You can make your own hedgehog house very simply and even for free with minimal amount of wood work or elbow grease. The only thing which you will need is an old wooden wine box, ideally one which used to hold six bottles of wine in it.
If you don't have a wooden win box to hand, a trip to your local supermarket or even better a wine speciality shop will be required with a little luck they will give you one. Once you have a wine box there are only really two tasks in order to convert it in to a hedgehog house.
Firstly you will need a roof for the box, this can be made out of any type of wood really so long as it's not too thin. About 5mm thick or above will be fine. You can use the box as a template to cut the roof to size by simply drawing around the box on top of the roof material you will be using. You can then cut the roof to size with a hand saw or an electric circular saw.
The roof will need to be fixed to the box, you can do this a few ways, ideally with hindges as shown in the above photo which will allow you to open up the top and see if anything is inside it! Or, you can simply duck tape around the edges to seal the lid up. Either way will be fine but the lid will need to be fixed some how as hedgehogs like to push up lids and remove them during their nesting process or cramming in as many leaves, grass, or whatever they can find to make a nest. They will compact the box full of bits and bobs which will push the lid up, so it should be secure.
Once you have secured the lid you will now have to cut a small hole in the front of the box so the hedgehog and get in and out of the new home. This can be done a number of ways, ideally with a large round cutting tool on the end of a drill about 13cm in diamater or the size of an adults hand clenched in to a fist. Alternatively you can simply use a saw or a chisel and hammer.
You are done!
That's it, this will make a nice home for a hedgehog just fill it will some dry grass and shredded newspaper or leaves.
You can water proof the base by sticking some thick plastic (not a thin plastic bag from a supermarket) to the base held in place by staples but this is not essential. You can get a little fancy and cover the box to blend it in to the environment with sticks and leaves but you will need a little sign by the entrance with the name of your new hedgehog home which should help direct the hedgehogs to the entrance as well :D
Some jelly based cat or dog food in a bowl or even better some hedgehog food which we sell should increase the chances of a hedgehog visiting your new hedgehog home.If you don't fancy making a hedgehog home yourself we also sell some hedgehog homes!
