Hoglet Advice Needed

[Riccio34]

Hi there

Having recently moved the a town centre with a small walled garden I had thought the chances of prickly visitors slim to none.

Much to my surprise a couple of weeks ago I found a large, healthy hedgehog tackling my plentiful supply of snails and slugs late one evening. It made me jump out of skin! Then even more surprising is the next weekend what I think was the same Hedgehog was out and about with a small Hoglet in tow. I have no idea how they got in but they are very welcome indeed. They were near a nest in an overgrown corner so I’ve been leaving out food and water and the hoglet comes out every evening and scoffs the lot (Mum not seen mum for a week now)

Last night I was researching into what I can do to help but after reading many article’s including forum chats on this site I’m really concerned that my little Hoglet friend is far too small to survive hibernation / winter.

What’s worse is I’ve gone away for two weeks but in a panic have asked a neighbour to carry on the nightly feeds whilst I’m away. (She thinks I’ve lost my marbles! ha)

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as I’ve grown really attached to my little prickly friend.

Regards,

Riccio

[Nic]

Hi Riccio34

Such good news that some hedgehogs have found their way into your garden!

I think you were absolutely right asking a friend to feed the little one, especially if it has got used to the food being there and ‘scoffs the lot’. Food and water is really important for growing hoglets.

You may have seen that hoglets need to weigh at least 450g to survive hibernation, but the cut-off point depends a bit from place to place – weather conditions, etc. So it might be a good idea to check with your local carer/rehabilitator as to when it needs to be that weight in your area. (you can get contact details from BHPS 01584 890801) Then you can weigh the little hog. Hopefully it will already be over 450g and you can let it go again immediately. Otherwise, hopefully the local rescue will have room for it to be over-wintered.

Good luck.

[Riccio34]

Hi Nic

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!

Yes I saw about the weight needed to hibernate and when I saw a video of one that was around 350g being weighed it gave me concern as the little Hoglet is so small in comparison.

Thank you for the number I’ll give them a call and see what they say. Hopefully the mild weather will be on our side and I won’t have to intrude to much as I would hate to scare any of them off!

Regards,

Riccio

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