To ask for advice about this hedgehog!

[donutsarelife]

I am posting here for traffic. We rescued a little hedgehog yesterday. It was out on a grass verge in the day surrounded by crows. He is in a box and has had plenty of food and water, when he first got to the water he had such a big drink he must have been so thirsty. We have now had him 2 days. He is eating well, drinking well, walking about, going to the toilet, shiny eyes etc so I am as confident as I can be that all is well but he is just so small. What do I do, I don't think he warrants a trip to a rescue centre as he is in good health. Do I just release him or keep hydrating/feeding for a couple of days?

Try an online animal charity, there are specific hedgehog sites who will give you good advice Well done for rescuing!

Never done this but i have seen lots of hedgehog droppings in our garden so i know we have hedgehogs too.
Not an expert, i am glad he is well fed and rehydrated. You will have to let him go at some point - does he have any injuries? Is he pooing well? Once you let him go keep leaving food and water out (in a box with a small holenso cats cant get it) And the box also serves as shelter.
Also check that no neighbours have recently closed up previously existing passages, which would mean that he cant get back to his home 😦 hedgehogs travel miles each night and need several gardens for sustenance.

I second contacting a hedgehog charity

You're so lovely to rescue him! My mum found one and took him to a rescue centre. They're good at telling if he's the right weight to be released. Might need fattening up a bit.

It's awful but the rescue centre is at least an hour round trip and I just don't know when I will have time! We took one to them in the winter and they kept him until he had fattened up enough to hibernate. This one is obviously this years baby. He is small and exceedingly cute! I was tempted to release in our garden to be able to continue to feed but I don't know how easy it would be for him to get out if he needs to roam lots of gardens for food

I used to rescue hedgehogs. Can you weigh him,. He probably was just thirsty.

I'm sure I read somewhere that if they weigh less than 500g they need fattened up at a rescue centre???

might be speaking total bollocks

Where's the photo. We demand a photo.

If he's big enough to be released doing a soft release in your garden and keeping providing water and food (cat food is ideal). But you will need to make a hedgehog highway so he can roam out your garden.

Can we have a picture pretty please ?

Someone I know hand reared a baby hedgehog that would roll on a side so you could stroke its belly.

If you release him could you order from amazon a two-chambered hedgehog shelter?

only evil amazon because they would do fast delivery so he has shelter when younlet him out. Otherwise from elsewhere of course. And place it in a shady spot half hidden under a bush.

He's more likely to be a baby from this spring if very small.

How rude of me to not attach pictures! He hasn't quite got the hang of not walking in the food but he doesn't seem to mind eating feet covered food! I will try to weigh him later when my DDs are in bed so I don't have too much 'help'

Oh! He's gorgeous. Thank you so much.

Aww lovely. We found a dead baby hedgehog in our garden last week, the hot dry weather has been tough for them. 🦔 😍

I have just weighed him and I think I will have to take him to a rescue centre. He is only 200g

Yeah he’s a bit small. They always walk in their food and they shit for England. If you can get him to a rescue centre or keep him somewhere safe yourself and feed him up. He needs to be 450-500g really. The fact he was out in daytime shows he was struggling.

Contact the rescue. They may be able to send someone to pick up if you're not able to drop off

@NicoAndTheNiners I had no idea how bad hedgehog poo smelt! I keep clearing it out but I am taking the regular poos as a good sign!

Phone the RSPCA- they will collect him.

My spare room still smells of hedgehog poo six months after the last hedgehog left! The smell is unbelievable.

Yeah he's only a young one. But it is early in the season so can be released.

It's when it gets to autumn they need to be at least 500grams as they need to be that weight to hibernate

I hand reared a baby last year. He came to me at around 3 weeks old. I let him go at 12 weeks once I was confident he was eating properly and gaining weight.

He became incredibly tamed due to being bottle fed, so 2 weeks before I released him, I set him up outside in a pen with indoor and outdoor enclosures. He reverted back to his normal roll in a ball response within 3 days which I was chuffed to bits with.

One day i popped a brick under the pen so he could walk out if he wanted to.

He stayed one night and then off he went.

Happy hedgehog

They really need to be 700g minimum to hibernate. So a weight now of 450-500g would be ok, but not in Oct time. But they put on weight quickly with food on tap. A rescue would be best because they can check him for parasites, lung worm, etc.

Yeah they do stink don't they

I must be an idiot because I would love to do it all again. It was amazing how quick he went from this tiny blind creature to a full blown hog.

I'm determined to get myself another APH (African pygmy hedgehog) now.

I had one years ago but I miss having one. Even with their poo Boots