Wichtiger Hinweis
Hedgehog nature conservation - night-time ban on robotic lawnmowers
Stand: 27.04.2026
The particular danger situation for the animals arises at dusk and at night. In addition, the use of brush cutters and lawnmowers in the area of trees and shrubs is prohibited without first checking for hedgehogs on and under the trees and shrubs and on fallow land.
The Lower Nature Conservation Authority of the City of Erlangen has issued a general decree that regulates a ban on mowing robots at night to protect hedgehogs and other small vertebrates.
When does the mowing ban apply?
Since February 2026, robotic mowers may no longer be operated in Erlangen at dusk and at night.
Night-time operation of robotic lawnmowers is prohibited from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. the following day. During the day, robotic lawnmowers may be used without restriction. The use of robotic lawnmowers is therefore only restricted, but not completely prohibited.
Why is there a ban on mowing?
Practical, but dangerous for hedgehogs: a robotic mower (Photo: Pixabay)
Robotic mowers can cause serious or even fatal cutting injuries, especially to hedgehogs. The particularly dangerous situation arises at dusk and at night. That's when they are looking for food. If they come into contact with the robotic lawnmower, they cannot flee but instead curl up. They can be run over, injured and even killed.
Hedgehogs are specially protected
Furthermore, to protect hedgehogs and other small vertebrates, the use of brush cutters and lawn mowers in the area of copses is prohibited without first checking for hedgehogs on and under the copses, as well as on fallow land. Checks must be carried out all year round before each use.
Hedgehogs are a specially protected species under the Federal Nature Conservation Act. In recent decades, a steady decline in the population of this once common species has been observed. The city of Erlangen wants to counteract this with the ban on mowing robots at night and implement a protective measure for hedgehogs and other small animals.
More about the hedgehog
Hedgehogs are among the oldest mammal species. Their family originated between 53 and 37 million years ago.
They have existed in their current form in Europe for around 15 million years.
The English name "hedgehog" refers to their habitat. Hedges provide them with food, sleeping places and hiding places. Shrubs, dead wood, overgrown vines and piles of leaves also offer hedgehogs ideal living conditions. As a cultural successor, hedgehogs are widespread in the cultivated landscape, in settlements and in all natural areas.
Hedgehogs are specially protected in accordance with Section 7 (2) No. 13c of the Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG) in conjunction with Section 1 of the Federal Species Protection Ordinance (BArtSchV).
The access prohibitions of § 44 Para. 1 BNatSchG apply here. It is prohibited to stalk, catch, injure or kill hedgehogs. It is also prohibited to remove, damage or destroy their developmental forms and nests from the wild.
Brown-breasted hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are typically found in Bavaria. The brown-breasted hedgehog is still considered a common species in Bavaria, but populations have declined noticeably. Since 2016, the species has been on the early warning level of the Bavarian Red List. Since 2024, the brown-breasted hedgehog has been on the IUCN International Red List as a potentially endangered species.
The main causes are major changes to the landscape and the loss of small structures, hedges and overgrown field margins as habitats. In urban settlement areas, the hedgehog has been able to find a substitute habitat as a cultural successor in near-natural parks and gardens. But even here, numerous dangers lurk. Persistent drought and unusually mild winters - consequences of climate change - further impair their food sources and hibernation. This means further stress for the hedgehogs and reduces their reproductive success. Populations in residential areas are also being reduced, as many hedgehogs are run over or killed in gardens by robotic mowers.
The danger posed by robotic lawnmowers is still underestimated. Despite all the sensors, robotic lawnmowers are still an obstacle for hedgehogs and other small animals.
Hedgehogs are not escape animals. When a robotic lawnmower approaches, they wait and wait, some of them curl up. But this strategy does not help. Hedgehogs, amphibians and reptiles are not recognized as obstacles by robotic lawnmowers and are therefore run over, injured or killed.
Only a small proportion of the victims are taken to rescue centers or found dead. Most retreat into their hiding places and die there.
According to Stiftung Warentest, almost all robotic lawnmowers fail the safety test. Only one recognized the children's test farm lying in the grass as an obstacle and turned off. Tests with cadavers did not paint a different picture either. None of the devices recognized the hedgehogs as an obstacle before the impact. Instead, they inflicted some of the most serious injuries on the animals, such as cuts, amputated limbs and slashed bellies.
