Two in one house

[Hettihog]

Hi rosieyvonne
Pleased that nic has responded as I’m no expert. Just one thing I would add from my experience that you might appreciate ( something that didn’t occur to me in my preparations not until I was just about to capture Cutie) my kitchen scales didn’t have a light and I needed both hands to hold Cutie, so couldn’t use a torch.
I had to have everything ready in my utility room for weighing because I have no outside light and it was too dark to read the scale outside .
Good luck x

[rosieyvonne]

Hi 👋

My mum stays next door to me so i will ask her to give me a hand when i’m weighing them and she can help me with the lighting etc . I pay they come back tonight
They are away again this morning with some food left over too . I wonder if they are family as it’s always just the 2 of them . I have not seen any my adults ones around for nearly a week .

[Hettihog]

Hi rosieyvonne
That’s great that you will have some help. Mum’s always there when you need them 😂
Very best of luck, I will be thinking of you and the little hogs tonight! x

[ElsieD]

Hi again,

Update on my gang. Unfortunately had to have them rescued as too small. Saw one out in the afternoon on my patio and got alarmed. Rang the rescue centre and the chap said to check on them now and weigh. Did that. One huge one in the house (mummy hog) one dead one (sad) and two live ones. I don’t know what happened to the other ones but happy ending for the two. They each weighed less than 300 grams. I managed to get hold of the most local rescue centre, not far from us actually. She came up later on and collected them. Both males she said. I had put them both in a cardboard box with hay so they were comfortable. Big mummy weighed nearly 800 grams, (wasn’t pleased with me though for disturbing her). Anyway, at least two have been rescued, I will check up on them to find out if they survived ok. The dead one must have been the one we saw out as we couldn’t locate it in our garden and it couldn’t have got out as the hedgehog door in my gate was shut off as I usually do during the day. Big mummy is still in the house (I swapped it for the other one as it was messy inside with poo). She seems quite happy to stay now for the winter and is still feeding. I hope the other ones (I had counted 5 or 6 young originally), have survived but if they were the same size as the two then probably not. I just hope they were bigger. I find it is a learning curve, next time I won’t wait so long to get them rescued.

Cheers, Elsie.

[Nic]

Hi Elsie

Sadly there is quite a high mortality rate with hoglets, so only one dying is good, even though very sad and not nice to find. It’s possible that the other ones who had already left the nest might be heavier, so might still have a chance, but also they might still turn up, so you still may have an opportunity to weigh them.

It’s always difficult deciding how soon to intervene. Being over-wintered in captivity isn’t always the safe option. It’s very stressful for them and not all survive. So if there’s a chance they could put on weight and survive in the wild it’s sometimes worth taking it. There is also the possibility that some may decide not to hibernate at all. But if you are ever worried about hogs, it’s always worth contacting your local rescue/rehabilitator for advice. They are the ones who know the local weather conditions, etc.

You’ve done well saving the two little ones. Keep an eye out in case any of the others turn up again. I would leave Mother hog alone now to decide what to do about hibernation.

Good luck.

[Hettihog]

Hi ElsieD
Well done you for rescuing the two little ones. At least you know you’ve given them a chance of survival! It’s very sad when it doesn’t work out but we can only do our best!
Hope everything goes well, kind Regards and best wishes. x

[simbo65]

Hi Elsie D
Well done on being able to save some of them. I suppose the way to look at it is if you hadn’t intervened there is a possibility none would survive.
Please let us know if you get anymore news.

[Hettihog]

Hi rosieyvonne
Any news?
Best wishes x

[rosieyvonne]

Hi everyone

omg i have now got 3 wee babies .
The weights for them all are
493g
531g
444g

They were very well behaved and so cute 🦔

What do you think then ? I called a wildlife centre today but just went onto an answering machine

In your experience do you think they won’t come back now that i have lifted them up and maybe scared them .

thanks again 😊

[Hettihog]

Hey rosieyvonne well done you and your mum!
Don’t worry they will all be back as if nothing happened.
When I weighed Cutie I wasn’t quite sure who was most traumatised the hog or me 😂 and I was sure that was one little hog that I would never see again! But like clockwork Cutie was back the next night and it can’t have been that bad, because Cutie moved in and made the nest under my shed!
So pleased they are all a good weight
how lucky are you to have three babies visiting!
Well done again you should be real proud of yourself!
Best wishes and happy hog watching x

[Hettihog]

rosieyvonne- I would maybe try the wildlife centre again tomorrow or BHPS just to check the weight requirement in your area. It’s still quite mild where I live but I’m sure there will be variations in weight requirements depending the climate and where your located .
But otherwise I think the advice is just to monitor progress.
Take care x

[rosieyvonne]

I live just outside Glasgow and it’s freezing today . I will call again it’s not like them not to call back as i’ve used the number before for injured animals to be picked up from my home quite a lot although they shut earlier now as darker night have come .

I just can’t believe another wee one has come , my camera doesn’t arrive till Monday and there is no way i could see what was going on from the kitchen window and the house is away up the back of the garden .
They are in the house most of the night then the leave at some point and go somewhere else all day so i doubt they will hibernate in the house . I have ordered another house and hopefully that will come this weekend..
One of the hedge hogs was like really happy to be held it was lovely to see i just hope they come back tonight and it obviously didn’t stop them from hanging around as all the food has been ate this morning . 🥰

[Nic]

Hi rosieyvonne

That’s really good news. Two of the hoglets are over the required weight of 450g already and the third is very close. If you keep feeding sounds as if they will have a pretty good chance to survive.

We all need to be aware that hibernation is a very dangerous time for hogs in general and there is no guarantee that any hog will survive even if it is heavy enough or an adult. But offering them good quality food (cat/dog/hog food) and water in the run up to hibernation has got to be a help. (Water should be left out all year, including winter.) But also leaving them alone in their nests is very important. If they are ‘woken up’ from hibernation it uses up their reserves of fat.

Good luck with them all.

[rosieyvonne]

Hi Nic

Can you recommend a good cat or dog food then as i use Ava for my dogs and i read there is fish oil in that so i haven’t used that. i have only used the hedge hog food from pets at home and i do put out water out very night and in winter too as i have so many birds that wait on me n my garden feeding and watering them 😂 and now i have my wee hedge hogs coming that will be my new animal obsession lol

Would you think there mother hog is away from them now to go hibernate or would she still come an check on them

😊

[Nic]

Hi Hettihog

I think one or two people have misunderstood what I said, elsewhere, about weight requirements of hoglets for hibernation in any given area. I suggested that carers/rehabilitators local to an area would be more likely to know how early the weight requirement kicked in in their area.

BHPS would not be likely to have that information, but would be able to give contact details of local carers. I would hate BHPS’s time to be wasted by people contacting them and asking how much a hog needs to weigh in their area – because of a misunderstanding. It’s local rescues/carers/rehabilitators who are more likely to be aware of local weather conditions, etc. Although we have probably pretty much got to the time of year, now, when it applies everywhere.

[Author]

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