Hedgehogs are always welcome guests in our garden areas. These are funny and very cute creatures with needles everywhere except for the abdomen, muzzle and paws. Almost all predators shun the hedgehog, since they have the ability to curl up so that the spines protect exposed areas of the body. A strong ring muscle holds the needles “on end”. But you can stroke a hedgehog without consequences for yourself. To do this, you need to stroke it in the direction from the muzzle to the back, while his muscles relax.
So what is their benefit to us? Mostly, in what the hedgehogs eat, or rather, in their omnivorous nature. Their menu is really quite diverse. They prefer live food, so they will be very handy in places where small snakes and snakes live. Almost always, the hedgehog defeats the viper. He catches her by the tail and immediately turns into a prickly ball, the snake, trying to bite him, stumbles upon a lot of thorns. The hedgehog at this time slowly pulls prey under itself and eats. Snake venom does not harm him, like many other toxic substances. He is not afraid of bee venom (he doesn’t even feel their bites), eats bedbugs and flies. Neither hydrocyanic acid nor arsenic are terrible for him.
Precisely because hedgehogs eat almost all insects and creeping pests, they are always welcome in the gardens. Some summer residents even feed them, attracting to their site. In one night, small hedgehogs can eat about 200 g of insects. It is especially effective to fight with the help of these animals with the May bug, snails and caterpillars.
But they can infect a person with encephalitis. Running in the forest, they collect ticks with their thorns. There can be so many of them that parasitologists in areas of outbreaks of this disease rely on their “hedgehog” calculations (the number of ticks that fall on the animal per hour spent in the forest zone). It can have tens of thousands of ticks.
Many probably noticed that eating hedgehogs is very noisy and a lot. In addition to animal food (toads, grasshoppers, snails, etc.), they also eat acorns, raspberries, strawberries.
Despite their prickly protection, small hedgehogs themselves often become food. Martens dig them in the cold period when they sleep, and an owl, for example, swallows it all with needles.
Some species of hedgehogs, or rather their thorns, can be poisonous. But the hedgehog does not itself produce a toxic substance, but borrows it from toads and lubricates the needles with it. Encountering sharply smelling objects, he behaves very strangely: licks this object until a foamy liquid (saliva) begins to stand out, then he transfers it to the needles (licking himself). Sometimes on his spines you can even see under-smoked cigarettes. Specialists can not explain this behavior of animals, but suggest that this is an attempt to fight parasites.
Unfortunately, the life of hedgehogs is short - 4-6 years. They have poor eyesight, but they have excellent hearing and wonderful flair. They communicate using whistles.
If a small prickly lump appeared in your home, then you should remember that hedgehogs eat preferably insects. In captivity, you can give them meat, do not mind they eat eggs. Contrary to the generally accepted opinion that hedgehogs need to be given milk, this is not worth doing so as not to harm. They do not tolerate lactose. Dry animal feed for dogs or cats is also not suitable for them, since they contain a large amount of fat. You can’t feed them with pork, sausage, as well as sweets, cabbage and potatoes.