Behaviour

[Annie12]

Hi all, I have four hoglets and mum under my shed. I understood mum raises young alone but tonight when watching them emerge at dusk there were two adults, one much larger than the other along with the four hoglets. The babies only come out once the adults have eaten and gone off to do whatever they do. Can anyone please tell me if this is usual behaviour ?

[Nic]

Hi Annie12

Brilliant news that there are hoglets there!

There isn’t really enough information to say what is happening, or whether it’s usual. There are just too many variables, such as how big are the hoglets, what the two adults were actually doing in relation to each others, etc.

But mother hedgehog does bring up the youngsters, although I have found that males in general, are very tolerant of youngsters at feeding areas, whether they are the Father or not. If the hoglets have reached a stage where they are beginning to be independant, the Mother could possibly have become interesting to a male, again, so there is a possibility that it was a male and female. But as said, there are too many variables to say anything for sure.

[Annie12]

Thank you for your reply. They both emerged from under the shed together had food and water then went off under the back fence. I have seen both of them seperatly over the last few weeks and had assumed they were separate visiting hedgehogs. That’s why I was surprised to see them both emerge together from under the shed where the hoglets are.

[Author]

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