To ask you to please help hedgehogs and other wildlife prepare for winter

[Pricklesinperil]

It is literally a lifeline for them as the weather gets warmer.

if you’d like to know about other ways to help, please go to Help hedgehogs

thank you

Note from MNHQ - please do read the Op's latest update (October 2022) before responding.

Yes please do, Prickles asked us to keep it going.

^^^ can’t echo that enough @Eckno

Hogs need to be 500g at this time of year - grapefruit sized - to have a good chance of surviving hibernation. Much lighter than that, they ideally need to be overwintered (kept inside and given a regular food supply) to stop them hibernating… then released in spring.

If you find any hogs now that look small, please weigh them. Much lighter than 500g, please keep in a high sided box, give them water and contact a rescue.

Also, do keep putting food/water out. Hogs do wake occasionally during hibernation and go looking. They are massively energy depleted when waking and it really helps if they don’t go having to walk long distances before getting an energy boost.

@Wheelyweddingwipedout - sounds like a fantastic idea 🦔

@Pricklesinperil - look what you’ve done. Be proud ❤️ x

Prickles must be working some magic somewhere.

Just retrieved an autumn juvenile from our back garden - not weighed yet but only around 250g, few ticks but no signs of hypothermia which is good.

Now tucked up in our spare room with food, water and bedding and will be a guest Chez Halstead until we can get up to a decent weight.

Photos soon!

Wheelyweddingwipedout Yes please do update here.

My understanding is that young or small ones that haven’t hibernated yet are only at risk if the temperature drops very low at night for a few nights in a row. It’s actually still very mild where I am. Always best to check with your local rescue first though before doing anything. Also if anyone is on Twitter Hedgehog Cabin is really worth following.

MrsMAgain I picked up a bag of the Tesco 12kg bird food. Such great value. Thanks for this!

Photos soon!

Yes please 😍

I have lots of hedgehogs visiting my garden, most of them are huge. We have 2 houses and 3 feeding stations for them. I've seen lots of fights and a few sexy time attempts, but the other night was the first time I think I saw a mum and child together. I've tried to attach a picture from my video feed.

That smaller one looks far too small to survive hibernation… if you spot it again, any chance you can weigh it, and if it’s under 500g (it will be, looking at that video still), pop it in a high sided box with some shredded newspaper, water and food (cat food is ideal), keep it overnight, and call a rescue the next day (unless you have any 24hr ones near you).

They don’t stay with their mothers over winter, so you’re not separating them prematurely (surprised if they’re together now).

Yes, that’s right (sort of).

Hedgehogs don’t hibernate because it’s cold, per se. They hibernate because, as the ground cools down and hardens, their primary food source is depleted (caterpillars, beetles) In very mild years, it’s possible that a lot of hedgehogs won’t hibernate.

Trouble is, autumn juveniles will weigh around 2-300g now. That’s very unlikely to be enough time to put on enough weight to successfully hibernate if/when the cold snap does come later in the year - especially since all the local hogs will be stuffing their faces every night with the aim of fattening up. It means the small ones have to walk further and further to get food, expending more energy, thus not putting on weight and so on.

So, I’d almost reverse your advice. If you see a very small hedgehog/you’re in doubt it’s worth popping them somewhere safe, then checking with a local rescue. You can always release them the next day The problem occurs when people go grabbing hedgehogs that stand a perfectly good chance of piling on enough weight (I.e. around the 500g mark at this time of year).

it doesn’t help that not all rescues agree what a sensible weight at this time of year is, so there can be conflicting advice out there.

I’ve already spoken to a local rescue about when I need to step in. As I feed all year with kitten biscuits, they said a small one of 300/400 still has time to feed up before the weather turns where I am. Annoyingly most of mine tend to arrive around 1am - 3am, and I’m not up at that time. I think they realised that the ones arriving before 11pm were checked and after 5 of them were taken to rescue last year for lungworm, they got wise and wait until I’m in bed to visit mine.

❤️🦔 x

That’s a good sign, to be fair, if they’re not arriving until that late.

Good example of conflicting advice on weight though. 300g, at this time of year, would be a real risk in a lot of the UK in my opinion, and I’d be bringing inside to ensure some weight was put on before releasing.

As an example, the autumn juvenile I mentioned in my post of 5 days ago has put on 9g since being with us… and that’s with having a constant, on hand food supply that it doesn’t need to traipse miles each night to find.

Thank you for this thread. I will try to do more.

Thanks Halstead, yes I see what you mean - best to weigh it and contact rescue if concerned rather than risk not seeing it the following night.

But you are also right about the conflicting advice as I was given exactly the same advice as Freemc2 by my local rescue last year when I was concerned about some small ones showing up on the camera. When the weather was due to turn, they asked me to weigh them but the hedgehogs were arriving well after I went to bed. I might invest in a motion sensor this year!

Ok here goes, posting the newsletter from hedgehog street. I won’t do it nearly as well as @Pricklesinperil so please be kind!

Hedgehog champions October newsletter

Hmmmm, didn’t do that very well - trying another way ….

Autumn safety for juvenile hedgehogs

Hedgehog safety this bonfire night

Free evening with hedgehog street - 17th November

Tips to keep cats away from hedgehog food

Thanks for that @Wheelyweddingwipedout. I always remember the warnings about hedgehogs hibernating under bonfires when I was a child. But you don’t really hear about it these days, or is that because not many people celebrate Bonfire/Guy Fawkes’ night anymore?

this has just arrived in my inbox from PTES - Autumn 2022 Wildlife World

Bumping

Thanks for the info Wheely.

Yes I remember the warnings too.

We sat outside in the evenings a lot during this summer, watching the bats, hedgehogs etc. They really do just freeze if scared, even if in the middle of the garden. So making a noise or poking around a bonfire with a stick really isn’t enough as it would just curl up in a ball (unlike other animals which scarper when scared). The bonfire would have to be physically moved just before lighting. I’m sure most people don’t know this 😞

Just weighed a hedgehog visiting my feed station, its 250g. Rescue contacted but I’ve been told it’s fine to leave it as it’s still mild at night.

Wow.

Whereabouts in the UK are you?

https://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/hedgehog-fact-sheet/

Hedgehogs need to be 600g by end Nov to safely hibernate

250g now? Safe to leave? Gosh. A bit speechless to be honest.

From St Tiggywinkles (that link)

"At the start of November they should weigh around 500 grams, or they may need to go to a wildlife hospital for overwintering"

I’m in Norfolk, so it is still mild at 6 degrees overnight, but yeah I was surprised. I’ve got it in a carrier with a hot water bottle, food and water. Will contact a different rescue tomorrow to see if they want to take it in, if not I will release tomorrow after dark.