Hedgehog Help!

[MrInbetween]

Can anyone remember the Mumsnet Hedgehog experts name?

There is a little hedgehog in our garden, not running away from us. Just gave it some dog food and water, he’s/she’s (?) gone into a bush now.

But at what point should they have gone into hibernation? It’s gone from being so mild to bloody freezing here. It looked like it was breathing rapidly.

My DD was all for bringing it in but I am worried it’s too early?

Will go out tomorrow night to check again.

Hedgehog Cabin on social media are brilliantly helpful for questions like this too

As long as it’s not out in the day it’s fine. If you can make a feeding station and give it plenty of fresh water and high protein kitten biscuits, it will be fine.

Oh sorry don’t know why I enabled voting.

YANBU - Take hedgehog in and give it a name
YABU - Leave it out as it should go into hibernation soon

Used AIBU for traffic!

Definitely this. Unless it's out in daylight (in which case it needs to go to an experienced rescue) then put out food and enjoy its company until it decides to go to bed.

I run a hedgehog group on Facebook and I am vale trained.

There is plenty of time still for a hog to put on weight with support feeding they can put on between 50 to 100 grams a week and not all hogs hibernate.

Please leave the hog outside and keep providing food (preferably a kitten biscuit) and water.

I bloody love a hedgehog thread!!!

Even better if you can get a photo!

Thank you so much!

Are they normally so happy to let you be so close?

Oh I didn’t! I definitely will do if hedgehog comes back, we’ve seen him a few times now!

And obviously I’m now going to get kitten food first thing tomorrow.

Any recommendations?

Dd rescued one last week that was wandering about in a friends garden. Very underweight. The local hedgehog hospital said they were full. SsPCA chap came and took it away to feed it up.

They are prey animals so they will often freeze or ball up but when they are hungry they will carry on eating even if you are close.

It is really important to leave them be however and watch using white light around them as it is bad for their night vision. It is important they stay wild.

If you can pick up a cheap trail camera then you could set up a feeding station and get some lovely videos for DD to watch in a morning.

Any kitten biscuits that have meat as the first ingredient and a high protein content is fine

@Hedgehogsaremyjam Oh no, I used my phone torch!!!

Well you learn something new everyday!

Shopping list:

• kitten biscuits
• Trail camera

They don’t run. Their instinct is to freeze rather than flee and they don’t always even roll into a ball. As others have said if it’s out at night then it’s fine to give it food, preferably kitten biscuits, and leave it alone (change the food every day to prevent parasites).

Please don’t under any circumstances take it in and put it in a box (am 99% sure this was a joke but just wanted to make sure). If they are out in the day or coughing or covered with mites they need to be taken to the nearest rescue (not a vet as they don’t have the expertise with wild animals).

Don't worry one night won't have hurt. Red light is fine so you can get a red torch or put a red sweet wrapper over a normal torch.

Not sure if I can post the name of the group I run but there are some great groups on Facebook that can assist with your new visitor

@DelurkingLawyer To be fair that’s the Dr Google advice, luckily I was a bit more circumspect than my teenage DD!

Instead I did the much more sensible thing and asked MN as I remember there was an amazing long thread on hedgehogs. I wonder if it’s in classics???

We have two that come out every evening. I was surprised to see them tonight but they are sticking to their usual routine. I have put cay food out. It's gone every morning hoping they are eating it and not the neighborhood cats. They are so sweet

Try these for help and advice
https://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/

Hedgehogs having hydrotherapy 😍

Hope you get a picture!

Does hog look small? It is not unusual to see them out at night.

If appropriate weight, leave out kitten biscuits and water and leave them alone, especially as we have had such unseasonably warm weather recently.

If hog looks small, and you can catch them, weigh them and check in with the hedgehog preservation society. I think they need to be around 600g to do ok. If they are smaller, they might have parasites that need treatment.

Unless it is nesting season (May/June), a hedgehog out in the DAY usually has a problem. At night they should be offered food and water but generally left alone.

When we happily discovered we’d been adopted by a hedgehog, we put out water and food, ensured access to neighbouring gardens and set up a trail camera. All went well until a large rat appeared. (We live near woods.)
It seems impossible to provide for the hog and deter the rodent. Any ideas?

Please don't pick it up to weigh it as has been suggested unless it is absolutely tiny. The hibernation weights vary up and down the country in any event but all the rescues I work with are absolutely full of poorly hogs so they don't have space for ones that have plenty of time to put on weight before it drops properly cold.

Try a feeding station with flaps on the doors that is usually the best deterrent

Feeding station….

Is this going to be expensive????