Building a hedgehog house

October 11th, 2009

I want to encourage wildlife in my garden and I have wanted a hedgehog house for some time to go under my elder tree.  I have had a look in pet shops like pets at home for a house but they cost around £40 and everyone I have seen has been damaged from sitting on the shelf.

With that in mind we decided that we would make one, because how hard can it be.  With a quick visit to B&Q we had a large sheet of plywood suitable for outside use than all we had to do was make it.  The Internet was very useful for plans there are loads of designs to make, including some that are designed to go underground.  In the end we went for an above ground one as hopefully it would last longer not being constantly damp.

We drew the design on the board before cutting it up.  The top of the front and back were sloped so water would run off the roof.  We made it 33/27cm high, which is a bit to big, I think around 20cm would of been fine.  One thing that everyone suggests is to put a partition in between the door and the sleeping compartment to stop predators getting to them.  With a 10×10cm door it works really well, our very inquisitive cat has tested it out for us, he could only get into the entrance.

To finish it off we stapled shed roofing to the roof and varnished the whole of the outside with exterior varnish to make it water proof.  It has been drying in our kitchen over night so it ready to go outside now all we have to do is staple lots of layers of newspaper to the inside for insulation then fill it full of hay to make it nice and cosy.  Then hopefully soon we will get some hedgehogs moving in.

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