suprise hedgehog

[nibbler]

Hello
This is the 1st time I have ever used a forum. It looks great!
I have been feeding a large (1054 grams) friendly hedghog for ages and
tonight he turned up with a little one in tow!!!!
He is about 6 inches long and looks very healthy but surely he is not
heavy enough to hiberate (I live in the South so it is still quite mild).
Do I have enough time to 'fatten him up' in time for hibernation?
HELP!
p.s.
are foxes a threat to hedgehogs?

[elaine2206]

Hi, welcome to wab. That is quite a worry isnt it. Why dont you phone a wildlife rescue centre, I have hedgehogs and foxes visit me and never seen any trouble yet, we have infa red camera up garden. By the way one of my hedgehogs is hibernating already in a box we provided so look into rescue, they will feed it til its ready and some places release where they come from. The foxes also get on with the neighbourhood cats, they seem tolerant. An urban fox ussually goes for easy scraps but a wild one might be more persistan in a hedgehog, depends where you live. Good luck to ya x

[Marcia]

Hi Nibbler and welcome to the forum.

Do you know the gender of the large hog?
If it's the hoglet's mum I believe she's taking the little one on foraging expeditions. I'm not sure if it's wise to pick the hoglet yet.

It's a difficult one and I'll let the more experienced carers advice you properly. There are some good knowledgeable people here who will soon reply to you better than I can.

As rule, any hoglet weighing less than 500g at this time of year should be brought indoors to fatten up and possibly overwinter. But if it's still with mum, I'm not sure what's the procedure as she's teaching important skills to her offspring too.

Foxes are not a big threat to hedgehogs, some share the same bowl of food. Badgers in other hand can be predators.

Best of luck.

Marcia

[Hedgehoggy]

Hi nibbler, and welcome to WAB

Firstly, well done for helping your local hog population by supplementary feeding

Could you possibly weigh the smaller hog so we'd be better equipped to advise as to whether intervention is absolutely necessary just yet. As you've already pointed out, 'tis milder down south and still time for hogs to build up the required 600g hibernation weight (especially as they know where to go for a good feed-up ). Ooop here, I still had hedgehogs visiting my garden up until the end of December last year.

As for foxes posing a danger to hedgehogs, I have read reports of very hungry foxes taking young or sick hedgehogs, but I've been feeding foxes and hedgehogs in my garden for as long as I can remember and have never encountered any problems. People's pet dogs are more of a problem to hedgehogs, according to my vet.


EDIT: Our posts crossed Marcia! You obviously type faster than I do!! Double oops! I've just seen your post too Elaine!

[nibbler]

thanks so much you guys!
I will weigh the little one. (the big one rather enjoyed the experience and didn't even 'roll up' which I thought he would do?).
It's going to look like the 3 bears feeding time now. Large bowl for 'foxy', medium bowl for big Hedgepig (that's what we call him) and small bowl for
hedgebaby!!!
I'll let you know.xx

[Hedgehoggy]

Perhaps we should nickname you Goldilocks then!

Forgot to say earlier, just in case Hedgepig and hedgebaby are a family, keep them together while you weigh the smaller one (take scales into the garden).

[Hedgehoggy]

Nibbler, I had to ring St Tiggywinkles today for some advice on a hog I have here and while on the phone I checked with them that the advice I was about to give you was the right course of action to take. As harsh as this sounds, the small hog should be taken from its mother into care to fatten up/overwinter if it weighs less than 450g. If the small hog is the larger hog’s baby it’s unlikely to weigh more than 250g if it’s still accompanying mum. Hoglets disperse from their litter nest and are totally independent at around 6-8 weeks of age (approx weight at this stage is 250g), so it would only be a matter of days before mum left the baby to completely fend for itself anyway.

The other scenario could be that the smaller hog is not actually a baby at all, but is being wooed by the larger hog! – there have been cases of hoglets being born as late as December - hence the importance of weighing the smaller one to determine if any intervention is necessary.

Hope this all makes sense! Good luck with the weighing this evening.

[Marcia]

Thanks for sharing the St Tiggy's advice, Hedgehoggy. I'll now know how to proceed if I came across with a mum and baby.

Nibbler, good luck catching Goldilocks!

[nibbler]

Both hedgepig and hedgebaby have just been for thier tea.
I have weighed littl'un and he is 270grams. He seems very healthy
(not to mention the cutest little thing I have ever seen).
On no! What do I do now?

[mbaldw]

Hi nibbler,

welcome to the forums.

are foxes a threat to hedgehogs?

A good question - and one that has divided folk for many years. In my experience foxes tend either to ignore hedgehogs (especially if there is food in the offing) or to be curious of them. The curiosity typically takes the form of sniffing and/or pawing and is often associated with repeated jumps back to a safe distance. Were the hedgehog to uncurl and make a break for it, it seems quite likely that the fox may 'have a go', but most seem to get bored fairly quickly. Overall, I would say that where any significant predation does occur, it is generally by an individual (or several if there has been some form of memetics, or "cultural transmission") that has learned to 'target' hedgehogs. A similar situation seems to be true of badgers, although badgers are much stronger animals than foxes and have little trouble opening a hedgehog with their forepaws. When you look at the literature, records of hedgehog remains generally appear more often in badger diets than fox diets.

If you're interested, I cover this subject in a little more detail on my website.

As Hedgehoggy has mentioned, dogs also tend to be a problem, not least because many tend to spot the movement, lunge and snap. In cases where I have seen this, it is generally more painful for the dog (when it gets a nose full of spines), but I have little doubt that it can sometimes lead to injury of the hog. The vet probably sees quite a few because a responsible dog owner would probably bring the casualty in for treatment, or it could be picked up in a nearby garden by a caring soul.

Cheers,
Marc.