Hogs asleep yet?

[Rob_D]

Anyone's hedgehogs hibernating yet?

My small one was still around last night. I don't know about him, but I'm cold enough now, so I'd happily give the rest of winter a miss if I could.

[wildliferescuer]

If he is small you ought to try to weigh him. If he is under 450gms he needs taking in to get some weight on him or he won't survive the winter.

[Rob_D]

Thanks. It's only small relative to the other two that had been visiting, and looking abit fatter recently too. I think it was this years youngster from the first litter, and well grown, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

Sadly my regular hog disappeared this year after at least 4 years (I guess that's a good age). I'm pleased to have a new one. It's certainly feisty as it butted away a much bigger hog at the feeding bowl. A couple of months ago the bigger hogs stopped coming, so maybe it's seen them all off! Still it get's spooked much more easily than the others.

[Blackdogjnr]

Well, I put food out every day last week and it was left untouched.
They'd been gobbling through a bowl of doggie food a night since it got colder....

I assumed they'd both got themselves all cosy and warm and ready for sleep.
I checked the box yesterday, it was slept in, but empty...

a mystery...

[gillwrig]

Mine have all gone except for the three I am over-wintering ... not starting on that discussion again though

[galanthus]

Haven't seen mine for a week now, tho am sure he'll be out by the weekend. He comes in and out of hibernation as I think they all do. His best was his christmas day appearance in the snow

[Dillibags]

I thought they'd all be fast asleep by now, but yesterday morning (6:30'ish) as was driving to stables, one scuttled across the road in front of me, was quite surprised to see it

[paulambabe]

hi don't know how to get help with this. my dog has bought a hog into the house, ( she's done it before) she hasn't been hurt and she's still asleep but normally we take them to the local field where we have seen other ones over the years. anyway we don't want to leave her in the open as we think she's hibernating. so what we have done is wrapped her in a towel and put her in a large plant pot away from the dog. but what do we do with her next??
do we keep her in the plant pot( it's a big one) or try and find a safe place to leave her outside (she's in a lean to on the side of the house) we just don't want to end up killing her, she seems quite small, but i know nothing.

thanks for reading and look forward to any advice you can give me

[Hedgehoggy]

Aww, poor hoggy. If the hedgehog hasn’t attempted to uncurl from an extremely tight ball, sounds like your dog may have dug her out of her hibernaculum. It would be dangerous, and very unfair, to just place her back outside in this condition. My advice, regardless of her size for the moment, would be to place her in a large box/pet carrier, lined with newspaper, and an old towel to loosely cover her for warmth. Put some dog food and bowl of water in the box and bring her INDOORS to warm up overnight. Ring your nearest wildlife rescue centre first thing in the morning to take over her care. If she’s very small, it’s doubtful she’ll have survived hibernation anyway, so your dog may have just saved her life.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on. Any questions/advice, just shout!

[paulambabe]

wow thanks for that, wasn't sure if any one read these so thank you. i will do what you say will have to get some dog food in the morning as mine eat dried and will look on the interent for the nearest rescue center, i live in coventry and don't know of any near here. so will ring one and see what they say. will let you know what happens

thank you very much and hoggy thanks you too

paula