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Baby hedgehog help

KathT

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I saw a young hedgehog in the garden today at about 4.30pm. I put some hedgehog food out and a bowl of water then put my hedgehog feeding station over it so it didn’t feel quite so vulnerable. I know there are others on the forum who have hedgehogs in their gardens - is it okay for this little one to be out In the early evening? It was half the size of my full grown pigs so has a lot of eating to do to be ready for winter. I was wondering whether it might need help? I had a feeding station in the garden last year but it attracted rats so I stopped putting food out in it in spring - maybe I need to re-establish it for winter? Any help gratefully received.
 
I’m so sorry I can’t offer any advice. Just wanted to say that I think it’s lovely that you want to help. I used to have hedgehogs in my garden but haven’t seen any for years. I hope you get the advice you seek
 
Hedgehogs in the garden | rspca.org.uk

this is the RSPCA guidance on hedgehogs it has links to helping juvenile hedgehogs and other useful things, I've never had hedgehog visitors myself but I hope this helps.
Thanks for this info. It has had a feed and gone but I will keep an eye for for it in the coming days and give it a quick weigh, then I can decide what to do. Hopefully it will be big enough that, with a bit of help it will fatten up for winter!
 
4:30 is a bit early generally for hedgehogs, they usually come out at dusk. I saw mine at 8:30 this evening, when I went out to put out his food, he's getting earlier as the nights draw in. The best thing I guess is for you to keep an eye out for it, check it isn't injured. Or perhaps it was very hungry because it didn't eat enough yesterday. Either way it's good that you were able to give it some food.
The advice I found re rats is to put your feeding station in the open, hedgies won't mind but rats tend to stick to cover, near walls and fences.
I'm concerned that 'my' juvenile will be too small to hibernate successfully too. I'm planning to catch and weigh him in a couple of weeks and see if he is big enough. If not, I can keep him in my old piggie cage in an outbuilding and feed him up.
Lots of stuff on hedgehogs at the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Hedgehog Street websites 👍🦔🦔
 
4:30 is a bit early generally for hedgehogs, they usually come out at dusk. I saw mine at 8:30 this evening, when I went out to put out his food, he's getting earlier as the nights draw in. The best thing I guess is for you to keep an eye out for it, check it isn't injured. Or perhaps it was very hungry because it didn't eat enough yesterday. Either way it's good that you were able to give it some food.
The advice I found re rats is to put your feeding station in the open, hedgies won't mind but rats tend to stick to cover, near walls and fences.
I'm concerned that 'my' juvenile will be too small to hibernate successfully too. I'm planning to catch and weigh him in a couple of weeks and see if he is big enough. If not, I can keep him in my old piggie cage in an outbuilding and feed him up.
Lots of stuff on hedgehogs at the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Hedgehog Street websites 👍🦔🦔
Thanks for this. I had trouble remembering who it was gave me advice last year til I saw your name! My feeding station was next to the fence but now is out in the open. I will check to see if the hog (or another)came back to finish the food I left out yesterday. Is wet food (dog - not fish) better than dry? I have the hedgehog pellets and always leave water too.
 
Thanks for this. I had trouble remembering who it was gave me advice last year til I saw your name! My feeding station was next to the fence but now is out in the open. I will check to see if the hog (or another)came back to finish the food I left out yesterday. Is wet food (dog - not fish) better than dry? I have the hedgehog pellets and always leave water too.
I hope your hedgehog is well and eats all the food you left for him 😍 I don't think it was me who advised you last year though - that was @Bill & Ted .
I think wet and dry foods are probably equally good. I'm using dry (or the Spike's semi moist) because I feel it will go off slower and is less likely to attract slugs etc, but I could be wrong. Also you get an audible warning of their presence with the dry food - I could hear my hog crunching away from the kitchen door!

Last year I think you asked Bill&Ted what camera she was using - did you get one yourself in the end? Mine (as you can see from the pics I posted in the "Our Gardens " thread) is actually a camera intended for taking pictures of birds, but it works perfectly well on the ground for photographing hedgehogs etc 😄
 
Glad I noticed this as I'm a novice at hedgehog care - having not seen one for a few decades!
Now I have a small one = which I'm trying to feed = BUT I can't get him/her to eat anything except meal worms, which I know are bad for them. I've tried every type of expensive cat and dog tinned food and dry food - and all he will touch is mealworms. He needs to be bigger by winter or he won't survive! Does that so called hedgehog food (which appears to be mostly wheat and they are carnivores?) attract them, if he will eat it I'll order some, I'm so worried about him and wondered even if I should catch him and try and feed him up?
 
I hope your hedgehog is well and eats all the food you left for him 😍 I don't think it was me who advised you last year though - that was @Bill & Ted .
I think wet and dry foods are probably equally good. I'm using dry (or the Spike's semi moist) because I feel it will go off slower and is less likely to attract slugs etc, but I could be wrong. Also you get an audible warning of their presence with the dry food - I could hear my hog crunching away from the kitchen door!

