I was under the impression that hedgehogs hibernate in winter ?

[Hornbeam Hedge]

Saw a little chap trotting along the pavement in our road just before 7.00am this morning - I'll keep an eye out for him with some food at the ready - especially with snow on the way.

[CharlieCreek]

Please do if you can keep an eye out for him.

If he is a small hog then he will need getting to a rescuer in your area as well.

We have had four more small hogs in this week. There are more small hogs still out there battling to survive, underweight with no food and with the cold to content with. With the way the stats so far this year have gone he will more than likely have a heavy internal parasite burden as well which will drag him down even further making his chances of surviving the winter slim.

If you do see him and he is small then if you are willing catch him (wearing gloves), pop him into a high sided box with something to hide under for comfort and warmth and pop some water and a little cat or dog food in there. Keep him somewhere dark and quiet if possible and contact a local rescuer.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society carry a list and if you ring them they have more rescuers registered who do not appear on the list on the site. Alternativly you can do a google search for rescuers in you area.

Please let us know how it goes.

[sophisticat]

I was just searching to see if I could find an answer to my hedgehog query. I've been overwintering a hog since late October; he was only about 400gms when I first found him but otherwise quite healthy (I treated an apparent lungworm problem successfully). He's been indoors so hasn't attempted to hibernate at all, has been doing all the normal hedgehog things (sleeping during the day and eating/making a right mess at night). I've noticed he seemed to need slightly less food over the last couple of weeks - a bit was being left - but he was eating fine up until Monday, but last night he didn't come out of his nest whatsoever and nothing has been eaten.

I panicked a bit and took him out of his nest - he's breathing and was grumpy at being disturbed. Do I need to panic or is this a sudden urge to hibernate? He's reached a very good weight (1.16 kg/2.9 lb) so it could be instinct has told him he can - although with the weather turning warmer I don't understand why that instinct would kick in now?

[Hedgehoggy]

Hi sophisticat, and welcome to WAB

Well done on over-wintering your hog. The activity (or lack of it at the mo!) you’ve described is classic hibernation behaviour. Hibernation isn’t just triggered by cold temps and lack of food, there’s also a strong internal readiness.

The hedgehogs I over-winter are all kept indoors initially before they reach a good weight for me to transfer them to a colder, unheated environment. Very often, some of these hogs go into hibernation BEFORE they’re moved to a cooler environment. I currently have one hedgehog that hasn’t yet hibernated, but she’s thinking about it because she’s been eating less and less over the last few days and has been emptying her bowels for England! Most of my other hogs went into hibernation during January, and my second to last one only went into hibernation 3 days ago. I’ve even had hogs go into hibernation as late as March in the past while I’ve been preparing for their release!

Once hibernating, some hedgehogs will rouse every few days/weeks for a top up snack/drink/toilet/collect more bedding, before resuming hibernation so it’s essential to continue to leave food and water for your hog. You should also leave extra bedding (e.g. large handful of hay/torn up strips of newspaper) for the hog to help itself to, to further insulate its nest. Some hogs when they wake during hibernation only come out to drag extra bedding back into their nests, so always ensure there is a supply of bedding available for your hog to do this. Once hibernating, the hog shouldn’t be disturbed at all.

If you have a cooler environment to transfer your hog into, e.g. unused garage/shed, you may find he’ll hibernate for longer periods than he otherwise would do indoors (plus he won't be disturbed by usual household noises). Of course, this isn’t always the case - one recent example is I kept my 3-legged hog indoors for his first winter with me as an amputee in the hope that he wouldn’t hibernate, but he was the first to go into hibernation back in November!! Apart from waking up for the odd day here and there, he’s now been fully awake and active since 6 February, but there’s every possibility he’ll resume hibernation again before the spring.

So, as you can see, there are no hard and fast rules for hibernation, each hedgehog is individual. Hope this rambling reply helps somewhat in reassuring you that all is ok with your hog!

Keep up the good work

[sophisticat]

Hi,

Thank you for the welcome and the reassurance that it's probably hibernation rather than anything I've done!

