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Hi folks,
Just registered today, didn’t know about the site before. After never seeing any evidence of hog activity in over 10 yrs at current address I started seeing one during last summer. Bought a trail cam to keep tabs. Eventually up to 3 were visiting at the same time which was great to see. The most regular visitor was seen up until Dec 23rd.
This year I saw first sign of activity on Feb 25th and it looks like my ‘regular’ so it can’t have been in hibernation more than 2 months. It wasn’t very big so I’m wondering if it naturally went for a short hibernation as it might not have put on enough weight to see out a longer one?
Although I haven’t caught them both together on the cam yet there are now definitely 2 different ones visiting. I bought a sturdy hibernation box last year but don’t know yet if it has been used, I tried staking the entrance out with a cam but nothing conclusive. I will check it later in the year when it will be cleaned out. I’ve also now got an ‘igloo’ type shelter just so they have somewhere that is guaranteed to have food in that the local cats and foxes can’t get at first.Hi Bassman
Welcome to the Forum! It’s lovely to hear about your hedgehog experiences.
The ones who have returned from hibernation may be males. They tend to hibernate earlier than the females and then return earlier (the females have to worry about raising hoglets – which the males don’t have anything to do with – and then put on sufficient weight for hibernation). It actually is quite a good strategy because it gives them a chance to put on a bit of weight before the females return. Once the females are back the males use up a lot of energy tearing around the place, biffing other males and circling females!
Good to hear you already have a camera. Whilst nothing beats watching them in real tme, it can be fascinating seeing what they get up to in parts of the garden not visible from the house, etc. And in the middle of the night, of course!
Good luck with the hog box. You never know a Mother might decide to use it to have her young ones in.
Happy hog watching!
Both currently visiting are males which makes sense. There seemed to be a bit of huffing going on but nothing violent on the only 2 occasions I saw them together.
They now seem to have worked a system where one comes early and the other later so they don’t overlap. They are easy to tell apart as one has some odd markings on its back which I posted about in another thread.
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