All mammals need to drink regularly and you've probably wondered what hedgehogs drink throughout the day. In no case should you give them milk out of habit, because hedgehogs can not tolerate it in any case.

In the wild - what do hedgehogs drink throughout the day?

Hedgehogs cover a large part of their fluid requirements through their food. However, they also need to drink something. In the wild, hedgehogs often help themselves to water from puddles, small streams or a pond. But you can always put a shallow bowl of water in your garden, so that the hedgehog also has the opportunity to drink something.

You have probably often heard that you should give a hedgehog some milk, because it would be additionally nutritious. You need to know that hedgehogs like milk and do not disdain it at all when it is offered to them. However, the hedgehog cannot digest milk. So it is the same with the hedgehog as with the cat. Both animals are lactose intolerant.

This means that the lactose from milk cannot be digested. The small spiny mammals get diarrhea from milk, which weakens them. In the worst case, this then leads to the death of the hedgehog.

How can you offer the hedgehog something to drink?

Now you know what hedgehogs should drink. Now you ask yourself how you can offer it to them. Especially when hedgehogs wake up from their hibernation, they are usually very thirsty and are grateful when they find something drinkable. For this reason you should think about drinking bowls for hedgehogs in early spring. Ideally suited are

• Flat and above all tilt-resistant trays
• Sturdy trivet with water

In any case, make sure that the water points are always clean. You need to fill fresh water and clean the bowls every day. If you have chosen a larger watering hole, it should have a flat area on one side. Alternatively, it can also be provided with an access point. If the hedgehog accidentally falls into the water, he has the opportunity to get out again on his own.

For a garden pond, put a few large stones on the bank and a board diagonally into the water. Surely the hedgehog can swim, but he can't get up high or steep walls. At some point the strength leaves him and he will drown.

Why is milk dangerous for the hedgehog?

When you ask what do hedgehogs drink, you ask yourself what is so dangerous about milk. Besides, you would think that hedgehogs know what is good for them or what is bad for them. Unfortunately, hedgehogs are pretty dumb when it comes to milk. They drink the milk with enthusiasm because you as a human offered it to them.

How the hedgehog is doing after drinking the milk, you usually don't see anymore, because he moves on. A few hours after he has drunk the milk, he gets stomach pain and diarrhea. This weakens the hedgehog. He loses a lot of weight. Of course, this is not the purpose of offering the hedgehog something to drink.

Thus, on the question of what do hedgehogs drink, cow's milk is absolutely taboo. Compared to the hedgehog's mother's milk, it has a fundamentally different structure.