Goings On

[Jackietb]

So yesterday my little Autumn hoglet was returned from the wildlife hospital and was reunited with its brother/sister and mum yesterday evening at dusk.
So pleased to see that straight away the two hoglets were sharing the feeding station.

Watching the camera this morning there was a visit from a male hedgehog and a lot of huffing and circling going on around one of the hoglets, what age do hogs start breeding? The camera caught mum and a male hog the other night huffing, circling and getting up to no good in the doorway of the feeding station so maybe we will be lucky enough to be adding to the hog population in the area. I am a bit worried in case two litters of hoglets in one garden is too many but I’m sure they know what they are doing.

Is it unusual for mum and hoglets to stay together this long, I had expected them to separate by now and move out but all three houses are all in use again.

[Nic]

Hi Jackietb

I’m glad to hear the little hog is back home. Hogs can breed in their second year, although the males don’t always seem so interested in the younger ones, if they have the choice – nor do the females for that matter! It seems a bit variable. But fingers crossed you will get some hoglets there one way or another.

I wouldn’t worry about having too many hoglets in your garden – the hogs won’t necessarily stay there to have their young anyway, but if they do, that’s their choice – as you say, they will know what they’re doing.

It may be unusual for the young to continue to share a house with the Mother, but if they are all in different houses, that doesn’t seem so unusual. I found that the males tend to move on eventually – their visits gradually became less frequent, but the female youngsters may well stay in pretty much the same area. Hogs don’t have territories, they have ranges which overlap. Males ranges are larger than those of females but it must take the youngsters time to build up a range.

Fingers crossed for hoglets later one. Happy hog watching!

[Author]

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