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?

I had an African pygmy hedgehog as well! Took him in as a distant acquaintance didn't want him anymore. Absolutely stinking little bugger he was.

Was terribly sad when he died though

Oh the have fantastic characters don't they?

Even with the huffing. Used to make me laugh with mine. Pan (Pantalaimon) used to huff and grumble like mad when I first got him out but as soon as I offered a mealworm, he became incredibly docile and happy sit.

He used to anoint a lot though

OMG THE ANOINTING.

BLOODY HELL.

I had never seen him do this and we'd had him for about 9 months. He was tottering about the front room one evening and suddenly started foaming at the mouth and contorting his spiky little body around. I thought he had rabies, honestly.

His name was Knuckles (original!!) But he mostly got called choochoo with all his huffing and choochooing like a train. He was awful sweet

First thing that comes up when you google African Pygmy Hedgehog is a little baby for sale on eBay, under user!

Under used, never heard of a techie hedgehog

Yeah a lot of people sell them on pretty quick as they can be high maintenance.

They need a constant source of heat. They aren't allowed to hibernate. They need handling every day or they get very huffy and can't be handled. Their wheel needs cleaning every day as they tend to poo when they exercise.

They need a particular diet and when they are quilling, they need bathing every few days to help soothe the skin. They also need their nails trimming every now and then too

Our local vets has a 'hedgehog lady' she takes on any that turn up there. My first thought on seeing the pic was 'ah so small!'
I used to work in a rescue centre and have handreared many babies. They are messy and stink but make the cutest noise when they eat!

Our hedgehog rescue centre will put out requests for 'hedgehog taxis' on Facebook, usually with a positive outcome! Maybe yours would do the same?

If you are in warwickshire I can give you two contact points for rescueing

I overwintered a hedgehog about ten years ago and we still talk about how bad the smell was. There was a sewage leak near us last week and while the kids moaned about the stench, my husband and I just said 'It's nothing close to how bad the hedgehog smelled'!

He was ADORABLE though! I took him to the vet to get him checked over and he curled up when the vet tried to listen to his chest - the vet just shrugged and said 'He pees, he poos, he's probably fine!'.

My Mum is an expert. She has a baby right now.
Keep the baby inside, if possible.
If a fly lays eggs on it, give it a bath and remove the eggs.
If you are in an area with sociable hedgies, pop him outside at night. You can always bring him home later.
Feed him cat food or dog food. Water, but no milk.

Is he soft?

I’ve always wondered if baby (or young) hedgehog spikes are soft then get harder as they get older.
It’s just that they look so soft!

I work at a vets. They need to be over 600g really before release.

Feed cat or dog food but not any that contain fish.

Phone your local vets, they will either take him/her from you or will give you the number of someone local who can help.

If you're in Hampshire, I can take him/her.

I think some vets may also be able to help him/her free of charge too. It may be worth calling around a few of your local ones and seeing what they say. I know at mine they have posters with various campaigns of if you see various wildlife and they show xyz warning sign we can help.

Oh he's lovely! I'd probably call the rescue and see what they advise.

I love Hedgehogs and have several that visit the garden every evening. I've been making sure they have a pot of water down as well as their mealworms and they've all been drinking well so I think they're finding water difficult to find in this weather.

Here's one of my garden visitors

I used to think they were cute until I overwintered 2 this winter.

The Poo, THE POO!!!!

On a serious note - contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society - they'll be able to put you in touch with someone who may be closer than your rescue....

He needs to go to a rescue to get checked if he was out in the day. They can go down hill very quickly if ill and die, on the other hand he may have been hungry and thirsty because of the hot weather. In any case he needs a helping hand as with this hot weather there is a lack of food out there for them. No rain means no bugs out and about. The rescue will organise how the hog gets to them. He’ll need to get his weight up before release. Please do not release him as there is absolutely no food out there. Rescues are very busy at the moment with hoglets being abandoned by their mums who cannot find enough food to feed them. Well done for caring and picking it up. Phone the rescue for advice, there may be a volunteer living close to you who could collect it. I belong to a hedgehog rescue and there are about 50 of us scattered about, hogs can be collected over a wide area depending who lives closest.

Only feed hedgehogs mealworms in moderation, we were told hedgehogs have the same attraction to mealworms as kids do to sweets. Mealworms can apparently also cause bone weakness. We were told to feed ours a mixture of dry dog food, peanuts and wet dog food, not fish flavoured.

If you can get it to a rescue centre they can advise you what to do as well as deflea and detick it and check for lungworms and treat.

If you or anyone in the family is handy you could build it a house yourselves, I think there are plans online. DH also built a feeding station for prickly visitors which is visited most nights.

www.facebook.com/hulses.hedgehogs/

Friend of mine rescues hogs. If you're Northwest based give him a shout?

Years ago (when we had a cat) there was a Mum+babies under some planks of wood in our garden.
We gave her cat food+water (made a bit sloppy so she had fluid) I pushed it into the woodpile on a saucer so she didn't have to leave the hoglets.
The are noisy messy eaters

We did this for a good couple of weeks till the babies were bigger and she could get them out to feed.

Be careful if any of your neighbours have garden ponds .

Some really lovely posts on here

Thank you everyone, I have a number for a hedgehog lady locally so will give her a call a little later. He is so lovely I wish I could keep him but he stench is making it very possible to let him go! Oh the eating noises are amazing. Can you put videos on here? I have a video of him eating!

I’ve always wondered if baby (or young) hedgehog spikes are soft then get harder as they get older.
It’s just that they look so soft!

Nope! The babies are born with quills but they lay flat on the skin. After a couple of hours they start to emerge so they always have quills.

However if you hold them from belly, they have a lovely soft tummy and won't prick you.

Also if they are docile, they will lay their quills flat so it doesn't hurt to hold them either

It only really hurts if they ball up, but even then, I've got no problem gently picking them up. My Dh on the hand, flinches and goes and run for some gloves

I'm just sat here admiring photos of the little guy.

I've never seen a hedgehog in real life :(

You could film him and upload the video to you tube or something and post the link here?

He’s lovely. 😍😍😍