still active

[Stedwomas]

For the past week I have had two hedgehogs visit my feeding station at different times of night -and they manage to eat about half a can of cat food between them – should they be hibernating by now ?

[daffydill]

I am pleased to read your post as the same is happening here, except it’s half a can (400g) of dog food and some biscuits between what seems to be 2 young hedgehogs. I believe there were 4 here a few weeks ago, mum and four hoglets, but I haven’t seen mum for more than a week now. We had our first slight frost last night and it is a worry.

[Stedwomas]

These are two quite large ones – i just put wet food out now because a couple of rats were visiting see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCcKWNesQZk – i have a few more videos on there. Not seen the rats for a week since stopped putting cat biscuits out. I video each evening. Since its started getting cold i have had less rats – think they helped curbed the rats. I tried a humane rat trap and reduced the opening of the trap to 2½” BUT the rats kept clear and i discovered a hedgehog had squeezed through going for the peanut butter !!!!

[Loveinamist]

Two hedgehogs have been active here this last week, mum and this year’s youngster I think. First frost last night, so just mum briefly yesterday. Hope that means they’re settling into their winter shelter now.

[Nic]

Hi Stedwomas and Daffydil and Loveinamist

Don’t worry about the hedgehogs not hibernating. Some decide not to and that is o.k. as long as you keep offering them food and water. The rats are a bit of a problem, but they tend not to like wet food so much. The cold probably won’t bother the rats, I’ve had one visiting here in frosty weather but there aren’t any hogs still about here. But we have had several reports about hogs getting into ‘humane’ rat traps.

When I have had hogs not hibernating here the cold doesn’t seem to have bothered them too much either, although they were more inclined to stop for a nap in between snacks, so that may have been an opportunity to warm up a bit.

So, just keep offering food and water. If you’ve got somewhere sheltered nearby they can go to have a nap, that might be handy.

But they still might decide to hibernate.

[Cora]

I haven’t stopped putting out food but now I just put out dried food as the wet food was being left.

I noticed the food was being spread around the feeding station so suspected rats rather than a hog was eating it. I put out my camera trap last night, first time in about 10 days, and saw hog going into station. Really surprised but at least I know to keep refreshing the food.

[Stedwomas]

I have put dry and wet food out – when i stopped the dried food the rats and mice stopped coming – I think i only have one hedgehog that “just” gets into the entrance which i have reduced internally to about 5″ . Before I did this a large cat managed to squeeze into the house and take the food – see my video link earlier in this thread. I also put a humane rat catching cage out and narrowed the entrance BUT he managed to get into a gap of 2½” !!! sniff the peanut butter bread , come our without triggering the trap door, made sure that night i montitoed the trap every hour, since then i have not used it. My hedehog eats ¾tin of cat food (jelly).

[daffydill]

I’m only seeing one young hog for the last few evenings, and nearly all the wet food is being left. I don’t have a camera (are they expensive and/or complicated?) so I can only go by what I see before I head to bed! I’m new to all this but recognise the little one that still comes, she(?) only eats the biscuits but manages more than half a cupful and sometimes dozes off laying on them.
What concerns me is that this hoglet has become too dependent on the biscuits, is that possible? Seems a lot of food for that tiny tummy, will it be too full to bother searching for it’s own food? I didn’t realise I’d feel so responsible when I began feeding them, though it’s the same with the birds ! I did make 2 houses and they are sited behind the sheds with lots of leaves and hay nearby, but no idea if they are occupied.

[Nic]

Hi daffydil

At this time of year there won’t be so much food available in the wild, so don’t worry about feeding the hog too much. In the wild, they don’t tend to over-eat. I’m assuming that you are also providing plenty of water as well – really important – even more so when feeding dry food.

[NorfolkHedgehog]

We have still been having 1 visitor most nights. We think! We used to have 3 or 4!

[Granny 7]

I am still feeding the hogs although I seem to remember in the past not doing so in December, they are obviously still around at the moment. Today I saw one in the garden at around 2.15 pm. It ran off before I could get close enough to check it was ok. Would they pop out through the day for a meal at this time of year then go back to bed ?. I have seen them out in the day in the summer months, particularly a mother who had her babies in the garden, they were all fine, she did a good job of rearing them all, great entertainment watching from a distance, only once did I find a poorly hog but caught him and got him treated then released back after about 4 weeks.

[Kay69]

Just had a sighting of a hedgehog in my garden December 27th a few moments ago, eating dry cat food by our back door. Is this normal? It’s only about 2 degrees here at the moment. It seemed ok, was eating noisily and scurried away when I set security light off. I do have a hedgehog house hidden in my garden and I’m certain one has been living in in for a while.

[Nic]

Hi NorfolkHedgehog, Granny7 and Kay69

Don’t worry if there are still hogs around. Some decide not to hibernate and if you have some of those ones around, it’s really important then that you continue to offer them food and water throughout the winter. They don’t seem too bothered about the cold as long as they can find food.

However, I wouldn’t expect them to pop out during the day, especially when the nights are so long, so I would keep an eye out in case one comes out during the day again. It may not be finding enough food and/or water. Ideally, if they are not hibernating and were hoglets (non-hibernators often are first year hogs), I would expect them to continue to grow.

[Stedwomas]

cameras are about £50 off amazon – you also need 8 rechargeable 11 batteries and a charger , which can be obtained from ebay or amazon, I got a camera off amazon which broke down with a year , and got a full refund, even they paid the postage back, I have 3 cameras which rotate . At night you get black and white but during the day you get colour. One full charge of 2800ma batteries lasts about 10 days. batteries from amazon or ebay with charger cost from £26 for 2800ma but you can get smaller capacity ones

[Merdeen]

The hedgehog we have is still visiting our garden each evening (as of last night, 29th December 2020), so I continue to put food out for him. I didn’t realise that hogs sometimes do not hibernate – so thanks for the info!

[Author]

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