Baby hedghogs!(?)

[ollyk]

Is it a bit early to see baby hedgehogs out the nest? Just seen mum scurry past me as I came in and 5 minutes later there is a baby on the path under the bush! (and this confirms our suspicion that there is a nest!)
I say baby, it was definitely much smaller than mum I would guess about 5 inches max but appeared well developed from what I could see..
Nest has not been disturbed as far as I am aware although whole family has just been outside watching the space station flyby \(my family, not the hedgehogs )...

So is it the right time for baby adventures considering mum is out?

[ollyk]

just had a peek and there are now 2 babies

[paulthomas]

I think it all depends on how early she breeds. This long dry spell is probably hard for them and will be especially hard for the young ones once they're weaned.

[ollyk]

Thanks Paul we leave water and cat food out although the mum appears to be fussy!
We have now counted 4 babies and I think 3 are back in the undergrowth. Misses said it sounded like there was a boar rustling around in there lol

[Hedgehoggy]

Lovely news, ollyk! At about 4 weeks of age they venture out of the nest with their mother and will then accompany her on foraging trips. Once they reach 6-8 weeks old they either leave the nest and wander off on their own, or mum goes off on her merry way! Enjoy them while you can

The fact that your mother hedgehog is 'fussy' with the supplementary food you provide is a good sign that she's finding adequate natural food in your garden

As a footnote, for anybody unable, or not wanting to, provide supplementary food for visiting hedgehogs, hosing down an area of your garden during dry spells will bring the earthworms/other inverts to the surface to enable hedgehogs (and other wildlife, incl. birds) to feed. Providing fresh drinking water for all visiting wildlife is a life saver.

[tobyy]

thats great news and i hope the babies do well.

[ollyk]

Hi hedgehoggy, thanks for that. Not sure what has happened to one of our hedges but we only counted three babies last night. I am a little worried as the night before one of them seemed to sneeze a few times and jumped around a little. Looked healthy enough and I was going to check on it last night before deciding to call for help / advice. I just hope one of them has found independence rather than something worse...
Incidentally, I have never seen them with their mum yet - she(?) normally leaves our back garden during the day (there is another bush she hides under on the other side of the house, maybe like a half-way den?) and obviously comes back sometime during the night. They aren't crying or looking distressed though and if I sit outside I hear them crunching and lapping the odd thing up so they are obviously eating

I guess I should ask is it ok to leave one or two small cat food chunks for the babie to find? I wonder if this might hamper their ability to learn foraging skills?

[Hedgehoggy]

Any chance you could take a photo and weigh* one of them to get an idea of their age? (A photo on its own isn't always a good indicator.) At this stage of their development, there’s no threat of mum rejecting/killing her babies through disturbance. The reason I'm curious to know their age is they sound to be already weaned so it's rather puzzling that they're not accompanying mum on foraging trips, unless

a) they're all going out when you're tucked up in bed, or
b) they're now old enough to disperse and fend for themselves and mum is trying to encourage them to leave

Re the sneezing – a lot of hogs ‘sneeze’ during and after feeding and drinking – due to their tendency to completely immerse their snouts into their food/water/soil, so they then have to snort out the inhaled contents!

-- But, if the sneezing is frequent and/or you hear intermittent wheezing/coughing, or any of them have a runny, bubbling nose, the hoglet(s) will need treatment. If you’re at all concerned, *weigh them all and take that opportunity to check for any of the symptoms mentioned above. Take your scales out into the garden, and work quietly and quickly – putting each one back where you found it. They might bolt back to their nest after the slight intrusion (don’t worry, they’ll soon forget about it), or be completely unfazed by it.

Originally Posted by ollyk

I guess I should ask is it ok to leave one or two small cat food chunks for the babie to find? I wonder if this might hamper their ability to learn foraging skills?

Supplementary feeding the hoglets will in no way hinder their ability to learn foraging skills – on the contrary, orphaned hoglets reared in captivity develop a natural instinct/ability to forage. The hoglets would undoubtedly appreciate the odd good meal

[ollyk]

I will try tonight and post my findings ASAP. My turn on night shift with the baby so will have no probs posting results about 11-00pm ish.

[Hedgehoggy]

Ah bless, you’re on the night shift . In that case, don’t worry about the hog task I set you unless you have further cause for concern - you’ll be busy enough taking care of your own wee baby! Congratulations btw