I was incredibly worried this morning - he's been so lively right the way through (and noisy, waking us up! - but that's another story ) that I really thought something had happened to him. It's a relief to hear that they can go into hibernation this late. I was thinking that within a few weeks I'd be looking at releasing him, so this is a bit of a surprise!

As I was concerned I moved his cage into the garden this morning - I had been intending to do this within a couple of days anyway, now that the weather seems to be settled at least a few degrees above freezing, but we had snow about this time last year and I didn't want to do it too early.

From what you say I could probably have let him hibernate earlier - he put on quite a bit of weight quite quickly - but other than the garage I don't have anywhere outside that would be suitable and I was terrified that he would freeze. (I have rabbits and guineapigs that I was trying to keep warm as well, and lost one of my gpigs just in the New Year from a respiratory infection.) The other half wasn't quite so pleased by keeping him in the lounge all winter but we've grown very fond of him.

He has a rabbit igloo inside the hutch which is stuffed full of torn newspaper (there's hardly any room for him!) but I'll make sure there's more available. Would you recommend leaving him out in the garden now, or bringing him back in? I'm happy to do either.

[Hedgehoggy]

As long as the hutch will be sheltered from harsh elements (e.g. rain leaking in, etc), then he should be absolutely fine in the hutch outdoors now. Just one suggestion I’d like to make for your hog’s smooth transition outdoors is that hay (or ¾ hay, ¼ torn up newspaper) would be preferable for bedding now, than just newspaper alone – hay provides better insulation and doesn’t get so damp and soggy like newspaper would do in an outdoor environment.

(Sorry to hear you lost one of your gpigs recently.)

[sophisticat]

Yes, no problem keeping him dry and out of the wind, so I'll do that.

The main reason he has newspaper rather than hay is that I lined the indoor cage (it's a sort of plastic pod with a wire top) with paper in the hope that it would be easier to keep clean - but he had other ideas, and the majority of the paper ended up in the igloo anyway . I did put hay in occasionally but he seemed to prefer the paper. However, with 4 rabbits and 2 gpigs there's no shortage of hay around so I'll add some to the pile.

This was in fact how I came to have him; we have a shelter in the garden for the rabbit hutches and I suddenly realised that the dropped hay was disappearing and neither of us had been sweeping it up... Right in the centre between a couple of boxes, in probably the warmest, driest place in our garden, was Hodgepig making himself a nest. I fed him for several weeks before I dared to pick him up one night, but once I found he was just under the 400 grams I didn't want to risk leaving him over winter. I'm in the south but winter started early with freezing temps in early November and -8's over Xmas, so I'm glad I didn't.

(The gpig was nearly 4 so not a baby, but it's still hard to lose them. She went off her food, possibly from the antibiotic, so I was hand-feeding her for 2 weeks before admitting defeat.)

[Hedgehoggy]

Originally Posted by sophisticat

This was in fact how I came to have him; we have a shelter in the garden for the rabbit hutches and I suddenly realised that the dropped hay was disappearing and neither of us had been sweeping it up... Right in the centre between a couple of boxes, in probably the warmest, driest place in our garden, was Hodgepig making himself a nest. I fed him for several weeks before I dared to pick him up one night, but once I found he was just under the 400 grams I didn't want to risk leaving him over winter. I'm in the south but winter started early with freezing temps in early November and -8's over Xmas, so I'm glad I didn't.

Great story and with a happy ending! Lucky Hodgepig indeed!

P.S. I also use newspaper for bedding while the hogs are indoors (fleeces for the teeny hoglets), and only add the hay mix when they're transferred outside.

[Brocakat]

Originally Posted by CharlieCreek

I handle them all the time obviously as a rescuer and in situations where if a hedgehog was going to bite it would, and have never been bitten. The other half did get a wee nip off one she was steadying once when I was doing an injection but no puncture wounds.

So no their defence is to ball not to bite, but they should only be handled when it is really necessary and always with gloves as yes they can bite but more importantly they can carry a whole range of zoonotic diseases.

You are more likely to be bitten by a flea from it than be bitten by the hedgehog.