Feeding badgers in your garden will divide opinions as some people love badgers and others don’t want them anywhere near their homes or gardens.
Feeding badgers in your garden helps you understand these nocturnal animals’ characteristics and behavior. Feeding them gives them a source of food that they may not be able to find in the wild. However, do not let them become reliant on your generosity, and remember to feed them responsibly. If you have chickens or rabbits in your garden, badgers may attack them.
If you want to help local badger populations, especially during the most challenging times of the year, you can do so. However, it is crucial to consider the pros and cons and do so responsibly.
Many mammals are carnivores. Find out more here
Benefits of Feeding Badgers
Badgers have different strategies and behaviors depending on their environment. It makes sense for them to take advantage of any food offered in an urban setting, whether via trash or food deliberately left out.
You should find that they are primarily nocturnal in your area, coming out to feast at night, but you can still enjoy watching them from a safe distance. This gives the animals a chance to feed on a nutrient-rich meal if they are struggling, especially during colder months, and you can learn more about these animals.
If you start feeding the animals in your yard, consider setting up some remote cameras. This is a great way to learn more about their habits and preferences. You can see what they eat first, what they do with the food, and how often they appear. This information can help you tailor your food to their tastes and provide better portions. You will also see what other animals in the area benefit from your efforts.
Remember that badgers aren’t as dangerous as their reputation suggests. Badgers are often portrayed as vicious creatures, and there are unjust stories about them taking pets because they have been seen eating them as roadkill.
Badgers are not a threat to your cats and dogs. They won’t run in and savage them or take them as prey. Still, badgers will get aggressive to defend themselves if needed. If you were to corner one in a building or den, it could bare its teeth and lash out. But, they are more likely to run away.
Do you know the difference between a weasel and a stoat? Find out in this article I wrote.
Downsides of Feeding Badgers
While there isn’t a risk to your cats and dogs, which can quickly come inside and give the badger some space, encouraging badgers may be problematic if you have other animals. Smaller animals that live in runs or hutches outside could be seen as easy prey, given the badger’s love of large rodents. Also, there are cases of badgers killing chickens and taking their eggs.
It is also essential to feed badgers responsibly. Watch out that you aren’t attracting them to an area that isn’t sustainable. Could they become overly reliant on you but at risk from your neighbors or busy roads? If so, please don’t start feeding them. Don’t try and bring them to your garden to feed them and then get mad if they start burrowing or making a home in your garden.
What Do Badgers Eat?
Badgers have special diets and will take advantage of what they can get. Our badgers shouldn’t need supplemental feeding unless times are tight. But, they will still be grateful for anything offered.
Badgers have a varied carnivorous diet where they will prey on all kinds of rodents and small mammals. Their big claws aren’t just for digging burrows; the powerful jaws can make short work of all kinds of creatures. Depending on their location, you can find them eating squirrels, moles, rats, and similar animals. They are also opportunistic enough to go for small amphibians and will also feed on carrion when they need to.
Badgers also have a habit of storing food for a later date. This great strategy allows animals to create larders and space out their meals better. They can stock up when they make a big kill or find something large and return to the spot if they struggle to find food the next day. One of the most remarkable examples is the badger that buried a calf over a series of nights.
I don’t expect you to leave a dead cow in your garden for them, so let’s look at what you can feed badgers in your garden.
If you want to know how birds catch fish, check out this article I wrote.
What to Feed Badgers
If you have a secure environment and the space for badgers and want to help the local population, you need to know what to feed them. The badger’s carnivorous diet in the wild means that you must replicate this with plenty of meat. The best way to do this is to get fresh meat and leave it out in a bowl. Cat food or dog food is a great substitute and will be a nice meal for a badger. Just make sure that it isn’t processed meat as this can be too salty and may contain other dangerous ingredients.
Another excellent food source for badgers, which you may not have thought of, is eggs. As mentioned before, they will happily take nutritious eggs where they can as they are easy snacks full of energy. You can leave some raw eggs out beside the bowl of meat or hide them around the garden for the badgers to sniff out and find.
A large part of a badger’s diet consists of worms. Mealworms are easy to find in most pet stores as bird food, so these can be put out for them. If you can’t find them, you can get these that I use for birds and badgers from Amazon.
Although they are carnivores, badgers will enjoy many different types of fruit and nuts. Again, study which ones they like and which they leave to tailor your choices to their diets.
Remember to provide plenty of fresh food and replenish the bowls each night. Just because they can eat carrion doesn’t mean they should be left with old meat. There is a chance that the badger won’t return each night, as they may have other gardens and feeding areas to try first. But, if you offer just enough fresh food each night, you can still provide a reliable service.
If you want somewhere to put the badger’s food at night, I use these ground bird feeder trays from Amazon. Badgers seem to love them. They are also great for birds, although if you have many cats in the area, it is best to use a hanging feeder.
Finally, don’t forget to leave a bowl of fresh water out beside the food. Hydration is essential, and there may not be that many fresh water sources close by. Don’t put out milk because the badger’s digestive system will not be able to handle it, and you could make them ill.
Feeding badgers in your garden can be worth the effort. Putting out food for badgers can be a rewarding experience if you start to see the same individuals coming back regularly. You will learn more about these beautiful animals’ characteristics and personalities and know you are helping them out. Just make sure you can do so in a responsible manner before you start.
If you want to know what other mustelids live in North America, click here for an article I wrote
Bryan Harding is a member of the American Society of Mammalogists and a member of the American Birding Association. Bryan is especially fond of mammals and has studied and worked with them around the world. Bryan serves as owner, writer, and publisher of North American Nature.