Feeding Hedgehogs in Autumn: Helping Them Reach Hibernation Weight

Autumn is the most important few weeks of a hedgehog's year. Between now and the first hard frosts they need to put on enough fat to survive hibernation, and anything they cannot find in your garden they simply go without. A dish of the right food in September and October genuinely decides whether some of them see spring.

Hedgehogs are on the Red List for British Mammals, classed as Vulnerable to extinction. Garden feeding is one of the few things an ordinary household can do that measurably helps.

Why Autumn Feeding Matters So Much

A hedgehog going into hibernation needs enough body fat to live off for months without eating. The general guidance is that they should be around 600g by late autumn. Below roughly 450g, a hedgehog is unlikely to survive the winter unaided.

The problem is timing. Natural food — beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, slugs — becomes scarce exactly when hedgehogs need it most, as the ground hardens and insect numbers collapse. Supplementary feeding closes that gap.

What to Feed a Hedgehog

Hedgehogs are insectivores, so they need meat-based, high-protein food.

Semi-moist food is the one to start with. It is soft enough for hoglets and older hedgehogs to manage, it holds moisture in a dry autumn, and it is far and away the most popular hedgehog food with our customers. Spike's World Tasty Semi Moist Hedgehog Food 1.3kg is our single best-selling hedgehog food, and if you are feeding through the whole season the 550g six-pack works out better value and keeps a fresh pack sealed until you need it. Brambles Semi-Moist Hedgehog Food is a good alternative.

Dry, crunchy food is worth putting out alongside it. The harder texture helps keep their teeth in condition, and it stays usable in the dish longer in wet weather. Spike's World Delicious Hedgehog Food 2.5kg and Brambles Crunchy Hedgehog Food 5kg are both sensible sizes for regular feeding. Many people put a little of each out — semi-moist for the ones that need it, crunchy for the teeth.

Tinned and meaty options suit hedgehogs that are underweight or struggling. Brambles Meaty Hedgehog Tins are made for the job. Meaty cat or dog food also works as a standby — choose chicken or turkey in jelly rather than fish, and avoid anything in gravy, which can cause an upset stomach.

If you want to try feeding before committing to a large bag, Wild Nibbles Crunchy Hedgehog Complete Food 2kg is an inexpensive way to start.

What Never to Put Out

• Milk. This is the single most common mistake. Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant — milk causes severe diarrhoea and can kill them. Never put out a saucer of milk, whatever you may have been told.
• Bread. Almost no nutritional value, and it fills them up in place of food that would actually help.
• Large quantities of mealworms or sunflower hearts. Hedgehogs love them, which is precisely the danger — fed in quantity they are linked to metabolic bone disease, because the calcium-to-phosphorus balance is wrong. A scattering as a treat is fine. A bowlful is not.
• Fish-based cat food, which many hedgehogs will not touch, and anything salted or seasoned.

Water Matters as Much as Food

Put out a shallow dish of fresh water every night, particularly in a dry autumn. Hedgehogs travel a mile or more a night foraging and dehydration is a real risk. Use a shallow, heavy dish that cannot be tipped over — never a deep bowl a hoglet could fall into.

How to Put the Food Out

Feed at dusk, when hedgehogs become active. A few practical points:

• Place food in a quiet, sheltered spot near cover, not in the open
• A feeding station — a box with a 13cm square entrance — keeps cats and foxes out while letting hedgehogs in
• Remove uneaten food each morning so it does not attract rats
• Keep the dish clean; stale food in a damp dish goes off quickly

Autumn Juveniles: the Ones That Need Help Most

Hedgehogs born late in the year — often called autumn juveniles — have very little time to reach hibernation weight. If you see a small hedgehog in October or November that looks underweight, it is worth acting on.

A hedgehog out in daylight, lying still, wobbling, or obviously very small late in the season needs help rather than food. Contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society or a local wildlife rescue. Do not attempt to overwinter one yourself without advice.

Garden Hazards Worth Fixing This Month

• Check bonfires before lighting them. A heap of dry material is exactly what a hedgehog looks for. Move the pile immediately before you light it, or build it on the day
• Ponds need an escape route — hedgehogs swim well but drown when they cannot climb out. A sloped edge or a partly submerged plank solves it
• Avoid slug pellets. They poison the slugs and snails hedgehogs eat
• Check long grass before strimming. Strimmer injuries are one of the most common reasons hedgehogs reach rescue centres
• Cut a 13cm square gap in your fence. Hedgehogs need to roam across several gardens a night — a single enclosed garden is not enough territory to feed in

When Do They Hibernate?

Most British hedgehogs hibernate from around November until March, though mild winters mean they may wake and move nest several times. Keep feeding until you stop seeing food taken, and start again early in spring — hedgehogs emerge hungry and underweight, and that first fortnight is as critical as autumn.

Browse our full wildlife food range at UK9 Petcare — hedgehog food from Spike's, Brambles and Wild Nibbles, plus floating swan and duck food and badger and fox food.