Found a Hedgehog

[beingachicken]

I’ve just found a small hedgehog. It’s bright alert and active but small and should of course be hibernating.
Am I right I thinking we can’t just leave it? it’s currently in a rabbit cage in the shed because my dog was after it. I can’t take it anywhere atm but can keep it safe and give cat food for now? Or leave alone and put out of the dogs reach?

 

[beingachicken]

Sorry meant to post in another area ?

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Contact a local hedgehog rescue it definitely shouldn't be out and about, water and cat food are good for them. Where abouts are you?

 

[beingachicken]

I think Swindon is the closest wildlife place as I took an owl last year. I just can’t fit in a trip there today!

 

[HufflyPuffly]

If you ring them they might be able to come out to you?

 

[loz9]

If you're on Facebook post on your local pages. I'm way too far away from you, but we foster hogs & the network for hog rescue is unbelievable. Round us there are taxi people who happily collect & take to rescues/know who has spaces.
In the meantime please keep it warm (hot water bottle) offer a bowl of water & if you have any some meaty cat/dog food mashed up (not fish based).

ETA not all hogs hibernate & with this warm weather some have come out of hibernation. If it's under 600g it won't survive if it does hibernate. Also if it's out in daylight chances are it will have internal parasites & require treatment.

 

[fiwen30]

I suggest that you weigh it, if it looks small. This time of the year they should be over 600g, if it’s not then it will need help!

 

[emilylou]

Feed cat food and allow to hibernate in your hutch if that’s possible. Hedgehog rescues should be able to give you good advice even if they aren’t local.
We need to cherish every hedgehog we have.

 

[Stiff Knees]

Bless you for not just walking away. Every single hedgehog is precious. I hope you find someone local who can help you. I cared for a juvenile underweight hedgehog for 3 days last year until the local wildlife rescue could take over and I was completely enchanted by him!

 

[Stiff Knees]

Meant to say that I was told that water is as important as food so please make sure you leave clean water out for it. ?

 

[twiggy2]

The hedgehog needs to be kept warm so the garage may be too cold.
Cat/kitten food and water are needed.
If it's out and about this time of year it is in need of help, so your right to find a rescue to take it.
You can take it to your local vets and this should pass it on to someone who will care for it.

 

[SEL]

They really like cat biscuits and our garden one (who is huge) clears up all the sunflower seeds under the feeder.

Tiggywinkles is near here and they are over wintering 100s of babies this year

 

[Nasicus]

Can you take it to a local vet? They usually take in wildlife and get them where they need to be like a local wildlife rehab centre.

 

[Amirah]

They don't wake up if they hibernate when they're too little. We overwintered a tiny one in our kitchen for a bursting at the seams rescue centre one year. It was pretty easy, all you need is a washable cat basket, two fleeces cut up into pieces (so you can wash one against the other) and cat food. Straw/hay beds were not recommended because of the risk to their eyes.

Ours absolutely loved mealworms. He slept in his basket buried in his fleece pieces all day and pottered around the kitchen stuffing his face at night. They are messy little things, the kitchen floor was not nice in the morning and his bed needed a daily clean out! The dogs just ignored him. He was a big hedgehog by spring, it was very rewarding, especially the weekly weigh-ins.

 

[ihatework]

I’m sure you have it sorted but if not I’m happy to take the hog

 

[beingachicken]

Well sorted in as much as it’s had a good feed and drink and is now curled up asleep (in straw but I can go sort that out now!)

 

[beingachicken]

I’ve just gone and changed the straw to a towel. I’ve also messaged a hedgehog rescue charity for advise.
We are happy to care for him over winter as long as we are doing the right thing and correctly. OH seems almost excited by the prospect ?
We weighed him at 372g so yes he is just a tiny one.

I’m sure you have it sorted but if not I’m happy to take the hog

Where abouts are you ihatework?

 

[loz9]

Ours absolutely loved mealworms

Please please don't feed mealworms to hedgehogs, they are passable as a very occasional treat & they enjoy them, but cause bone disease & can result in a painful death. Calciworms are a much better alternative (alongside regular food).

