Hibernating in September??
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Hi all,
We have been feeding hedgehogs all summer and know we have at least two visitors. For the past week the food hasn’t been touched. Then my neighbour told me today that she has a hedgehog hibernating in her cat’s outside shelter which is full of hay. She said it has been there about a week and doesnt smell so it isnt dead. But is this not too early to be hibernating? I know the temps have dropped since the summer but its certainly not wintry yet. Might it be poorly?Hi Jessica,
Is your neighbour sure the Hedgie is actually hibernating? It may just be using the cat shelter as a bed during the day and leaving to forage as normal for the night. Has she seen it leave? It may be worth them leaving some food and water out for it and seeing if it is feeding and drinking normally.Yes I was wondering overnight if this was perhaps the case. Just seemed coincidental that the food I leave every day hasnt been eaten for a week. She has cats and a dog so leaving the food out nearby to the shelter would just get gobbled up by them! I’ll ask her to watch out for it overnight.
It’s possible the hog could have decided to hibernate early, but it’s also possible that it pops out at night. They are sometimes very good at shutting the door behind them! Some hogs might not come out until quite late at night, so unless there is a camera checking it isn’t always possible to tell. Even cameras don’t always capture everything that happens. Personally, I wouldn’t disturb it. Hogs do sometimes go in and out of hibernation a bit and apparently sometimes even build new nests in the middle of hibernation. So even if it is hibernating, it could still move elsewhere.
I had a hog build a nest in one of my feed boxes and it wasn’t easy to tell whether the hog was in there or not from outside. It filled the entire cavity with carefully woven leaves and grasses – apart from a hog sized hollow in the centre. But it actually didn’t hibernate at all that winter, but just used the nest for occasional over-day stays.
Really sorry Nic! I just hit report instead of reply on your post. Sorryyy!!!
Sad to say that the hedgehog had died in there. Neighbour noticed a stink and some flies gathering. Who knows what happened to it. We fed and watered it well. Very sad to go out wmeach day now to full bowls of food and water 😥Oh, really sad to hear that. You might be interested in this link:
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-ive-found-a-dead-hedgehog/
You might be able to find out why it died.I know what you mean about the full bowls. It does seem to be a bit ’empty’ when there are no hogs around. Hopefully some will come back there in the Spring, if not before.
Don’t worry about pressing ‘report’ easy to do!
Oh no, so sorry to hear the hog had passed away 😢
Hoping you have more hedgehogs find you in the future. Don’t give up leaving out food and water, just in case.
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