Hedgehog alert!

[ErnestTheBavarian]

Please watch out for hedgehogs. I'm not a mad hedhehog woman or anything, but I wanted to share this/raise awareness.

I found a hedgehog in our garden on Saturday. It seemed pretty small, & I wasn't sure if it should be hibernating now or not. I don't know the 1st thing really, so phone hedgehog rescue place for advice.

If it under 600g it won't survive the winter.

If you find one, give it cat food & either take it to a rescue place. We don't have one near, so I need to lok after it.

It needs to be in a box with newspaper, cat food, water and a bunched up length of kitchen/loo roll for it to bed down in.

It should only be released mid May!

Apparently, due to warmer weather, they're being born later, which means they're too small come winter to survive.

Aww it's really cute. I found this one mid morning - the man said it must've been really straving to be out then, so I'm glad I found it

we have a resident hedgehog in our garden, he and my dog used to ''play'' or rather square up to each other each night!! there is a nest under the deck around my pond but no babies this year and since my dog died several months ago, come to think of it, I haven't seen the hedgehog roaming at night.
good luck with your winter lodger, if you go out in the evening into your garden and find any slugs or snails around, these are great food for the hedgehogs too, very nutritious apparently!!

What's the betting that by mid-may it will have become a much-loved family pet? Fully house-trained and possibly wearing a shiney new collar?

Or am I projecting here?

All joking apart, you are a kind person.

I'd love to have a hedgehog in our garden but I've never seen one.
It's probably because we've got four cats.

Am assuming there are siblings out there - litter usually around 7. We found a dead one, almost in the same place a couple of weeks ago - no injuries, looked like it had just keeled over, poor wee thing.

So I am going to freak out dh a bit and turn into mad Tiggiwinkles woman on a quest to find and save the missing hedgehog pups.

Seriously tho, we do have to let him go in May, as wild animal is not a pet and all that, but I will be to see him go (). But will he not go insane, all alone in a cardboard box for 6 months? ANyone know? Or will he be asleep for most of it? Am I thinking too much about this? ( )

What you need to do is source some teeny tiny corks to put on the ends of all his spikes.
Then you will be able to snuggle him.

Seriously, I'm pretty sure he won't die of lonliness.

Have you named him, btw?

Ok, he might die of lonliness, I hear it can be pretty horrendous but he won't die of loneliness.

if he puts on enough weight, he will sleep through most of the time, only waking up if he gets hungry. if he doesn't put on enough weight then he will be awake most of the time. hedgehogs are solitary animals so loneliness during winter is not a problem. also depends if you keep him in a box inside or outside/how much weight etc.

www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/FAQS/first_aid.htm

www.wfhr.org.uk/

I am sure you can get further info from various wildlife sites around, look some up and try e mailing them to see what they can tell you.

On the plus side, I think I finally found a place to take him.

On the negative side, I think poor hedgehog has snuffed it He's in a tight little ball, so I guess he could be asleep, but I don't have a good feeling.... Poor wee thing.

How is Mr Hedgehog now?

very cold. and dead