Other garden tools can also be dangerous for hedgehogs.
Hedgehogs spend their days sleeping in tall grass, under hedges, bushes, ground cover or leaves. Lawn trimmers and brushcutters can seriously injure the animals. It is therefore essential to check them before starting any work.
Before starting work, the areas should be carefully searched, for example with a grass rake.
Road traffic is a major danger for hedgehogs; around half a million hedgehogs die on the roads. Roads also cut up their habitat and represent an insurmountable barrier. In urban areas, obstacles such as fences or walls further restrict their freedom of movement. If hedgehogs can no longer reach neighboring areas, small, isolated populations develop. In these populations, genetic exchange is limited, meaning that the survival of the species is at risk in the long term.
Insects are the hedgehog's main source of food. It needs sufficient fat reserves for its hibernation. If it does not find enough insects, it cannot provide for its offspring sufficiently due to a lack of milk production and cannot survive the cold months.
In addition to climate change, the use of pesticides is another major factor. The animals can suffer serious damage to their health if they come into contact with the chemical substances or ingest them through their food. Chemical poisons against snails and other so-called pests are also a deadly danger in the garden, as hedgehogs eat both the poison and the poisoned animals.
Plant protection products are not the only problem. In order to supposedly make gardening easier, gravel gardens are created in many places. These offer animals neither hiding places nor food. Gravel gardens therefore contribute to the loss of native biodiversity.
Free-roaming dogs can also be a danger to hedgehogs. When rummaging through undergrowth, bushes, hedges or piles of leaves, they startle sleeping hedgehogs out of their nests. If the dogs see the animals as prey, this can lead to serious bite injuries.
Digging up hibernating hedgehogs and destroying their sleeping nests can also be fatal for them, as they are then exposed to the cold without protection.
Gardens are important substitute habitats for hedgehogs in cities. Anyone can make a valuable contribution to hedgehog conservation with just a few simple measures. These measures also benefit other wild animals.
You can make your garden suitable for hedgehogsby planting native plants and shrubs and piling up piles of leaves that hedgehogs can use as potential sleeping or nesting places.
Opt for a herbal lawn instead of a conventional lawn. A herb lawn does not need to be fertilized or watered, is easier to maintain, is mowed less frequently and provides a habitat and food supply for insects.
It is advantageous in many ways not to mow individual corners at all. Pieces of meadow that are not mowed serve as a refuge for hedgehogs and insects.
You can also improve the living conditions for hedgehogs on your balcony by planting native shrubs and herbs. Numerous insects can feed on the plants, which in turn improves the hedgehog's food supply.
If you would like to offer hedgehogs shelter in your garden, you can create a pile of branches and leaves. This serves as a natural shelter for hedgehogs. A suitable location is a quiet, shady corner of the garden. You will need branches and leaves for the leaf pile. When creating the pile, make sure that it is not too compact, but has cavities into which the hedgehog can enter and find shelter. Pure piles of leaves lack these cavities. You can create these by piling up branches and building a cavity in the middle of the pile with stacked wood or large stones. Finally, you can cover the pile of leaves with branches so that the leaves are not blown away by the wind.
Important: Once a pile of branches and leaves has been erected, do not remove it until spring, from March/April, when temperatures have risen to around 15 degrees. Only then do hedgehogs end their hibernation and leave their winter quarters.
Instead of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, you can garden organically. Plant plant communities that protect each other from pests, such as nettles and tomatoes. Herbal infusions of vegetables, perennials and herbs are not only helpful against annoying pests, but are also excellent fertilizers. Beneficial insects lured into the garden decimate pests all by themselves.
If you want to enclose your property with a fence, you should avoid fences that are too small-meshed or install them in such a way that hedgehogs can crawl through.
Shrubs and hedges are an alternative to fencing. Another option is the Benjes hedge. You can create these from tree and shrub cuttings. It provides a habitat for many animals and plants.
Passages to neighboring gardens are important. Hedgehogs need to be able to roam large areas in search of food.
To help hedgehogs hunt at night, you should avoid permanent lighting in the garden. You can control the garden lighting using motion detectors or timers.
If hedgehogs fall into steep pits or shafts, they will not be able to get out without help. Garden ponds can also pose a danger to the animals if the banks are too steep and high.
In such situations, you can help the hedgehog by placing exit aids . Boards are suitable for this. You can also fill the edges of ponds and pits with soil so that the animals can climb out.
In the warm summer months, natural waterholes such as puddles are only temporary. You can help hedgehogs during prolonged heat by placing shallow bowls of water in a shady spot.
Healthy, well-fed hedgehogs do not need human care to survive the winter. They find their way around their natural habitat and choose a suitable place to hibernate. However, work in parks and gardens or construction work can destroy hedgehog nests and startle the animals. The hedgehogs then look for a new home and are also on the move during the day.
It takes a trained eye and a good guide to recognize an animal in need of help.
Pro Igel e. V. and BUND Naturschutz use the most important characteristics to show how to help hedgehogs properly.
Only hedgehogs in need of help should be cared for by an expert. Before you bring a hedgehog into professional care, please check the following criteria, the hedgehog is
- injured,
- malnourished (a malnourished hedgehog has sunken flanks and looks like a tube). - it has a clear indentation behind the head,
- sick (it lies around during the day, is apathetic and has sunken eyes).
- a young hedgehog (it weighs less than 500 grams at the beginning of November) or
- still active after the onset of winter (permafrost/snow).
There are two species of hedgehog in Germany. The well-known brown-breasted hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is widespread throughout Germany. The northern white-breasted hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus), on the other hand, is only native to the outskirts of eastern Germany.
Hedgehogs can reach a body length of up to 30 centimetres and a maximum weight of 1,500 grams. Males are generally heavier than females.
Hedgehogs have an average life expectancy of two to four years, but in exceptional cases they can live up to seven years.
The hedgehog is characterized by its robust spiny coat, which can contain up to 8,000 spines. Each spine is equipped with its own muscle. The interaction of these muscles enables hedgehogs to roll themselves into a ball in dangerous situations. They can use their erect spines to protect themselves from predators. Their natural enemies include badgers, foxes, eagle owls and martens.
Hedgehogs feed mainly on invertebrates such as insects. It also eats snails and earthworms. Earwigs are a particular delicacy for them. Occasionally they also eat spiders, birds' eggs or small mammals. Fallen fruit is only eaten if it contains worms and maggots.
They have an excellent spatial memory, which enables them to remember feeding sites, hiding places and holes from the previous year.
Hedgehogs need small-scale structures, such as bushes and shrubs, in which they can find sufficient food and hiding places. In the past, the small-scale and varied cultivated landscape was the ideal habitat for the animals. However, hedges, copses and species-rich rough pastures - and therefore the hedgehog's basis of life - have disappeared in many places. However, hedgehogs are still quite common in residential areas. Here they find the structural diversity they need in near-natural gardens and parks. Urban hedgehogs often build their nests in close proximity to humans, for example in bushes on house walls or under covers. We usually don't even notice them. These spiny creatures sleep through the day in nests they build themselves, where they also hibernate. They lead a solitary life. In the city, their territories are smaller than in the countryside. Although hedgehogs have a fixed territory, they show no territorial behavior and avoid other hedgehogs. They only seek each other out during the mating season (between May and August).
As they lack the warming coat on their backs, they hibernate in well-insulated burrows. They do this between November and March. During the cold season, they find too little food, which is why they eat a fat pad in the fall. They like to build their winter nests in bushes or in cavities under piles of old wood. They also accept the hedgehog houses set up by humans. During hibernation, hedgehogs reduce their metabolism to a minimum. Heart activity, breathing and body temperature are drastically reduced. It must not become too damp, too cold or too warm in their hiding place, otherwise they would wake up and use up a lot of energy.
Hedgehogs are very noisy animals. When they are foraging in the undergrowth, their rustling can be clearly heard. When they have found something to eat, they smack loudly and sometimes audibly crack snail shells and insect shells. However, they are loudest when they meet conspecifics and get into a fight or mating mood. Then they let out a chittering noise and can even hiss and screech.