How to build a DIY Hedgehog House from scratch | Hedgehog's Hollow

[@HedgehogsHollow]

Building a hedgehog house for yourself is really rewarding when the visiting hedgehogs take up occupation. I hope you find this video useful and that you can use it to create a hedgehog house in your garden

[@mattblyton9788]

I love hedgehogs🦔🦔🦔❤❤

[@michelez8495]

Thank you Mike! Great instructions!!

[@HedgehogsHollow]

You're welcome, Michelle, I am glad they are useful

[@ironhorse19]

Excellent video, very informative and easy to follow many thanks for sharing

[@philomenaliston8412]

brilliant thank you so much

[@elizabethr6183]

Looks great! However, the plastic over the top can cause issues of damp bedding. It prevents adequate ventilation and as the hedgehog breaths, the moisture from their breath causes condensation inside the house. This then drips back onto the bedding, resulting in damp and mould

[@HedgehogsHollow]

Hello Elizabeth, Thank you for taking the time to visit and leave a comment. You are absolutely right, a tight covering would absolutely be doing more harm than good to the hedgehog resident inside the house. For me the cover of plastic is just a "rain jacket" for the house - I make sure to provide a clear space between the house and the plastic itself - it's loose enough to allow airflow, whilst being near enough to ensure it protects the house and the resident from the rain and wind.

[@coleensere]

Hi Mike what a beautiful garden you've made for your wonderful hedgehogs 🦔 great channel and great advice 👏 please may i ask what shrubs you've planted around the hedgehog area as we have made a similar area at the bottom of our garden but our plants are mostly woodland ie.acers,ferns including a dead trunk of a tree fern also hostas. Only afew evenings ago we had a hedgehog visit our garden who seemed to be quite familiar with the surroundings such as finding where the water features were as we have 3 and the entrance/exit and in no hurry to leave we think the hedgehog entered from the hedge behind our garden we live in a very small village in North Devon near Umberleigh and we live directly behind a field which the hedge is at the bottom of our garden we were blown away we were watching the hedgehog from our raised deck it was absolutely wonderful just to watch his/her movement through every inch of our garden so we quickly ordered a hedgehog house, anouther on the way & basically everything kitten food & Spikes hedgehog food,hay, logs and small feeding bowels which came the following day we've also bought a wildlife camera so as we approach autumn everything will be ready if this hedgehog returns or hopefully any we can only hope, my husband actually come across what looks like a hedgehog highway hole about the size of a cd case which the previous owner had done its in the dividing fence of 1 side of our neighbour which must mean hedgehogs were coming in the garden long before we moved here plus another entrance small gap at the other end of the fencing.We all need to help build a hedgehog highway so we can somehow help these beautiful animals survive. I also purchased your Hedgehog Hollow tee shirts for myself & husband absolutely marvellous idea Mike and for a great charity 👏 Keep up the fantastic work & videos well done 👏

[@jamesnurgle6368]

I moved into a new house and the landlord cleared the very overgrown garden for us. I was glad but now there's a very cute hedgehog wandering around my garden looking a bit lost...

[@t3h51d3w1nd3r]

Should the entrance not be a bit smaller? To stop wild cats from being able to enter, I was thinking 7 or 8 cm wide and 6 or 7 cm high, I suppose a cat would still be able to enter, might cut down on wind

[@mrmashta1877]

Great video. Have seen it before but its now getting near the time of year where i will have to get the finger out and do the work, if you build it they will come. I have at least one, lost another (baby) on the road, so want to give him/her some luxury for the winter. How do you mean Walter has an insulated home ? Thanks for a great video.

[@Sunnyday5276]

Hello, do you treat the wood? What one is hedgehog friendly.

[@HelenaMikas]

Wonderful work Mike and Walter will be happy there I feel sure .As for your second hedgehog ..will there be second house or do they move in together .Great work and love watching 👍

[@HedgehogsHollow]

It's a bit of a long story regarding the accommodation now. Ollie, the second hog, and Walter were originally sharing a house. Ollie moved out and hibernated in a house in a different part of the garden - I think Walter was just too active for him. So when Ollie has now woken up, he has returned and basically kicked Walter out of the house he was preparing for Summer, so Walter is back in his original home. I don't think he minds though, we've had a cold snap and he has a beautifully insulated house. But I do think Walter will move in to the new house when it gets a bit milder, and Ollie will remain where he is - so I will have opportunity to clean out their winter residences, and prepare them for hopefully more visitors in summer. I'm glad you enjoyed

[@mattblyton9788]

Thank you for this idea we built one at 7am😊🥱

[@Edramon53]

If you made a the interior structure from something that's not really weatherproof, such as 3D printed PLA plastic (should be non-toxic), then sprayed it over with outdoor-rated expanding foam (the waterproof stuff that sets like concrete), think that would make a viable hedgehog house? Realistically I'd probably just buy one, but I do own a 3d printer and cans of spray foam look cheaper than wood these days. If it were adequate to the hedgehogs needs these things could be whipped up pretty quick and not need any screws or other hardware.

