Give a Good Home to a Needy Hedgehog

We sometimes have elderly or disabled hedgehogs needing a safe place to live out the rest of their lives, if you think you have a suitable enclosed garden please contact us

Many of our patients are not able to be released back into the wild as they would not be able to fend for themselves

We also need suitable gardens to release healthy hedgehogs that have recovered from their injuries or babies that have been hand reared, but are now ready for release.

We are compiling a list of suitable places and people who would be willing and able to adopt one of these hedgehogs and give it the care it needs or would be willing to release a hedgehog in their garden and provide food & shelter and other care for it.

Before you say yes I want a hedgehog, think carefully and remember that taking on any animal is a big responsibility.

A disabled hedgehog will need a certain type of garden and conditions:

• Where it cannot escape, with secure solid fencing or walls all the way round, including the gate.
  • By fully enclosed or secure we mean either high solid brick walls all around or high solid wooden fences with either concrete or wooden gravel boards sunken into the ground deeply enough to stop a hedgehog digging its way out.
• Will have no predators
• Will be supplied with regular food & water
• A shelter built for it,
• With enough open space and undergrowth or shrubbery for it to be happy.
• Remember with the right conditions and care a hedgehog will live for 6 or 7 years, but can go on until they are 9 or 10 years old, so it can be a great responsibility to take on.
• Many are elderly hogs with no teeth or very few teeth who cannot eat natural food and need a diet of sloppy cat/dog food to survive. It is very important that they get this diet and cannot escape otherwise they would soon die.
• Some are blind or have other eye damage and can't see whether it is day or night so wander around in daylight hours and need protecting from predators and other dangers.
• Some may have lost a leg and cannot dig for their natural food or escape from danger

You will have to accept responsibility for it and agree to:

• Give it regular checks
• Feed it every day
• Supply water daily
• Contact us if it becomes unwell or needs any treatment, when we will immediately collect it & get it treated.
• If you change your mind or feel unable to cope or do not want the hedgehog for any reason do not just open the gate and let it go, phone us at any time and we will pick it up straight away.

Please only contact us to offer a place if you live very close to us. That means within the Epping Forest District area ( Loughton, Epping, Ongar), West Essex ( Brentwood, Harlow & Sawbridgeworth)  or East Hertfordshire (Bishops Stortford)  or other areas very close to us. If you live elsewhere please contact your local centre and offer them help

If you think you might be able to help, please read the dangers & garden and the captive pages first.

If after reading everything, you feel you can offer a good safe place then please contact us by filling in the form on the contact page.

We will not guarantee to find you or give you a hedgehog, but if your garden is safe & suitable we will put you on our list for when we have one. We always check and inspect the gardens carefully before allowing one of our hedgehogs to be adopted.

We NEVER give hedgehogs to anyone who wants one to keep the slugs under control