Last year I think you asked Bill&Ted what camera she was using - did you get one yourself in the end? Mine (as you can see from the pics I posted in the "Our Gardens " thread) is actually a camera intended for taking pictures of birds, but it works perfectly well on the ground for photographing hedgehogs etc 😄

S/he’s still about or something is as the food is gone by morning, which is good. I know it’s a hog as it left a nice turd next to the bowl! I what you mean about the crunching - I was surprised how loud it was for such a little creature! I never did get a camera. I’m not good with technical stuff and got confused when I looked at them, so gave it up as a bad job. Maybe I can get my OH to have a look - he’s more technically minded.
 
Glad I noticed this as I'm a novice at hedgehog care - having not seen one for a few decades!
Now I have a small one = which I'm trying to feed = BUT I can't get him/her to eat anything except meal worms, which I know are bad for them. I've tried every type of expensive cat and dog tinned food and dry food - and all he will touch is mealworms. He needs to be bigger by winter or he won't survive! Does that so called hedgehog food (which appears to be mostly wheat and they are carnivores?) attract them, if he will eat it I'll order some, I'm so worried about him and wondered even if I should catch him and try and feed him up?

I'm not sure what you should do as I’m pretty much a hedgehog novice myself! I have only ever fed the hedgehog food with possibly a couple of mealworms thrown in as the occasional treat, so I can’t suggest anything else really.
 
Glad I noticed this as I'm a novice at hedgehog care - having not seen one for a few decades!
Now I have a small one = which I'm trying to feed = BUT I can't get him/her to eat anything except meal worms, which I know are bad for them. I've tried every type of expensive cat and dog tinned food and dry food - and all he will touch is mealworms. He needs to be bigger by winter or he won't survive! Does that so called hedgehog food (which appears to be mostly wheat and they are carnivores?) attract them, if he will eat it I'll order some, I'm so worried about him and wondered even if I should catch him and try and feed him up?
The hedgehog food I get certainly seems popular with my hogs - it all goes every night. I think there's 2 main brands - Spike's and Bramble's. They both do bags of dry or semi moist food, a bit like guinea nuggets. It's quite strong smelling, probably intentionally so the hogs can smell it from a distance. One of those brands at least does a tinned food too.
Hope you're able to feed up your little one in time for winter!
 
Well my hedgehog is proving harder to feed than all the rest of my menagerie! He doesn't like hedgehog pellets, or cat food but will thank goodness agree reluctantly to eat the proper sort of worm. So having just seen your post Qualcast&Flymo I am rushing off to buy one of the ones you mentioned as a semi-moist food. I think it is because he/she is so small and inexperienced at eating variety.
 
Hope you can find a suitable food that he'll eat which is easier to provide than worms!

My hedgehogs are still coming though my camera only seems to be recording one visit per night so I don't know if one hog is eating lots of food or the camera isn't being triggered every time. The other night the little one ran away across my drive when I was going out to put out the food, I hope it came back later. It may still not be big enough for hibernation.
 
Glad I noticed this as I'm a novice at hedgehog care - having not seen one for a few decades!
Now I have a small one = which I'm trying to feed = BUT I can't get him/her to eat anything except meal worms, which I know are bad for them. I've tried every type of expensive cat and dog tinned food and dry food - and all he will touch is mealworms. He needs to be bigger by winter or he won't survive! Does that so called hedgehog food (which appears to be mostly wheat and they are carnivores?) attract them, if he will eat it I'll order some, I'm so worried about him and wondered even if I should catch him and try and feed him up?
I think the problem with mealworms is they are quite addictive and if available then the hog will refuse everything else. I think they are also quite good at refusing other foods and only eating and waiting for mealworms.
But I would say please stop feeding the mealworms completely. The metabolic bone disease that the mealworms cause is absolutely awful for the hogs. If you persevere with the dry cat biscuits I’m sure the hog will eventually eat them. Or find the bugs that it should be eating rather than saving itself for those irresistible treats. It’s not worth feeding them the mealworms at all, look up a video of it. It’s heartbreaking.
I love hoggies. Took a little baby in in the summer that was out in the heat of the day gasping and definitely dying. I though she’d be a goner but I managed to bring her round and after about 6 weeks she was big enough to be able to go out and build her self up ready for winter. She was 88g when we found her and we released when she was around 500g. We get quite a few hog visitors but we are pretty sure she keeps coming back for her tea. ❤233A4409-CDC4-4234-BB8C-82EB7D0DF208.jpegF9EB2E24-B876-45EA-8002-B3CD46C8F33F.jpeg0A32E507-089D-4791-B32B-D83AFC2050BB.jpeg
 
So glad you were able to save that baby, 88g is tiny, something must have happened to its mother :(
I think my hedgehogs, both the little one and the two adults , must have started hibernating already. Yesterday not all the food I put out was eaten, today none was. I'll keep putting food out in case there was another reason for their absence though. I just hope the little one was big enough to survive hibernation.
 
