The loyal visitors to my site know that I have a few garden dormice hanging around for the 3rd year now.

The little Zorro mouse can be seen at night at the feeding place, occasionally tugging at the wool in the squirrel box, taking dry food from the bowl in the hedgehog feeder, or skilfully balancing in the tit dumpling ring and biting small pieces out of the tit dumplings.

Unfortunately, garden dormice are an endangered species and are becoming increasingly rare. A research group has even been set up especially for the garden dormouse to investigate the causes of its decline and to take appropriate measures to preserve these cute fellows.

If you are interested in the topic in more detail, you can find more information on the website https://www.gartenschlaefer.de/.

To support the garden dormouse here in my garden, I have now built it a hutch where it can shelter safely from wind and weather. Of course, as befits my website, it has a built-in camera so that Zorro can be observed should he discover the hutch and move in.

However, he has not yet discovered his new home. But to make it a little easier for him to find it, I have laid a little trail with treats in the right direction. Let’s see how long it takes until he discovers the hutch.

The hutch was built according to a BUND construction manual, which was of course adapted to my needs (camera etc.). If you are wondering from the pictures that the opening with the entrance hole goes out to the back… this is intentional. This way the entrance is protected from enemies.

I will also publish detailed building instructions for the hutch in the near future.

Here are a few pictures of the hutch: