Hedgehog Autumn Juvenile

Why me .... they know where to head to be fed , it turned up about a week ago set off the light on the patio so that when I 1st knew about it..

Re- read all the info on hedgehogs has to be 400 g etc etc , if out in the day pick it up and take it to a hedgehog rescue center , luckily for me I have 2 , one 45 mins away and the other 30 mins drive .

But it looks healthy enough and its fast on its feet, so have started to feed it with dog food, it comes into the garden exactly at 8.00pm on the dot so I will carry on with this for as long as it wants , but I have to keep a eye out for the cats dont have the food instead.


Spruce

 

Lucky little hedgepig, knows when it's on to a good thing lol.

We have one living under our decking. Least it did till a few weeks ago, haven't seen it recently so hope it's just snuggled up for the winter. Bonus is very few slugs on the plants all summer

 

I'm sure you've already thought of it Spruce,but you could maybe make a little Hedgehog house for it and leave the food near it to encourage it to go in...looks like you may have a lodger for Chrimbo

PS...have you weighed it?

 

The problem for hedgehogs is slugs and snails (lungworm)

Disease transmission of both species of lungworm in hedgehogs is normally via the consumption of infected intermediate hosts which form part of their invertebrate diet.

The nematode eggs and larvae are expelled to the environment in hedgehog faeces and then infect the intermediate host (slugs and snails for Crenosoma striatum and earthworms for Capillaria aerophila). However, hedgehogs can also pick up infected eggs from a surface contaminated with faeces without the need of an intermediate host.

If feeding regularly and when you start at this time of year only stop when they dont eat the food , use a side plate to put the food on and change on a daily basis this helps stop spreading and disease and germs etc.

Now you can understand why it has chosen me

Spruce

 

Hi Loli

Yes I have one at the bottom of the garden made out of roof tiles coverd in earth and leaves its at the bottom of "fern corner" so a cosy spot if it wants to ??

Not weighed it yet but I am planing to , its the electronic scales I bought two years ago that weigh the last one that arrived !!! , some call me crazy but I dont care poor little mite

Spruce

 

Thanks Spruce, I knew it could affect dogs but didn't realise it affected hedgehogs. So, if the hedgehogs reappear after winter should I feed them so they don't need to eat the slugs? Would need to keep the dogs in mind you or they'd just think the dog food was extra supper for them!

And no, you're not crazy, love that you do this for them

 

Regular feeding in the spring really works well as they lose a lot of body weight over the winter they do wake up every two weeks but most stay in the winter home they have made but on mild nights will come out for a nose about I will try and find a picture of what looks like a up turned laundry basket that the hedgehog can crawl under but cats and dogs cant which keep the food safe , a couple of years ago at 11.00pm I stopped the traffic with my car both directions as a hedgehog was walking straight down the middle of the road , all the car horns hooting at me but I took it off the road and popped it over a fence, the thought of going to work in the morning and seeing it squashed would of gutted me.

Spruce

 

I rescued these babies abandoned by their mother (or a roadkill casualty?) one summer

Do they seek re-homing sites? (if you want extra hedgehogs)

Many, many years ago I'd walk back home from a girlfriend's house on the other side of town in the early hours and I'd always have some plastic carrier bags in my pocket to use for scooping up hedgehogs in the road and depositing them on the verges. (also used for collecting various interesting mushrooms in Autumn)

 

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Do they seek re-homing sites? (if you want extra hedgehogs)


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yes they do , all you have to do is ask but they like them to be away from busy roads

Spruce
ps your photo never showed , what happened to the babies ?

 

They all survived and were re-homed. We spotted them wandering away from their nest in time to get the advice to bring them in to a wildlife centre ASAP. I took the pic to show my daughter on her return from school as she had only seen movements inside a Morrisons carrier bag under a hedge they were nesting in. (one of my favourite all time pics!)

I'll try again

 

Scrung

So glad it was a happy ending , fab photo

 

well good news, my patio light came on so went to have a nose and , its my hedgehog (spike) from last December/November so it survived the winter looks fine , just as well it was so mild and food available anyway its just had a meal of dog food.

Thats cheered me up

Spruce

 

I have 5 overwintering hoggies this year, one of whom I raised from a small hoglet of around 2-3 weeks old. Last year I had 8 here and again one who I bottle fed from around 2-3 weeks old. I didn't know anything about hogs until I found Jaye Jaye but I certainly had a very steep learning curve. I love the hogs, they are amazing little creatures,although they are very stressful when they are sick. They are not pets but I can't help worry about them.

I am hoping to release the boys, Penfold and Potter very soon - they are in an outside soft release pen now - and planning on moving Daisy ( who is my bottle fed hog ) outside tomorrow into another pen. The other 2 girls are still slumbering at moment.

I said after the first lot of autumn juveniles that I wouldn't do that again. It was very stressful as I did not have much experience and no-where to put them. Several of them were sick and required treating. We had recently had the garage converted into a bedroom and spent a lot of money on having a bespoke wooden bed and furniture made. We couldn't use the room as it was full of hedgehogs!! I had nowhere to put them and they needed to be indoors, so hubby and I slept in the caravan all winter.

 

Aww, there's dedication

My daughter @willow would have been in there with them She loves them.

 

@luciusmaximus ...Nice one....we need people like you to keep our Hedgeys going they're in short supply these days,poor things..I'm sure it is very stressful bringing them back to health but very rewarding