Any room for a hedgehog near BN16- West Sussex
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Plan B is now ready.
I and lovely hubbie- who is being very patient with me -have come up with a new plan.
The problem i have is the hedgehog house that Big Leg was in, is in a secluded area tucked away against the shrubs in a flower bed so a run could not go over his house. So with much planning and looking around for a compromise we have barricaded an area that includes the house and food station. It is open at the top but he won’t be able to climb out. It gives him some outside space to hopefully get used to his situation for a couple of days. His house now has dry leaves/twigs(collected this morning and dried on radiator) and straw with straw outside as well. We will put his straw etc in with him from the crate he is in at the moment
Food, water all ready…….will check him later for weight and rolling up. If all good he will be put in the house and we will keep everything crossed he gets on OK.
This has taken most of the day so far and i’m knackered and still have all the chores to do but hedgehog comes first.Sounds like an excellent plan B, I hope he appreciates everything that you are doing for him. It’s been a nice sunny day here, so we have been busy raking up leaves and putting them into piles for the hogs, I think hubbie would have drawn the line at drying them on the radiators though! 🙂 🙂 🙂
hahahahaah- Hubbie wasn’t overly impressed with leaves on radiator but he didn’t want me putting them in the washing bag in the tumble dryer!
Well Big Leg is a fine specimen weighing in 1060 grams and can roll into a ball. If all goes well and he loses a few grams it won’t be a problem. He is in the outside world again albeit enclosed for a few days
All that is left is for this wonderful boy to get some luck and for mother nature to work her magic and a hopefully a good hibernation.
Thanks everyone for your support and advice.Hi simbo65
Well done coming up with a solution. Sounds like you are lucky with your hubbie! That’s one lucky hedgehog, too.
Good luck BigLeg. Hope all goes well.
I am a foster carer with Warwickshire Hedgehog Recue and have released a number of hogs into hedgehog houses since July. One stayed for a few weeks, one stayed for a week and a couple didn’t stay one night. None have chosen to over winter in a house although they do occasionally come back for food. I feel that having been cared for in a hutch they are just pleased to get their freedom and they seem to prefer making their own way and finding their own nests. Understandable really. I still prefer to release them into a house so that they have somewhere to stay if they need it but I think their instincts kick in and they go wandering. I’ve got 6 hogs at the moment, some over 600g but I’m finding, particularly in the outdoor hutches, their weight goes up and down quite a lot which seems to be linked to how cold it’s been overnight. I’m not keen to release them until their weight is stable and not during this cold snap.
Hi 5sandown,
How do you release overwintered hedgehogs into a house, do you physically put them in the house when releasing, and close the lid, or do you put them near the house?
Would you use the same bedding that they have used in their indoor cage, or would you leave the their old bedding outside of the house for them to drag in if they wish?
Big Leg Update.
As far as we can tell Big Leg has hibernated. We followed all the instructions for a gentle release. 3 nights in garage, 2 nights in makeshift enclosed area and then up to him. Then there was no sign of him coming back out of the house. A few days later he came out for some water and went straight back into the house and as far as we know he is still in there.
So fingers crossed we will see him limping around in the spring.
Hoping Siili and all the others are doing well.
Thanks again to Fitzalan vets in Littlehampton, Brent Lodge and Stef .I am hoping our hedgehogs big and small will do the same, but at the moment its still all go and the food bowls are all empty each morning. This will be my first year as a Hedgehog supporter and worrying about their health and wellbeing over the winter period.
Hi simbo65
Glad to hear things are going well with Big Leg. Fingers crossed he’s back in the Spring. Siili was here last night, but not the night before, so she may be planning on hibernating. But unfortunately I have a particularly clever and bendy cat visiting. You wouldn’t believe the obstacle course it manages to get through to get into the feed box. Meanwhile Siili still doesn’t like going in there, so it’s a bit tricky trying to make sure there is food left for her. The cat was caught on video carrying a mouthful of food in her mouth and dropping it, presumably to separate out the kitten biscuits, which it then seemed to eat. Siili came and ate the remains! The only consolation is that Siili has been foraging as well.
Try not to worry too much, alanfrew. Just keep providing them with food and water and they will look after the rest themselves. It is worrying when they disappear, but there isn’t really anything we can do except hope that they turn up again in the Spring. You’ll probably find that some, at least, of the hoglets will disperse a bit, so don’t be surprised if they don’t all hang around as they get older. I have usually found that the males tend to gradually visit less and less often and the females are more likely to hang around.
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