On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 20:07:51 GMT, Ian Myatt wrote:

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 07:15:56 GMT, Tim Challenger
"timothy(dot)challenger(at)apk(dot)at" wrote:

A few months ago I posted about trying to identify some droppings in the
garden.
Well a couple of uncomfortable evenings hiding near the veggie patch, the
culprits have been caught red-handed - or rather - red-bummed. And yes, it
was hedgehogs. A family of 3.

I have been putting normal cat-food out, but only a little just to tempt
them in to the garden, and as I only use such a little bit the rest often
goes bad before I can use it all up.

Does anyone know if they'll eat dried cat/kitten-food pellets if I mix them
with a bit of water or milk or something?
Is it good/bad for them?


Hello Tim.

I missed your original post, but was wondering if you could describe
the droppongs to me, as we also have some "mystery droppings" in our
garden.

Ian,
They look a little like a small, thin black-pudding. Quite firm, and not
squishy or runny.
They were black, around 4" long (somethimes shorter) and tapered at one end
and more or less straight, not curled or piled up. Around as thick as my
little finger, or a bit more than a pencil.

On closer examination when dried you can sometimes make out fragments of
beetle carapaces - which can make them look shiny when dry. But this isn't
always easy too see, especially if they're fresh.

It seems that normally HH droppings are a little smaller, and that caused a
bit of discussion.

If they are large and the tapered end is pointing up then it might be a
fox, someone said.

--
Tim.

If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would
be so simple that we couldn't.