Help!! Hedgehog

[CybermanAshad]

Posting for traffic.

Got home earlier and at the back of our road found a poor small hedgehog stuck in a glass jar. Managed to pull his head out, took him into the garden, he ate a whole pouch of cat food and then fell asleep wrapped up in my jumper.

He seems unharmed just a bit traumatised.

What shall I do with him? Call a rescue? Release him on the road where we found him, take him to some nearby woods?

DS wants to keep him, so do I but with my sensible head on I realise that isn't what's best for him.

Really glad he’s being rescued - v sad about how they’re so endangered 😞

I had a problem finding a rescue last year when I was contacted to help with a hoglet, started with the BHPS but they didn't actually give me any viable rescues, said many have had to close.

I ended up keeping little one overnight in a cat carrier, heatpad wrapped in a towel, food and water and getting someone to drive me quite a way to a rescue that would take her.

Good luck with finding someone. Might be easier as it is early in the season, mine was a second litter hoglet and needed to get help before hibernating.

Vets sometimes know of somewhere that can help.

Yup, that’s right - worth holding off more food for now OP.

If you did keep him I can almost guarantee that the stink would put your kids off before long.

We once found one in the day time in winter and kept it overnight until we could take it to the vet the next day who passed it to a rescue. The first day my kids were begging me to keep it forever. The next morning they agreed the box we were keeping it in was already stinking and it would actually be better not to keep the hedgehog!

Update:

Lovely lady has collected Pesto. He has a broken nail and a swollen foot. She's going to administer pain relief tonight and take him to the vet first thing. She promised to keep us updated. Good Luck, Pesto.

Well done for rescuing him, OP. He was lucky to be found by someone so caring.

Fantastic OP, thanks so much.

For others that read this thread - hedgehogs out in the day should ALWAYS be assumed to be in need of medical attention with only one exception which is mothers building nests - these are fairly easy to spot. They will be walking quickly and purposefully, in straight lines, rarely stopping. Often (but not always) they will have nesting material in their mouths … like this.

Almost all other hedgehogs out in the day will be meandering from side to side, or static. They, almost without exception, are very poorly, even if they look ok from the outside.

They should be immediately caught, kept in a high sided box (they are escape artists) with water (never milk), a small amount of food (wet or dry kitten or puppy food is ideal, and meat not fish flavoured). Ideally, with a heat source (like a covered hot water bottle - but they must be able to move off and away from this. Often best to pop it under a smallish corner of the box).

Then contact a rescue. If you can’t find one, a lot of local vets will have links to them, so worth calling round.

Yay, good luck little Pesto 🤞

Thanks for putting up all the advice! Super helpful, not just for me but hopefully for others too. Miss the little guy already and hoping for the best outcome for him.

A few years ago I had three juvenile hogs in my garden. It was at night but at a worse time of year. It was October and the mother must have had a second litter who wouldn't have put on enough weight to hibernate over winter.

After I had fed them a few times, I phoned a hedgehog rescue place who told me to pick them up and put them in a box, feed them chicken cat food in jelly not gravy and give them water and put some warm water in an old plastic bottle and wrap it up.

I didn't know how I was going to catch them but they seem to roll up if there is a light like a torch, so I did but I only got two. She came to collect them and said they were males and underweight and to look out for the other one.

Aw - he turned up the next night, waiting for his supper and wondering where his brothers were. I picked him up and put him in a box with his food (which he wolfed) and she collected him too.

She said she would release them somewhere safe and suitable - but she didn't want to release them back into my garden, she mustn't have thought it safe. I haven't had any since though - sad - but I'm glad we managed to pick them up.

Aw - he turned up the next night, waiting for his supper and wondering where his brothers were. I picked him up and put him in a box with his food (which he wolfed) and she collected him too.

Aww I'm glad he went to be with his brothers too.