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.

You can make one from a plastic storage box quite easily.

Could you give me a link, please?

Search online for small makers I use a company on Facebook called Phoenix Country Crafts for mine

I have a feeding station made from an old plastic crate. I added a piece of pipe which is almost at a right angle to the door way. We have a neighbourhood cat which is a contortionist, but it can't get around the bend in the pipe, whereas the hedgehogs can.

I also have a nightvision wildlife camera. It can record still pics or short videos. I got mine about 2yrs ago, so there will be newer ones. Apeman 30MP, 4K, infarde, waterproof nightvision camera. 1 thing to note though- is that it eats batteries! There is a power cord, so if you have an outdoor plug socket, this would be much better.

https://littlesilverhedgehog.com/2016/06/20/hedgehog-feeding-station/

This was the hedgehog I tried to help
a few weeks ago. Her breathing was very raspy and she was out during the day. Eventually picked up the entire (and beautiful) house she had made and took her to the vet. She had recently
given birth but sadly neither her nor baby survived. Have since seen another one in the garden but it hasn’t eaten any hedgehog food yet! Xx

Poor thing you did a great thing to get it to somewhere safe and warm.

If you go to www.helpwildlife.co.uk you can find your local specialist hedgehog rescue if you need any future help. Some vets are great but some don't have much experience with hedgehogs and they are very complex creatures.

@blobby10

@Hedgehogsaremyjam i tried the local rescue places but it was after hours hence the vet. Just wish I had done something sooner but it does sound like she may have still had a baby inside - they asked us to look round the nest area as they don’t usually only have one baby 😢😢x we had two in 2021 and 2022 and they scoffed so much food! The latest visitors seem to be more selective where they eat 🤣

@SM4713 Ok that looks doable. Project for tomorrow night.

My DH keeps walking past me and rolling his eyes. I can become a bit fixated on things like this….

It has been pretty mild at night except for the last couple of nights. I don't imagine many are hibernating yet. As others have said dry kitten biscuits and water to fatten him up! No cereal and no mealworms.

Hello op,
It is still quite warm and hedgehogs are running around at night to put on weight. Our Hedgehog used to come around until mid November unless it turned really cold. I started putting the food out as soon as I saw the daffodils starting to shoot up. H
You can help with this by putting out a dish of cat food (NO FISH), a dish of biscuits (NO FISH) and fresh water.
If you do get a shelter - we made ours using and old pallet lined with some pond liner - make sure you can lift the lid. If you want to really make your new friend welcome make two compartments and fill the back area with hay. Please don't add any type of soft bedding as this will attach itself to the hedgehog and lead to all kinds of problems. If they do move in and you discover them one day - don't panic, stay nice and calm and quiet. I used to put Holly's food out at dusk. If i was late she would be waiting buy the back door!
They also love fruits - I used to hide apple halves around the garden for Holly. They also attract bugs, which hedgehogs love.
They love a small amount of scrambled egg - I used to give our hedgehog a tablespoon once a week.
I used to buy Asda Tiger cat food pouches and they are 100g. Don't be surprised if they leave it and definitely don't give anymore than the one pouch. 100g a day will greatly add to her weight.
Be warned though, once you start feeding them, they will keep coming back. So this is like having a pet.

Make sure you log your new visitor on Hedgehog Street.
And finally, enjoy! Our Holly adopted us when we moved into our last property. She sadly passed away about 2 years ago.
We have just been adopted by the local stray cat - who is currently curled up in the armchair after having a nice supper 🤣🤣🤣

You did everything that you could. At least the poor hog was warm and safe. Ask your local rescue to give you the details of the vet they use for out of hours

@Tiddlydeetiddlydum - just type in on Google “How to make a hedgehog feeding station”. There is a YouTube video and websites with photos on how to make one.

We have two visiting hedgehogs 🦔 and we’ve never managed to find out where they come from or where they go, despite having a nighttime wildlife camera in the garden.

When we had new fences erected earlier this year we got the fencing guy to put in a couple of holes in the base so the hoggies can come and go between our garden and our next door neighbour’s.

We’re excited to be having hedgehog 🦔 delivered this week by a rescue charity (my garden was inspected and deemed suitable). Poor ‘Jack’ was attacked by a dog and found in a street with infected bites. Charities prefer to return hedgehogs to the place where they were found but need suitable homes for hoggies who can’t safely be returned to their original home area. We have agreed to provide support feeding (must be for at least one week) but we feed our Hoggy visitors all year round; even the ones which hibernate sometimes wake up hungry and there is so little in the way of food sources in the winter months.

Oh I do hope he becomes a regular visitor!!!!

Surely I’m allowed to name him if he comes back? I promise not to touch, just name him.

I would name him. I name all the animals in my garden not necessarily on purpose. There is a little wren (probably 10 different wrens) called Rennie who bounces around my front garden.

We have recently been adopted by a hoggy. It's the talk of the house.

The dog found him first - no damage, just both animals a bit shook up. Since then we've been feeding him every night and he has turned up regular as clockwork. Except a couple of nights when it was raining and we worried he'd left us.

The dog has to have after dark weed out the front of the house now

Hog seems a good size and moving, eating etc well. So we are just offering a bit of food and water to help him get ready for the winter sleep.

Thanks for the help Hedgehogsaremyjam and Roaminginthegloaming. Our hedgehog station is metal but we’ll try the flaps. Would placing it in the middle of the garden and putting mint plants by the entrance further deter the rat, do you think?

Ypu can certainly try but my experience is that flaps were the only thing that worked. I tried mint, feeding in the open and moving things around and it would work for a night and then they would get used to it

Check the weather where you are, there is a big storm coming here and it's about to turn. I would definitely bring in at this time of year if it is small. Hedgehogs are not clever animals and late born ones often die as haven't put on enough weight or made a proper nest. This is just the natural way but hedgehogs numbers are so low I think we should give them all the help we can.

They are used to bad weather.

Nobody should be bringing hogs in without getting the advice of a specialist rescue. Babies born now may struggle but juveniles born a month or two ago have plenty of time to put weight on

I bought a hedgehog feeding station a few years ago. I put kitten biscuits and water out every night. At the moment, we have a fairly small hedgehog, which climbs onto the bowl and sits there eating for an hour and a half every night! There is also a much larger one, possibly a male, which visits. (We have two hedgehog houses in the garden)

No sign of Hoggy Pog tonight. Not had chance to get to shop to get kitten food so just used a rolling pin to crush up some of the dogs food. So food and water out tonight and weekend is operation hedgehog feeding station.

@Quisquam im very jealous of your hog visitor

I don’t think it was a baby, I’ve certainly seen bigger ones before but it wasn’t tiny.

We made a feeding station from an upturned clear plastis storage crate, with a U-shaped hold in it (taped edges in case they are sharp) and a lump of stone on top to weigh it down in case of wind or something trying to knock it over.

I'd take a picture but I've just snuck a peak outside and it's currently occupied by a diner who's busy munching away 😁😍

Flaps added and camera set. 🤞