hedgehog help

[nellybongo]

hi, can anyone help us ? we rescued a hog yesterday day time as he was wandering in the road in the middle of the day! he has been to the vets and given a semi clean health certificate, the vet believes he is tame as he is very happy in human company and they think that he can not see to find food and that someone has been feeding him for him to be so tame but they have obviously stopped now. I understand he needs to be a certain weight to survive hibernation can you tell me that goal weight as the vet just said he was underweight.
Tonight he will stay indoors in a box but tomorrow we will move him to a hog box in the garden - any advice and guidance will be greatfully received
Thanks
Nellybongo

[Hedge Witch]

Other people are better qualified to answer this. In the meantime, found this from Hedgehoggy on what you could feed it tonight:

On another thread somewhere I posted a short list of foods to feed the Hedgehogs with. The compiled list was what I imagined most folk would have at home to hand (and what I could remember at the time!), without going to the expense of buying food especially, such as:

cat/dog moist food, cat bics
unsalted peanuts, sunflower hearts, sultanas, grated cheese, digestive biccies (foods folk feed to the birds)

A more extensive list includes:
Cooked chicken, minced beef, live mealworms, dried mealworms, runny scrambled egg (no milk or salt added), apples, ripe bananas, a little peanut butter. Before you chuck any leftover dinner scraps into your bin, ask yourself if a Hedgehog would look upon it as a veritable feast!

Some folk have had luck with the specially prepared dried Hedgehog foods on the market, but none of my hogs have ever eaten any of these manufactured Hedgehog foods, even the birds wouldn't eat it and I ended up chucking it all in the bin!

This list is by no means exhaustive, and I'm sure there are lots of other foods I can't remember to hand, but it's all a case of trial and error. You'll find that one hog will love a particular food which another hog will turn its nose up at and vice versa!

You may already know, they shouldn't have milk.

[Kayleigh]

Sounds like he needs to go to a wildlife rescue centre that specialises in hogs..
Why didn't the vet tell you what weight he needs to be and if he cant see to find food he will have to kept in secure garden and be looked after as he will not survive in the wild..

What area are you in..

[Hedge Witch]

The hedgehog should be 350 g or more before being allowed to hibernate.

I assume kitchen scales are accurate enough for weighing purposes.

[Hedge Witch]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Sounds like he needs to go to a wildlife rescue centre that specialises in hogs..
Why didn't the vet tell you what weight he needs to be and if he cant see to find food he will have to kept in secure garden and be looked after as he will not survive in the wild..

What area are you in..

Many Vets seem woefully inadequate in matters wildlife I guess it depends on the Vet though

[nellybongo]

hi thanks for all the help, the scales are adequate I have just checked the hog and he is curled up and looks asleep so will weigh him in the morning as he seems to have his body clock round the wrong way at the mo. we are in essex, vet said as he appeared in relative good health we could release him to our enclosed garden as long as we undertook to look after him, which we did . he is eating for england, cat food wet and a tiny amount of dry and we have given him water

[Hedge Witch]

Originally Posted by nellybongo

hi thanks for all the help, the scales are adequate I have just checked the hog and he is curled up and looks asleep so will weigh him in the morning as he seems to have his body clock round the wrong way at the mo. we are in essex, vet said as he appeared in relative good health we could release him to our enclosed garden as long as we undertook to look after him, which we did . he is eating for england, cat food wet and a tiny amount of dry and we have given him water

That's excellent - just what he needs, a healthy appetite Fingers crossed.

[Jez]

British Hedgehog Preservation Society

Here's some helpful information for you!

[Hedge Witch]

Oops - make that 600 g - thanks Jez! Better open another tin of cat food

[Rebus]

Good luck Nellybongo! Looking forward to hearing how the hog gets on.