Hi silverfox 60017
The hogs won’t empty out the box themselves, so you will need to do that sometime, if you want the box to be used again. This link is information from Hedgehog Street about cleaning out hog houses: https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/cleaning-out-boxes/
I would be inclined to keep the plastic one for feeding and have a wooden one for nesting. That way you can clean the hog house out with boiling water which will kill any parasite eggs. But don’t put anything resembling bedding into a feed box, or it might give them the idea to set up home there again.
But yes, if the box has been used overwinter it’s likely to have parasite/parasite eggs in it and you need to be a bit careful how you clean it out to make sure you don’t get any ticks on you and dispose of the old bedding carefully.
Personally, I wouldn’t replace the leaves whilst a hog was out during the night, because you risk leaving parasite eggs behind and there is the chance that the hog may not like it and move out anyway. It’s best to wait until the hog has vacated completely – which they usually do.
