehog can eat dairy products, salted meat with spices, various cereals, soups, bread, etc. But it's not right! Do not allow family members to feed the beast from the common table. Salty, spiced, fried and fatty foods are extremely dangerous for the body of a wild animal. Food for the hedgehog is given raw or prepared separately.

What to feed little hedgehogs at home

It is very difficult to feed small hedgehogs on your own. If you find a hedgehog nest in the forest, you should not take the cubs from it; without a mother, they will most likely die. But if the nest is destroyed and the hedgehog dies, you can try to save the cubs. So, what to feed little hedgehogs at home?

To feed babies, you need to purchase formula for feeding newborn kittens or puppies. The temperature in the nest should be maintained at 35"C. Before and after each feeding, massage is necessary to stimulate bowel movements.

Blind hedgehogs (up to two weeks old) are fed every 2-3 hours, 2-3 ml of the mixture. If the eyes have recently opened (age from two to four weeks), the break will be 3-4 hours, and the amount of the mixture will increase to 5-6 ml. Hedgehogs that are one month old have already developed teeth. At this point, they can begin offering solid foods, such as kitten food or a boiled egg.

What not to feed hedgehogs

Finally, I would like to separately indicate what you should not feed hedgehogs.

1. Milk and dairy products.
2. Dried fruits, raisins.
3. Pineapple, grapes, avocado, citrus fruits and other exotic fruits.
4. Tea tree oil (even vapors cause poisoning).
5. Seeds, nuts.
6. Garlic, onion.
7. Food from the table (cookies, chips, sausages, etc.).

The hedgehog is an animal that we have known about since early childhood. Fairy tales and cartoons introduced us to him. But do we really know these prickly balls well enough? Do you know why hedgehogs are dangerous or why hedgehogs are useful? Is it true that hedgehogs carry apples and mushrooms on their backs? In this article you will learn interesting facts about hedgehogs and you will be able to find answers to all these questions.

2. Everyone knows about the ability of hedgehogs to curl up into a prickly ball when in danger. The hedgehog's needles serve as strong armor and protection. With such equipment, the hedgehog emerges victorious even in a fight with a viper. However, it is not only the needles that allow him to win the fight. One of the most little known facts about hedgehogs is that these animals are insensitive to many poisons. Arsenic, opium and even hydrocyanic acid have a weak effect on hedgehogs.

3. We are used to thinking of hedgehogs as harmless creatures. But despite this, they are quite capable of standing up for themselves. After all, they have at their disposal not only barbed needles, but also 36 sharp teeth.

4. Many people believe that a hedgehog does not have a tail. But this is not so - it has a tail. It’s just very short, its length is only 3 cm. Of course, it is very difficult to see such a small tail under the hedgehog’s spines.

5. Despite their small size, hedgehogs are quite nimble animals. They can run at speeds of up to 3 m/s. In addition, hedgehogs swim well and jump well, have a keen sense of smell and very sensitive hearing. The only thing is that hedgehogs have poor eyesight.

6. The hedgehog is not afraid to spoil his figure. Since the hedgehog hibernates in winter, before that it gains another 500 grams of fat on top of its usual weight of 800 grams. Such reserves allow him not to die of hunger in winter and sleep peacefully until spring. It is curious that the body temperature of hedgehogs during hibernation drops to 2 °C - this is one of the most interesting facts about hedgehogs.

7. The hedgehog is an insectivorous animal. But its diet is not limited to insects. In addition to insects, hedgehogs eat berries and fruits, mice and voles, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. Hedgehogs also feed on eggs or chicks. small birds that make nests on the ground. A hedgehog can even eat a snake.

8. Hedgehogs are useful in killing various harmful insects. These animals destroy cockchafers, nun caterpillars and gypsy moths. In addition, hedgehogs destroy mice and voles. The hedgehog is a faithful guardian of the garden. After all, where this thorny ball appears, rats and snakes go away.