So glad you were able to save that baby, 88g is tiny, something must have happened to its mother :(
I think my hedgehogs, both the little one and the two adults , must have started hibernating already. Yesterday not all the food I put out was eaten, today none was. I'll keep putting food out in case there was another reason for their absence though. I just hope the little one was big enough to survive hibernation.
Someone across the road was having their full hedge pulled out and replaced with a fence and there is also a building site over the way that used to be a field that is now having houses built on. So we suspect a nest was disturbed. It’s definitely getting colder so they may start hibernating now. I’ve had some quieter nights and then it’s all go again and all the bowls are empty!
We’ve had to make three feeding stations now as one of the very big hogs that comes -we’ve named him Jeff, doesn’t like to share his space! And so if another hog goes in and he smells it he won’t go in and he does like his biscuits! Haha.
I put wet hog food out in one of the stations and one of the adolescent hogs prefers that to dry food. Honestly it’s more complicated than the pigs now at dusk getting everything out! Haha

I read to leave some dry food out as often hogs will wake mid hibernation and come and eat. And some don’t always hibernate at all! So I think I’ll keep an eye out like you.When they stop coming I may just leave one bowl out over winter of the dry food just in case.
 
I had another hoglet turn up at 1pm this afternoon. Don’t know if it was the same one as I saw a couple of weeks ago that started this thread, but I picked it up to check it this time. It only weighs 256g so it’s now in a carrier with bedding, food and water and I’ve made enquiries to local Hedgehog rescues to see if they can take it in. It seems healthy enough but I would rather someone who knows about them take care of it. It’s stressful enough having eight pigs to look after! If anyone has any tips on how to look after it, I’d be very grateful. I don’t know if I need to keep it in the house (it’s in the garage at the moment where it’s quiet and dark) - does it need to be kept warm? It has fleece and soft straw on a puppy pad base - would that be warm enough?
 
I had another hoglet turn up at 1pm this afternoon. Don’t know if it was the same one as I saw a couple of weeks ago that started this thread, but I picked it up to check it this time. It only weighs 256g so it’s now in a carrier with bedding, food and water and I’ve made enquiries to local Hedgehog rescues to see if they can take it in. It seems healthy enough but I would rather someone who knows about them take care of it. It’s stressful enough having eight pigs to look after! If anyone has any tips on how to look after it, I’d be very grateful. I don’t know if I need to keep it in the house (it’s in the garage at the moment where it’s quiet and dark) - does it need to be kept warm? It has fleece and soft straw on a puppy pad base - would that be warm enough?
Hopefully you hear from the local rescues. That is a bit low for now with the weather turning. Trust me it’s very stressful I believe you! When I had my baby in having to do milk feeds was mad! Hahaha!
I think the garage would be fine if it’s not going to be with you long. You don’t want any sudden temperature changes, it will be used to the cold outside now. It is also good for it to be kept where it’s quiet and not too many other normal household noises.
well done for bringing it in, if it’s being kept over winter then they need to be warm enough to not trigger hibernation.
 
Sorry I don’t have notifications turned on but so glad I noticed this post again. These little hogs are so cute, we get hedgehog food online from Ark Wildlife, it’s the dry variety but you can wet it. We have had very little hedgehog sightings this summer, mainly to camera breaking. We have lots of poo but not seen any out in the evening on the lawn. Little hogglets are best kept indoors until they weigh around 500 gms, then they are ok to go into hibernation as far as I know. I’m no expert though, you can get late litters in September particularly in the milder South. these litters don’t usually survive without intervention or in cases on very mild autumns.
Mealworms are adored by all hedgehogs I think but not good as they contain so much potassium which needs calcium to process it, so their bodies use calcium from the bones to process it. If you have a particularly picky eater you can scrunch up one mealworm per bowl of pellets to encourage eating, but use very sparingly
 
Honestly I'm not like this with all my own animals, they eat what they are given! But then they are not in danger of extinction, and have a home to live in. The countryside around here is turning into suburbia so fast I can't believe it, and I just can't imagine how hedgehogs are ever going to survive, let alone build their numbers up again without a lot of help from us. I've now got special hedgehog worms (calcium worms) and I'm trying to disguise them as mealworms - I think I'll do the idea of one scrunched up mealworm over the top tonight.

You should see the poor dogs' faces when I set out all the different types of cat and dogs food, then go outside with it! I have to literally stand and watch until the hedgehog finishes eating and then bring everything back in as there are dozens of rats and I can't afford to feed all of them too, plus I'd prefer they didn't all live in the garden all the time. Hedgehog is very tiny still, how long should I leave him out before it's running too close to hibernation do you think?
 
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