Hedgehog out in January

[Phoulish]

Hi, we have a youngish looking hog out at the moment, it has been seen pottering about during the daytime. In the evening it comes to share the cat food with one of our cats. Should we do anything to help it?

[Hedgehoggy]

Hi Phoulish, and welcome to WAB

Hedgehogs seen out in daylight are almost always in need of help and will have either an underlying illness, injury, or be starving. Given the time of year, and your indication that this is a young hedgehog, I would guess it’s an autumn juv desperately trying to gain enough weight to survive the rest of the winter, so it will need rescuing to be over-wintered. It's preferable for hedgehogs to weigh 700g+ in order to hibernate successfully and be in sufficiently good condition to survive post hibernation. They lose approx 1/3 of their body weight during hibernation, so if this little one hibernates again during the next cold snap we’ve been forecasted, it’s highly unlikely to survive.

If you see her again tonight, please pick her up, place in a high-sided box/cat carrier (or something similar to contain her – they’re adept climbers), line with newspaper, provide an old towel/fleece for her to burrow under and sleep in, place a dish of cat food and water in the box, then take to your nearest wildlife centre tomorrow for over-wintering. If you feel you’d like to over-winter the hog yourself (and there’s always somebody on WAB to offer you advice whenever you need it), then read this link for more info to get you started:

Wildlifeonline - Caring for Hedgehogs

In the meantime, it would be of tremendous help to any other hedgehogs waking up during mild spells in search of food and water to top up their fat reserves, if you could continue to leave a little dried or wet cat food and fresh water out in your garden. These handouts can be life savers, especially at this time of year.

Our hedgehogs are declining at an alarming rate due to many factors, and it’s estimated that our only spiny mammal in the UK could be extinct by 2025 if this current trend of decline continues, so we all need to do our bit to help reverse this decline.

Good luck tonight on finding the little mite and please keep us posted on any further developments.

[shagbat]

Saw a small one feeding on dropings from neighbour's split bin bag.
Jan 18th after the recent warm spell, but on a frosty night, hope he hasn't woken up too early, there's much more cold to come yet.
s

[Hedgehoggy]

Hi shagbat

Contrary to popular belief, hedgehogs don't hibernate solidly throughout the winter. They frequently rouse (especially during mild spells) and while some remain in their hibernacula during this wakeful period, others venture out in search of food and water for a fat-reserve top up before returning to hibernation, particularly those which are dangerously underweight.

The little hog you saw scavenging in your neighbour’s bin bag will likely fall into this category. If you spot it again, please pick it up and follow the advice I’ve just given in the above post.

* * * *

These last two posts have given me the opportunity to appeal to all you good people out there to please leave a little dried food and water out throughout the winter for any struggling visiting hogs. Dried food such as kitten/cat biscuits is recommended because it doesn’t freeze or putrefy like tinned cat food does, but if local cats will be a problem with leaving cat food out, chopped unsalted peanuts, sunflower hearts, sultanas, digestive bics, a little chopped cheddar, in fact most foodstuffs you would feed to the birds (but not bread), would all be just as gratefully received to a very hungry hog.

[shagbat]

Originally Posted by Hedgehoggy

Hi shagbat

Contrary to popular belief, hedgehogs don't hibernate solidly throughout the winter. They frequently rouse (especially during mild spells) and while some remain in their hibernacula during this wakeful period, others venture out in search of food and water for a fat-reserve top up before returning to hibernation, particularly those which are dangerously underweight.

The little hog you saw scavenging in your neighbour’s bin bag will likely fall into this category. If you spot it again, please pick it up and follow the advice I’ve just given in the above post.

* * * *

These last two posts have given me the opportunity to appeal to all you good people out there to please leave a little dried food and water out throughout the winter for any struggling visiting hogs. Dried food such as kitten/cat biscuits is recommended because it doesn’t freeze or putrefy like tinned cat food does, but if local cats will be a problem with leaving cat food out, chopped unsalted peanuts, sunflower hearts, sultanas, digestive bics, a little chopped cheddar, in fact most foodstuffs you would feed to the birds (but not bread), would all be just as gratefully received to a very hungry hog.

Many thanks Hedgehoggy.
You can be certain I will follow your advice if this 'dear little soul' makes another appearance.
Sadly, in my area, Welwyn Garden City, Herts. the hedgehog has declined drastically in the last decade or so. Many people have fenced off their gardens and I suspect that this is one of the reasons.
Best regards,
Shagbat.