Hedgehog- I'm clearly overthinking this!

[JC03745]

Last night, the dog was barking at a little hedgehog. I assumed they would already be hibernating by now, but read that in the SE, they might not do so till Dec. Due to its size, I took some scales out to weigh it. Yes, this sounds ridiculous, but I'd had a few wines! It had some ticks and fleas, but otherwise looked fine, so I left it go on its way. I checked 20mins later and it had indeed wandered off. It was 430g, and apparently they need to be at least 450g to hibernate, but ideally 600g. I will put food/water out tonight, but due to its size, should I have taken it to a rescue?

Actually made me laugh reading the “had a few wines” line aha! I’ve rescued quite a few in my life and as sad as it is to say…Hedgehogs that are friendly enough to be weighed and handled by humans are probably lost or sick. They tend to wander out of their nests and don’t know their way back. My advice would be to call a rescue and see if you can take it there. I’ve got an 80 year old lady who takes in mine and she’s incredible fixing them up and reintroducing them to the wild. If it’s wandered off it could have returned home maybe? But yeah if it comes back and it’s not huffing at you, pop it in a box with some blankies and water and be prepared because the little buggers STINK lol. Good luck!

@ExhaustedPigeon92 Thank you. This happened about 11pm, so it wasn't out in daylight, and it was curled up tight in a ball from my dog barking at it!
I think the poor thing was terrified. 😬 I've got food out tonight and a night vision camera, so if I see it again, will contact a local rescue for advice.