9. First of all, the hedgehog causes harm by destroying bird nests. And this problem is relevant both for wildlife, and for pets. If you have a hedgehog and chickens at your dacha, then hedgehogs pose a threat to them. But greatest harm Hedgehogs cause diseases. A hedgehog can carry diseases such as rabies, salmonellosis, dermatomycosis, yellow fever and others. In addition, there are a lot of ticks and fleas on hedgehogs. This poses a danger to animals at your dacha. In addition, hedgehogs are hosts for ixodid ticks.

10. Very often children find a hedgehog and bring it home, trying to make it into a pet. This is a big mistake. After all, hedgehogs are wild animals that lead night look life and cannot be trained. In addition, they are carriers of serious diseases. In this regard, it is highly undesirable to have hedgehogs as pets.

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A hedgehog is an animal that belongs to the phylum Chordata, the class Mammals, the order Urchiniformes, the family Urchinidae (lat. Erinaceidae).

The origin of the Russian word “hedgehog” has not yet been fully studied. According to one version, the hedgehog got its name from the Greek “echinos”, which means “snake eater”. Supporters of another version see in the word “hedgehog” the Indo-European root “eg`h”, meaning “to prick”.

• Daurian hedgehog(lat. Mesechinus dauuricus)

Belongs to the genus steppe hedgehogs and differs from most of its relatives in the absence of a strip of bare skin separating the needles of the head into a parting. The spines of the hedgehog are short, sandy or Brown, the fur is coarse, colored gray or dark brown.

This species of hedgehog is a typical inhabitant of forest-steppes and steppe areas from Transbaikalia to Mongolia and northern China. Hedgehogs feed on beetles, small mammals (pikas), chicks and eggs of birds, cotoneaster and rose hip berries.

• Ordinary gymnura(lat. Echinosorex gymnura)

Belongs to the subfamily rat hedgehogs. Gymnura grows in length from 26 to 45 cm with a body weight from 500 g to 2 kg. The hedgehog's tail, covered with sparse hairs and scales, reaches 17-30 cm in length, and its back part is colored White color. The back and sides are black, the hedgehog's head and neck are white.

Gymnura inhabits wet rainforests southeast Asia from Malacca to Borneo. It feeds on invertebrates and small vertebrates, crustaceans, frogs, toads, fish, and fruits.

• Small hymnura (lat. Hylomys suillus)

The smallest in the family. The length of its body does not exceed 10-14 cm. The tail reaches 2.5 cm. The weight of the animal is 45-80 grams.

The animal lives in mountainous areas and on hills in countries South-East Asia(Indonesia, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China). Lesser gymnura eat insects and worms.

For me personally, it was a great discovery that hedgehogs are predators and are quite capable of eating a small, wounded, sick kitten if they suddenly stumble upon it in a state of terrible hunger.

Are such cute sniffling creatures really capable of this?!

Here it is - the terrible truth about cruel hedgehogs:

All hedgehogs belong to the order of insectivores and are natural predators .
One thing is good: they won’t eat kittens, but they will still eat fluffy yellow chickens:

The hedgehog's food consists of almost all small animals: insects (creepers, ground beetles, dung beetles...), larvae, mice, earthworms, caterpillars, slugs, snails, chicks, frogs, snakes, eggs and more. In captivity, you should try to provide the hedgehog with its usual food. You can offer bloodworms, hamarus, tubifex, day-old chicks and mice. In captivity they can eat: seeds, vegetables, soups, raw meat. At home, hedgehogs can be given boiled liver. Fish is also a very valuable food for hedgehogs. For feeding, unsalted and obviously benign fish and fish waste are used. It is very useful to give hedgehogs a carrot-rusk mixture consisting of grated carrots and crushed crackers, to which are added egg powder, finely chopped hard-boiled eggs or non-acidic, low-fat cottage cheese. They love milk, but it causes severe diarrhea, so it needs to be diluted with water.
Let the cruel eaters of poor defenseless chickens suffer here at least (just a joke)).

