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Post by mayz on Jul 28, 2012 3:40:37 GMT -5
A pic of a west european hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) in my garden. This animal eats enormous quantities of slugs, snails and insects in order to make fat before winter. In spring it weights around 600g and reaches 2000g in autumn. Imagine I weight 60kg and reach 200kg 6 months later (nearly 1kg per day!!!). Fortunately I don't eat slugs An indispensable ally here Attachments:
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Post by richardw on Jul 28, 2012 5:00:23 GMT -5
We have them in New Zealand also and they are fantastic to have around,problem is the slug population builds up during winter and it takes a few months comes spring for the hedgepigs to get on top of them,also they are a carrier of TB so them,the Australian opossum,wild cats and ferrets all been carriers are trapped and killed by our local council, though i'm sure the hedgehogs on my place must stay about here because i seem to have a good number of them
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Post by richardw on Jul 28, 2012 5:03:44 GMT -5
I wonder how many countries outside its native habitat they're found in??.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jul 28, 2012 14:33:42 GMT -5
Mail me one. I love the litter fellers.
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Post by richardw on Jul 28, 2012 15:20:22 GMT -5
I wonder how many countries outside its native habitat they're found in??. Not easy to get into an envelope Holly ;D Went looking for the answer to my question and ..wow,never thought there were so many different types and gees..there's even forums out there totally dedicated to hedgehogs  |
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Post by raymondo on Jul 28, 2012 18:47:24 GMT -5
Never heard of them being here in Australia. We have plenty of imported animals but most are pests, not useful slug eaters. I encourage lizards in my garden, Blue-tongue Lizards in particular, because of their slug and snail eating habits. Like the hedgehog though, they are sleepy in winter, exactly when the slugs are most active.
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Post by circumspice on Jul 29, 2012 5:33:24 GMT -5
I wonder how many countries outside its native habitat they're found in??. I've seen hedgehogs in northern Iraq. Cute little critters.  Two species are native there. Did you know that hedgehogs eat venomous insects & then lick the venom onto their quills? You could get a nasty wound if you were unwise enough to pick one up. It would give much the same results as though you had picked up a scorpion. |
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Post by richardw on Jul 29, 2012 14:40:40 GMT -5
Mind you we don't have anything venomous in the country so there's not to much to worry about with them.
The kids often like to feed them cat biscuits which helps keeps them about our property
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Post by steev on Jul 30, 2012 0:06:03 GMT -5
I agree with Holly; I want a breeding pair; always thought them cute little critters. Anything that will eat a slug is a friend of mine. I suspect they must have been introduced to NZ, so why not Nor Cal? Probably can't sew them into a pincushion, but there must be a way. I swear, if anyone gets me some stock, I'll cater to their needs, as best I know them.
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Post by circumspice on Jul 30, 2012 2:21:22 GMT -5
I agree with Holly; I want a breeding pair; always thought them cute little critters. Anything that will eat a slug is a friend of mine. I suspect they must have been introduced to NZ, so why not Nor Cal? Probably can't sew them into a pincushion, but there must be a way. I swear, if anyone gets me some stock, I'll cater to their needs, as best I know them. Everything has a trade-off steev. "In areas where hedgehogs have been introduced, such as New Zealand and the islands of Scotland, the hedgehog itself has become a pest. In New Zealand it causes immense damage to native species including insects, snails, lizards and ground-nesting birds, particularly shore birds. As with many introduced animals, it lacks natural predators. With overpopulation, it kills off more insects than initially intended and expands its diet to include things such as snails, worms and the eggs of wading birds. Correcting overpopulation is troublesome itself. Attempts to eliminate hedgehogs from bird colonies on the Scottish islands of North Uist and Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides were met with international outrage. Eradication began in 2003 with 690 hedgehogs being killed. Animal welfare groups attempted rescues to save the hedgehogs. By 2007, legal injunctions against the killing of hedgehogs were put in place. In 2008, the elimination process was changed from killing the hedgehogs to trapping them and releasing on the mainland." |
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Post by steev on Jul 30, 2012 21:47:15 GMT -5
Yes, I know, trade-offs. The thing is, I hate slugs and think hedgehogs are cute. Snails aren't native to California, having been introduced by some slime-sucking European for culinary purposes; now the damned things eat everything but nothing eats them! Shore birds? Not so much on my screen as meadowlarks and quail. I assure you, I don't expect any likelihood of offerred hedgehogs, so I don't expect to need to actually deal with the problem. I'm not really much in favor of the introduction of foreign species to unsuspecting environments purposely; there is enough, even too much, of that these days, thanks to global trade.
Being in considerable degree a result of the perceived overpopulation of Scotland, and efforts to "correct" that, I certainly agree that that is troublesome in itself. Personally, I find that our (relative) lack of natural predators has been to my advantage. I am now only marginally in favor of slamming shut the door through which my kind passed; I could be induced to taking off the latch fairly easily.
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Post by circumspice on Jul 31, 2012 13:42:27 GMT -5
Yes, I know, trade-offs. The thing is, I hate slugs and think hedgehogs are cute. Snails aren't native to California, having been introduced by some slime-sucking European for culinary purposes; now the damned things eat everything but nothing eats them! Shore birds? Not so much on my screen as meadowlarks and quail. I assure you, I don't expect any likelihood of offerred hedgehogs, so I don't expect to need to actually deal with the problem. I'm not really much in favor of the introduction of foreign species to unsuspecting environments purposely; there is enough, even too much, of that these days, thanks to global trade. Being in considerable degree a result of the perceived overpopulation of Scotland, and efforts to "correct" that, I certainly agree that that is troublesome in itself. Personally, I find that our (relative) lack of natural predators has been to my advantage. I am now only marginally in favor of slamming shut the door through which my kind passed; I could be induced to taking off the latch fairly easily.  ;D |
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Post by ilex on Aug 6, 2012 2:11:16 GMT -5
We have those around and they don't control my population. I guess they just walk away.
What works great is a couple of ducks (not the herbivore kind). They will eat over 1 pound of snails + slugs a day.
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Post by steev on Aug 6, 2012 12:32:40 GMT -5
I had a large dog and a Pekin duck, best buddies. Having a landscape maintenance business, I knew where it was safe to gather snails, so I'd keep a coffee can in the truck to bring snails for the duck. Spot saw Donald scarfing snails, so she started crunching them up, too. She ate them at least six months past the point of Donald being thoroughly tired of snails.
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Post by s2man on Aug 7, 2012 16:55:19 GMT -5
Yep. I've always heard there is no such thing as too many slugs. Just a dearth of ducks.  |
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Two species are native there. 
;D
