Small hogs seen in street – how can I help them survive the winter.
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Could I have some advice please? I have a large adult that has taken up residence in my hedgehog house for the past two years. My investment has been well rewarded as my garden has never looked better ! I have had the garden relandscaped and now is very wildlife friendly. I have put a large feeding station behind a tree and the camera is showing it is well used by both hedgehogs and rats. (The hogs done seem to be in the slightest bothered by the rats! Only me! )
A neighbour found a small hog (size tennis ball) in the road near my house one evening.last week. It was fine and scuttled away as soon as it could but it looked to me to be too small to hibernate. Since then I have put a feeding station in the front garden too. The food has been taken and my camera has noted several very small hogs (they are bigger than hoglets but rather small adults) visiting the larger feeding station in the back garden as well as the big fat adult i think lives in my garden.
My question – if the little hogs/hoglets about now are too small/light to hibernate , as I have read they need to be 500g at least to hibernate and these small hogs look a lot less than this) how best to care for them over winter? If I put another hog house in the garden would they nest there if they are too small to hibernate?
We are about to have the first hard frost this weekend. So I expect my big hog to hibernate soon but I am quite worried about these little ones.Hi Pam Sue
Your garden sounds lovely! A good idea to have a feeding station in the front garden as well.
Re. the little hogs – I agree, the tennis ball sized one sounds to me as if it really needed rescuing. That is small at this time of year. Otherwise for the ones visiting your garden the advice now is hogs over 450g can survive hibernation. Please see https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/autumn-juveniles – from BHPS – which gives lots of other useful information, too. It might be a good idea to weigh at least one of any hoglets which visit, so that you get an idea of size. Maybe the little one your neighbour saw might turn up at yours sometime.
Some hogs (especially hoglets, it seems) decide not to hibernate at all but an extra hog box would probably be welcome in case they changed their mind or as a place to nap between snacks of food. It seems counter intuitive but I’ve found that the hogs which have not hibernated here haven’t seemed to mind the cold and still turned up in well sub-zero temperatures. But they did seem to welcome somewhere for the occasional nap. The usual hogs still turned up last night and it was quite frosty here.
If anyone still has hogs visiting, I would continue to provide some food (dried cat/kitten biscuits are ideal as there is no problem with freezing) and it’s also very important to provide a water source all day, every day, even if you are not sure whether hogs are still around or not. Hogs which hibernate are known to sometimes move nests during hibernation time and might welcome a drink even if no-one else does.
I hope all the hogs there do well and have a successful hibernation time, one way or another. Good luck to them all.
A question please. We live on a housing estate surrounded by farmland and fairly frequently we see hedgehogs not only in the gardens but also, sadly, running around the roads.
A couple of days ago we found one curled up in the road. A neighbour said that it (or another one) had been in their garden this week and they had given it some cat food. Anyway the hog wasn’t moving. I put it in a box with some soft insulating material and a towel. It still hasn’t moved but I’ve put down some tinned hedgehog food. Still no sign of activity. How can I tell if it is still alive. It is slightly ‘odorous’ but then maybe they are all a bit smelly 🤷♀️. If I put a hand over the (exposed nose and feet) there is some warmth but I suppose that might be decomposition . Ideas pleaseHave you had it several days like this?
Sounds like it’s dead
If you’re not sure you could take it to your nearest carer or vet to check
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