If you are thinking about buying or making a Hedgehog nest box then these are a few things to consider:

• It needs to be made of robust materials using wood that is at least 20mm thick (some retail boxes are made from thin unsuitable materials which are not exterior grade). The top needs to be made from a waterproof material that has a good sized overhang all the way around that will stop any rain getting into the sleeping area.
• It needs to have some sort of ventilation to prevent any condensation which could make the bedding material inside damp.
• The box needs to be raised off the ground with wooden battens to insulate the box from the cold ground. We have placed ours on concrete slabs or bricks to stop the battens from sinking into the earth
• The size of the box should be big enough that you could place three loaves of sliced bread in it. Quite often some of the boxes sold in garden centers and Online are far too small.
• It is best to have a long tunnel entrance with a chicane. This will help stop any inquisitive cats and other animals trying to get in.
• You need to situate the box in a quiet are of the garden, preferably in a semi shady spot not in direct sunshine as it will be too hot for the hedgehogs during the hot summer days.

Hedgehog Street have some plans so that you can make your own Hedgehog Nest box here.

Nest box maintenance

Nest boxes will need to be cleaned out and the best time to do this is in March/April when they have finished hibernating. First you will need to check that it is not being used. You can do this by putting a little bundle of hay in the entrance, just enough that the hedgehog could push past it. If it has been moved it means that there is a hedgehog using your nest box. alternatively you can use a trail camera near the entrance to monitor activity in the nest box.

if there is no hedgehog using the nest box then empty out any bedding material that is inside and sweep out any dust. I find a small handheld vacuum cleaner helps with this. Don't use any chemical cleaners but pouring some boiling water around inside will help to disinfect it. Leave it too dry completely before putting in some clean fresh bedding material. We use dust free meadow hay which is readily available from pet shops.

We have cameras in each of our four nest boxes so we can see if they are being used. We initially had the cameras inside the nest boxes but we found that they packed the boxes with so much bedding material that it obscured the cameras. We now have the cameras in the entrance tunnels.

We now have four hedge hog house in our garden.

Our first Hedgehog house beneath the Rowan tree at the bottom of our garden. As you can see it is in amongst a pile of old rotting logs and has some hay outside that they can drag in for bedding.

Our new hedgehog house. This was a Christmas present from Frank. As you can see it is under the greengage tree at the bottom of the garden where the birds like to roost.

Photo showing the interior of the new hedgehog house.

Photo of the interior of the hedgehog house showing the camera and the off set partition to stop the cats getting in.

Photo showing the Hedgehog house entrance. You can see in the bottom right of the photo the corrugated armored conduit that holds the data cable for the camera.