Self anointing on dog

[Jens]

Hello!
I just saw a old video clip from northern sweden. At a place where hedgehogs have been fed for many years. Hedgehog eating close to german shepherd and at another clip also self anointing by licking at the hind fur of the german shepherd. The dog was very old and didn’t react at all. Sweet!

In sweden, probably since the summers are so bright hedgehogs need to be active in daylight to have time to eat. This allows for good photo opportunities.

[daffydill]

Hi Jens. How fascinating that video sounds. What happens during wintertime in Sweden? How long do hedgehogs hibernate? I read that the ones introduced into New Zealand don’t hibernate and I still have one here (south-west UK) that comes for food yet others are hibernating. Adapt to survive I suppose?

[William]

Still have one here as well daffydill. South West UK also.

[daffydill]

It has been mild but very wet so far down here hasn’t it William? Do you think they will yet hibernate or is that unlikely now? I’m new to this.

[William]

Hi Daffydill, i have had young ones not hibernate before. This is a mature one, but there is still plenty of time or it to do so. I have noticed on the camera footage that it is not coming for food so often during the night. That can be a sign that it is winding down.

[Jens]

I wrote a long post, that seem to have disappeared, so i will write shorter now.

I am not sure how long they hibernate in sweden. Many adult hedgehogs dissapear from feeding places in late july, but was seen even in november in a facebook i follow. The earliest i have seen a hedgehog is in april. It seems like they emerge in both the north and south of sweden almost at the same time, at least close to the coast. I would have thougt that they woudl emerge much later in the north where it’s colder.

[Jens]

If you want to see some of my hedgehog videos they can be seen if you search (jens råberg flickr) and then choose the album hedgehogs. Maybe the links i posted was reason that my post isn’t there

[Nic]

Hi Jens

Interesting to hear about the self annointing after licking a dog. Brave hedgehog!

Re. your post disappearing. The forum doesn’t seem to like having more than one link in a post. So if you want to put more than one link on, it might be safer to put them on separate posts. But I’ve also noticed that if your post is long and you make an edit, it sometimes also disappears. So if you are writing a long one, it’s best to write it in a document and only copy it on to the Forum once you are sure there are no edits needed.

It’s interesting to hear about the hibernation of the hogs in Sweden. I wonder, do the males tend to hibernate first (and return first), like the ones in the U.K. do?

[Jens]

Thanks!
I have just seen science from England and Denmark, but none from sweden about hedgehogs. I have no idea about males and females. Only that it seems to be very common that the very young are often active late.

Have understood that it is possible to put radio transmitters on them. It would be so interesting to see with say 15 radiomarked hogs, what environments are most popular för hibernation. That way we could know better how to manage the landscape. I think that were i used to live before, the narrow space under concrete slabs for balconies at ground level were popular at summer for females to have young.

[RubberMan]

There is a large female asleep in my garden right now under an old brick bbq I made years ago. She’s well dug in and covered with moss and leaves, not had a peep out of her since the start of October.

Meanwhile…her mate was attacked by an owl in November and hurt quite badly. He’s now all fixed and very happy and is spending the winter inside with us. He’s mostly active at night, but he will come out during the day if we’re too loud and complain, i.e. he barks at us! Hibernation doesn’t appear to be on his mind…

[Jens]

I´d like to hear that barking. When corona has got away I would like to go to a hedgehog rescue not far away and see what they do and how.

[daffydill]

Hi Jens. Just posting to say I did watch your videos and they are fascinating, thank you. As you said you have wonderful opportunities for photos and videos in the summer. It seems so strange to see the interaction with humans as well. Would this almost acceptance of people evolve naturally from your climate/light conditions? I would recommend your vids to others, very interesting.

[Nic]

Hi daffydill

Hedgehogs do sometimes become habituated to humans, but it isn’t really a good thing. Not all humans are friendly to hogs and some are the opposite. It is not a natural thing, it would require certain behaviour and encouragement from the humans to achieve it. Also humans are predators and becoming too habituated to one type of predator could make them less wary of others. Better that they keep their own natural respect of all kinds of predators.

Having said that I know that Jens tries to encourage the children to care about the hogs as well. But that always has to be weighed up against the potential problems which could be caused to the hedgehogs. To me, before ANY interaction with a hedgehog we need to ask ourselves, is this interaction for the benefit of this hedgehog or hedgehogs as a whole. If the answer is no, or even unsure, then the hog should be left to get on with it’s life as a wild hedgehog undisturbed.

Offering them food and water, providing shelter is fine – the hogs have a choice whether to eat/drink/use it, or not – and we can watch from a respectful distance. That way the hog can still live a normal wild hedgehog life.

[daffydill]

Hi Nic.
I quite understand that encouraging any wild animal to interact with humans is not advisable, nor encouraged. I did wonder if maybe the summer long daylight in the more northern hemisphere has affected the behaviour in nocturnal species.
Personally I hope to provide sustenance and perhaps encourage decent living conditions to encourage or any number of wildlife in my small cottage garden.
It is never “tidy” but hope it is certainly wildlife friendly.

[Nic]

Hi daffydill

I think where the nights are shorter in the Summer, there is more opportunity for people to interact with hedgehogs – with short nights, the hogs inevitably have to venture out during daylight to be able to get sufficient food – so it makes it more likely that they will encounter humans, or humans will encounter them. So it’s probably easier to encourage them to become habituated to humans, and possibly also easier for it to happen inadvertently, if care isn’t taken to avoid it.

There is, a difference in the hedgehogs in different areas. The following is a quote from ‘Hedgehogs’ by Pat Morris:
” ….. The remaining genus Erinaceus is the one to which the British or brown chested hedgehog belongs. In eastern Europe and across into Russia, the local hedgehogs typically are bigger than ours and have a white chest. This and some other minior features mean that they are classified as a different species, Erinaceous concolor…. “

(The hogs here are Erinaceus europaeus)

After that it becomes a bit complicated and not easy to work out where one species starts and the other ends. Also Erinaceus concolour seems to be divided into two different types. There are some quite complicated looking scientific papers online, if you are interested in that sort of thing.

I did wonder, when I first saw Jen’s videos, whether there could be some slight difference, in that the hogs in Jen’s videos from Sweden seem to have pale fur, in relation to most of those found in the UK Although, it might of course be something particular to the hogs in that area. It’s not always easy judging the size from video, either and in any case, the hogs here vary in size quite a lot.

The hogs won’t mind if your garden is a bit untidy (or even if it is tidy!). As long as it has plenty of homes for beetles, caterpillars, etc. for them to eat, (as well, of course, as nesting sites) they’ll be happy. Won’t be long until the hibernators begin to return. Looking forward to that!

Good luck to you and the hogs there. Hope you have a happy hog year.

[Author]

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