Please also ensure a vet/rescue has at least checked him over for injuries & parasites (worms, liver fluke, ticks, fleas) Sadly one of our local rescues has had multiple cases this year where the finder kept the hog for a few days thinking it just needed feeding, only contacting the rescue when it went downhill & the hogs couldn't handle the parasite treatment. I'm not saying this is the case with the one you have found, it's just something I feel passionately about & would rather say something & hopefully help save these quirky creatures.

ETA we overwinter ours on hay, as do the local rescues, each rescue has their own preferences though & fleeces are much easier to keep clean. They are messy sods!

 

[Stiff Knees]

We need more hedgehog pictures

 

[loz9]

I'll see what others I have.... sorry derailed your thread slightly ?

EDITED
There's a photo of our resident wild hog too, & the last photo is of a 73g hoglet who was found in our village. He survived & is now living on a 100acre nature reserve.

 

[Stiff Knees]

Adorable! ? The one we looked after slept in a furry slipper. We nicknamed him Dunlop after the brand of slipper, the rescue checked him over then we cared for him for three days until they had space to take him. Intriguing little creature he was, but he stank like a poke of Devils.

 

[loz9]

Haha! Bless him. They really do smell, luckily ours are in a spare stable on the yard with heat mats, can't imagine them in the house.
Sadly we aren't very creative with names; Tramp - very messy, Grumpy - hissed at us, Titch - smallest. We did have the Flower Pot Family from rescue this year (Bill, Ben, Slow coach, Little weed (only 4 found so no Lightning)) but they were named by the finder. The rescue encourages finders to name them so they can easily follow their progress on her fb page, & she does a weekly ward round to update everyone.

 

[Amirah]

Oh dear, I wasn't warned about the mealworms, he did eat a lot of other things too though. The rescue centre took him back in Spring and released him quite a long way away, which was a good thing as despite him stinking up my kitchen we all got really fond of him and at least I didn't think every hedgehog killed by a car nearby could be him.

Hedgehogs out in daylight is very bad, I took one a neighbour found to the vets with flystrike, poor thing. Again the local rescue was full so that one had to go to the next town, they collected him/her from the vet's.

 

[Kaylum]

Take to the vets or a rescue. Not all of them hibernate as we are helping more and more hedgehogs they mate later on so are having litters later in the year.
Here is my little girl rescued in the summer from the car park at work. Thirsty and hungry. The rescue place could not take her for a couple of weeks so we looked after her. She is doing well in the rescue and I keep seeing updates about her.

 

[CavaloBranco]

Such cute photos! Well done to everyone who is taking the trouble to look after the underweight youngsters. We would love to see a hedgehog on our land...but never have because we have a badger sett, foxes and too many feral cats.

 

[J&S]

My son in law was strimming to clear some land and very nearly took a big one's prickles off! We put him in a cardboard box full of leaves and other vegetation that was around his original home and put him in an open out house. He must have got out at some point as he wasn't in the box later in the spring. I did see him around (or a similar sized one any way) one summer evening. They are so precious now. Well done all the other rescuers.

 

[loz9]

Oh dear, I wasn't warned about the mealworms, he did eat a lot of other things too though.[/tQUOTE]
I'm not sure if it's quite a recent discovery about them being harmful, but there is quite a push atm to get people to stop. I think now people have been educated on the harmful consequences of giving them milk, its onto the next.

 

[Equi]

I think if you are willing, have the time and space, then do your bit and keep him healthy for winter and release in spring. Great job and very rewarding

I have in my 32years seen two hedgehogs. One was in a ball (in summer) in the garden the dog had gone for a early morning pee and was barking at it...never heard my dog bark before so that was in itself weird. I put the little dude/dudette in a box for the day and released it at dusk. The other, i was at the loo and thought ill have a look outside and seen one bobbling along the garden. Lovely little creatures.

 

[C1airey]

We get lots in our garden. We had a baby one this time last year - popped him down to Tiggywinkles as we aren’t too far away. He was only marginally bigger than a large egg when we found him ?

He spent a night in the utility room, in a deep box with some cat food, a saucer of fresh water and an old towel. Be warned: they sh*t for England...! Cute though ?

 

[pistolpete]

Jemima. I currently have one called Keith. I foster in Hampshire. Keith is very camera shy!