My first hedgehog sighting!
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Last night I spotted my very first hedgehog, who was quietly mooching around the side of my house. He lowered his spikes and remained very still so I left him be, but my boyfriend watched him from the kitchen window in excitement.
After a short while, he slowly trotted over to the fence and began rummaging in the under grown of a tree. We left a small bowl of water and sunflower seeds out, which he tucked into, after which he began investigating the lawn and garden, before sneaking under the side-gate venturing into the avenue.
I thought this would be a rare sighting but then this morning I caught a glimpse of the hedgehog from the patio window, and he been super active all morning making multiple trips to and from the underneath of a wisteria tree, where he appears to be making a den from the fallen leaves. Its such a delight to see! I will share the link to the videos once online. Any advice welcome to help keep this beautiful creature safe and happy in our garden =)
Yup, don’t give them sunflower hearts! Not good for them but like bad children they’ll eat them anyway. Proper hedgehog food or cat food (Non fish, non gravy) plus water, lots of.
If there’s manic nest building going on in the morning then you probably have a pregnant girlie. Building nests for babies is very much a last minute exercise so she’ll be about to give birth any day now. DON’T disturb the nest, at all!
Welcome to your new addiction!
Hi,
Welcome to the world of hedgehogs and all the delights they bring.
It is very important to leave fresh water out at all times as a dehydrated hog stands very little chance of survival. Best to use shallow bowl/saucer with a few stones to stop it tipping.
I am not as expert at this as some others on the forum but what I have learnt is sunflower seed/meal worms etc can be bad for hogs and cause brittle bones. Sadly the hogs can also become addicted and if that is the case need to be weaned off. The best food options are a good quality meaty cat/dog food, I use kibble as it stays fresher or a specialist hedgehog food like Spikes, ARK etc. Ultimately their wild diet is preferable so ease of movement through gardens is the best option.
My only concern is the your HH is out this morning. They are nocturnal and should not usually be out in the day. There is a possibility that he is a she and might be making a nest for giving birth. But it could also be ill
Hopefully someone else here may shed light on this. If you can monitor him that would be great and if there are any signs of distress call BHPS on 01584 890801 to find your nearest carer.
It may be worth doing this anyway to see if they can shed light on this day time behaviour.
Hope this helps and keep us posted on how he/she doesThanks so much for the advice!
I will stop with the sunflower hearts and provide the suggested food and water advice. The last sighting was around 8:30, and since then she has not left the den. She was very lively so your comments regarding last minute den making sound right.
Here are the links to the videos from this morning, they were taken between 08:16-08:26. Please ingnore the gushy commentary on one of them, that was the benefit of my boyfriend!
Great footage, love the way you run through the house to catch the other side!
Yes, looks like nest building. She is a very good size and doesn’t look distressed.
Leave some water and food nearish to the nest. Do not be tempted to look in at all.!!! She could abandon the young if disturbed. Your reward will be gorgeous little hoglets
I believe the babies stay in the nest for about 4 weeks before mum will bring them out and show them the ropes.
Pleeasssse keep us posted.
I am also hoping a hedgehog that hibernated in the HH house has or is about to have babies too.
Sooooooooooooooo excitedLucky you CDot!
A fairly rare sighting of a female gathering dry leaves for her nest. for her to be doing this during the day means she is very close to giving birth and has left it until the very last minute. They are very fussy about the leaves they take to nest build with – so you have obviously got good resources she likes.
My advice would be much in keeping with what others have suggested – provide water for sure and good quality food (but not too close to the nest as this may attract unwanted attention to her and her young). although she may not eat herself for a while once they arrive anyway.
Don’t be tempted to go anywhere near her or the nest between now and her reappearing (hopefully with her babies / hoglets / urchins) – this will be seen as very threatening and she may abandon or harm her young under these circumstances.
Happy hog watching and fingers crossed she has a good healthy litter that you will get to glimpse.Defo a mum to be there! So, you obviously have a male or two somewhere in the vicinity and quite possibly her own mum. You may have more hogs than you think and soon to have few more. That looks like quite a hedgehoggy garden with lots of cover too so all looking good. Keep up with the food and water and you should be in for plenty of sightings to come.
Once she’s given birth she can pop out for a quick hunt for food/water at any time of day or night including middle of the day so make sure there is something available 24/7 because she won’t want to be away from the nest for long. The new mum here is doing no more than 20 minutes per hunting trip at the moment so she’s obviously got some demanding kids at home!
Oh, one more thing, she needs a name!
I left some dog food out last night, but there wasn’t any sign of it being eaten this morning so she may not have ventured out since her nest making yesterday morning.
Her chosen location for the den is really close to the house and I’m worried we may disturb her, so I’ve made a HH den (out of bricks and flags) just across the lawn behind the garage and placed a bowl of food in the entrance to entice her in once the babies have arrived.
Fingers crossed we will catch a glimpse of Harriet (originally Harry, until the gender was confirmed) and her new family in the coming weeks!
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