If you find a nest with blind babies, do not rush to take them home. First, monitor the nest in the evening to see if the female appears. If the orphanhood of hedgehogs is confirmed, in order to save the babies, they should be taken home and artificially fed. Hedgehogs are fed from a pipette or baby's pacifier every 2 to 3 hours with milk and boiled water (2:1), infant formula or diluted condensed milk are also suitable. Each portion of food should be fresh and heated to a temperature of 30 - 40 ° C. At first, hedgehogs turn away from the nipple, but then they get used to it and willingly take it into their mouth and suck milk. The hole in the nipple or pipette should not be too large, otherwise the baby may choke. After feeding, massage the abdomen, stroking with your fingertips from top to bottom. At the age of 3-4 weeks, when teeth begin to erupt, the animals can be switched to meat food. This is done gradually, giving a little lean minced meat mixed with a hard-boiled egg. In addition, they serve millet porridge with milk. After the hedgehogs begin to eat supplementary food, dairy food is reduced and the babies are transferred to the diet of adult hedgehogs. The transition should be completed when the animal reaches a weight of 250 g.

By purchasing any animal, including catching a hedgehog in the forest, a person takes on great moral responsibility for the fate of the new four-legged family member. You must remember that a hedgehog is a nocturnal animal, so while you are sleeping, the animal will do its usual thing - look for food, and at the same time it will create sounds of all kinds. Only after positively resolving all the issues related to the proper maintenance of a hedgehog at home, begin to realize your dream. At home, it is most convenient to keep hedgehogs in metal cages of various designs. If possible, it is better to build an enclosure for the hedgehog under open air(garden aviary).

The basic requirements for hedgehog housing are as follows:
- You must be able to clean daily; finely chopped straw, hay or large sawdust can be used as bedding;
- each hedgehog requires a separate cage or enclosure, since these animals like to live in separate “rooms”;
- there must be enough space for the hedgehog to run around a lot; in nature, they are extremely active animals; if they find themselves in a tight confined space, hedgehogs are deprived of freedom of movement and become lethargic, which affects their health;
- a resting house should be installed so that the hedgehog can calmly rest in it when he needs it, the shelter should be arranged in such a way that it is convenient to replace the bedding with a new one; in transparent nests, hedgehogs do not feel well while resting.
There should always be water and food in a cage or enclosure, for which it is necessary to have a drinking bowl and several feeders. Food should be hidden in different places an enclosure or cage so that the hedgehog would look for it. The hedgehog loves to run around the room, but cannot be left unattended. It will quickly find application in carpets, bedspreads on furniture, shoes and other various subjects in order to profitably use them as raw materials for their nest. The active period of life for hedgehogs depends on climatic conditions from four to seven months. With the onset of cold weather, they plunge into long hibernation. Hibernation is usually understood as the species adaptation of animals to unfavorable conditions environment. The hibernation temperature ranges from 0–5 °C. Before hibernation, a hedgehog must weigh at least 750 g, otherwise it will not wake up after hibernation.

In early spring, hedgehogs awaken, this serves as a signal for the start of reproduction. However, in captivity, hedgehogs very rarely bear offspring. In captivity, it is not advisable to hibernate a hedgehog. When keeping a hedgehog at home, you should know that a hedgehog can be a carrier of diseases such as ringworm, yellow fever, salmonellosis, leptospirosis and rabies. on them in large quantities There are ticks and fleas. Hedgehogs are among the hosts on which ticks feed in all phases of their development. The places where the pliers are attached are lubricated vegetable oil(you can also use kerosene). After some time the pincers fall off. You should not remove them with tweezers - the tick comes off easily, but the oral apparatus remains in the wound and continues to cause concern to the animal. Both fleas and ticks can be removed by sprinkling the hedgehog with pyrethrum. Gets rid of fleas and bathes the hedgehog in warm water– this is convenient because the hedgehog turns completely around in the water and you can wash its abdomen and paws. Hedgehogs, like all mammals living in captivity, need preventive vaccination. Hedgehogs are vaccinated annually against diseases such as rabies, leptospirosis, canine distemper, infectious hepatitis, parvovirus enteritis and parainfluenza.
For questions regarding maintenance, feeding and treatment, please consult a veterinarian, as only a specialist can provide qualified assistance to your pet.