[@amandalyncooke]

I was going to prepare 2 houses for my garden as have hedgehogs in my area but a fox has now started visiting my garden every night. They are always close by anyway I guess. What would you suggest, I would hate to set up what I originally thought was a safe haven - only to have them eaten by the fox 🙈

[@HedgehogsHollow]

Hello Mandy, thank you so much for your comment. Foxes don't generally pose a threat to hedgehogs. The primary predator for a hedgehog is the badger, rather than the fox, and there are people who will leave food for both foxes and hedgehogs, and multiple examples of foxes and hedgehogs eating together at the same time. I know I have footage of a fox appearing to raid a hedgehog house, but that is genuinely an exception, and more likely just a young fox causing mischief than having any harmful intent. I would go ahead with your plans for the hedgehog houses and welcome both hedgehogs and foxes to your garden.

[@amandalyncooke]

@@HedgehogsHollow awh that's great to know, my visitor looks like an expecting female so has been nice to support her diet a little too. Hope they can all live happily side by side. For an urban back yard I'm not doing too bad, tnks for your tips 😊

[@HedgehogsHollow]

You are very welcome

[@oak699]

Any tips on how to keep cats out? Badgers or foxes are not around where I live. Two of my neighbours have cats though...

[@HenkjanDeKaasboer]

The small wall that portrudes in creates a tunnel for this very reason. It won't keep the cat out, not completely anyway, but it will make it incredibly unlikely for a cat to get your hedgehog out of there. It's unlikely a cat will be able to come anywhere near the hedgehog thanks to that small hallway.

[@stanlee5766]

Is there a specific size for their "sleeping area" & how many hedgehogs/hoglets would sleep in such a build?

[@davebento1548]

Can treated tannalised timber be used ?

[@HedgehogsHollow]

Hi Dave, Thanks for the question. It appears that tannalised timber is used for things like rabbit hutches, and that the process has evolved through technological advancement and EU regulation. As such, assuming that the treatment has conformed to such regulation, it would certainly appear that this type of timber would not be harmful. However, I am unsure whether it is indicated that the treatment conforms to regulation, or whether local UK regulation may now be different to EU regulation. Initial thoughts would be a tentative Yes, though I'd suggest some research to confirm.

[@melsclassics9100]

I bought a hedgehog house and it comes with a removable partition. The partition goes the whole way across and has a hole in it. Should I leave it in there or do they prefer to make there own 'interior' and have more freedom without the wall. Or does the wall help with heat? Thanks

[@duddy7031]

Love your videos Mike. I have loads of odds and sods of timber from an old picket fence. It was tanalised and treated with green shed treatment about 8 years ago. Would you think that it would be OK now to use for my hedgehog house, or do you think the hegehogs would still detect remnants of the treatment? It has that green haze often seen on old sawn timber in the garden. Keep up the good work - you've really inspired me.

[@HedgehogsHollow]

I think after 6 years the fumes would have subsided and weathered and the wood should be good to use now

[@oching4]

Hi! Thank you for the great video, exactly what I needed! Question: how can you try to help hedgehogs without helping rats at the same time. For example, the house you've built - won't rats also nest inside of them? I am new to all of this, so forgive me if it's a silly question.

[@mattblyton9788]

We were wondering how to do the feet but we got there in the end 🤔🤔

[@utaoffelmann7624]

Good tipps. I have in the moment 15 hedgehogs in care, but soon they will realise in the wild. I have also a house for hedgehogs in the garden, but the "door" is too smal. A 80og hedgehog can't go inside. I bought it in a shop. The hedgehogs in the garden prefer other, naturally, places.

[@HedgehogsHollow]

Wow - that's fantastic that you have so many hedgehogs visiting - it's just a pity that house is too small for the bigger ones to take advantage of. It sounds like you have a wonderful garden full of great natural nesting places, so perhaps the entrance being too small isn't that much of a problem - but I hope you might be able to enlarge it that more hedgehogs can enjoy it. Great to hear just how popular your garden is with hedgehogs though.

[@GardenNHS]

I'm not technically minded but do you think that this could be made using a 3d printer and would it be possible to add a long putter tunnel with rainproof insulation

[@fungique1107]

Hi Mike! I am also planning to build a hedgehog house myself, I’ve got the hallway figured out, but what I’m wondering is how big the main room of the hedgehog needs to be at minimum. I’m aiming for a rectangular house, so I don’t want to make the main room bigger than it needs to be.. Can you tell me more about the measurements a hedgehog needs?

[@alexpatience44]

Hi Mike great video, I just bought my wood, just a quick question can we put a wood preservative only on the outside or would that be bad for our little friends. 😀

[@HedgehogsHollow]

Hi Alex, Thanks for taking the time to leave a message. I personally wouldn't but that said, I know that there are many house builders out there who take a lot of care and attention to care for both the house and the hedgehog, and they do use some kind of paint or preservative. So, it's not a complete "NO", but rather a personal preference on my part that I simply put a plastic covering over the house. I don't have any recommendations for a hedgehog friendly preservative - many can unfortunately ooze nasty odours and vapours, but I'm sure there must be some eco friendly options.

[@alexpatience44]

@@HedgehogsHollow Thank you Mike I will give the Preservative a miss, instead I made a slightly bigger roof overlapping the house to give it a bit more cover. 👍

[@dawnmartin5461]

How big does the sleeping area need to be for a female hedgehog please

[@aprillook5113]

Hi mike I like your videos but I was wondering why you would build a house for them when you also say not to directly interact with them?

[@ninjahflighttaktiks1467]

Could have done without the music 😂

[@caspaabriel4794]

Rather long video, but very comprehensive. Good idea, but is there away of keeping out unwanted, wana be squatters. Rats, whatever. I really like lil'hoggies and they deserve a luxerious, comfortable Hog'a' mininium.