What Does Hedgehog Poo Look Like?

One of the best, and only, ways to figure out if a hedgehog is visiting your garden is to look out for what it leaves behind… 

Hedgehog poo

Hedgehog poo can vary in appearance depending on what they’ve been eating but common features include:

• Black or very dark in colour
• Roughly cylindrical, or sausage shaped
• Solid 
• Around 1.5-5cm long
• Filled with bits of insects and worms (it can sometimes seem metallic due to it containing insect body parts like wings)

If their poo is green and slimy it’s an indicator that the hedgehog nearby is poorly and in need of some help. 

Rat or hedgehog poo?

Rat and hedgehog poo are quite different. Rat droppings are much smaller than hedgehogs and are flattened at one end, and pointy at the other. They range from light brown to black and are usually slimy, soft and smell unpleasantly like urine. They’re also rarely deposited in the open like hedgehog poo. 

Here are a few other examples of animal poo that could appear in your garden or communal outdoor areas:

Fox:

Fox droppings are dark, long and twisted. They’re often filled with fur, feathers and food remains. 

Cat:

Cat poo is lighter and looser than hedgehogs and foxes. It’s usually shaped like a log or a sausage with a distinct odour. 

Rabbit:

Rabbit droppings appear in clusters of hard, round balls and are yellowy brown or green. 

Badgers:

You will find badger poo in unique pits called latrines. This poo has a firm consistency and is also sausage shaped, as well as having a sweet, musky or chemical-like smell. 

Other signs of hedgehogs

Another sign that you’re being visited by a hedgehog is their paw prints. A hedgehog has 5 toes on each foot, although sometimes only 4 are visible in their tracks. Their front feet are wide and look like tiny human hands while their back feet are longer and narrower. Their tracks are usually between 2-3cm wide and can be seen in mud and soft ground. 

Other than their poo and prints, there aren’t any other identifiable signs of a hedgehog, however, if it’s quiet enough, you may hear them being noisy at night, especially during mating season.