hedgehog out and about

[kiwi]

i was in the kitchen when i heard rustling in a cardboard box and got terribly frightened i looked in the box and saw a hedgehog in a bed of hay with some food and water ,turns out my dad had found this hedgehog in our garden the other night going very slow and was overweight on a very cold night any comments? my dad is going to give it to some sort of hedgehog care home to look after, its eating and has made a nest in the hay,do you think its out because of mild weather? ,what shall we do in the meantime ?

[Dogghound]

Adult hedgehogs usually come out of hibernation late March to April, younger individuals comeout earlier. Yours still seems a little early in my experience. Their are several reasons you found this hedgehog. Hedgehogs usually move nest site atleast once per winter so its a possibility it was moving site. The very mild weather or it was hungary and looking for food although unlikely due to you saying it was over weight. Ive never kept hedgehogs, someone will know better but i would suggest that you keep it until it warms up abit in a few weeks to a month and release it.

[galanthus]

Hedgehogs often wander out when we have mild days, they top up with a few bits of nosh. Ours has been out since boxing day on and off, currently wandering around the garden eating well. We are nearly at end of Feb and if he has a nice weight I'm sure he'll be okay. It's not the cold that kills them it's lack of food.

[kiwi]

sorry made a big mistake there i put overweight instead of underweight
opps

[naturelover]

Hi kiwi,how is your hedgehog ? it was bitterly cold last night,hope hedgie was somewhere warm and cosy.

[kiwi]

the hedgehog is with the rspca now

[galanthus]

mine is outside in the garden scoffing cat food as we speak Hope yours is okay, am sure he's safe in RSPCA hands.