I thought i would add some of my thoughts on Hedgehogs, which we at VWR are getting in constantly everyday. Take for instance, yesterday a lady called to say I have found a young hedgehog in my garden, he looks to small to be out on his own, so she brought him in, and indeed he was very small and very hungry, squeaking away he promply latched his teeth onto my thumb, I took him (still hanging onto my thumb!) straight to our brooder room and weighed him, and the poor little chap was only 81gms, bless i hear you all say, so we put a bowl of milk substitute down for him, (warmed) and he thought Christmas had come early, he was so hungry, and then we put him into a nice heated cage to keep him warm. Now without 'MUM' around these little ones just won't survive the winter, so many seem to have some kind of infection, and need to be put onto antibiotics and given fluids to rehydrate and give them a boost. Some people are saying is it the floods that have caused problems, and to be honest it can't be, the little ones had'nt even been born when the floods arrived, it maybe partly down to milder weather, not enough food around and hedgehogs having more litters, whatever it is we must try to help as many as we can, so if you see a hedgehog in the day, there is going to be a problem with it, scoop it up, keep it warm and get it to your nearest wildlife hospital, if you think the hedgehog is to small and you can't see mum around, and you have some kitchen scales, give him a quick weigh, and any of them which is around 450gms or under, again pop them into your nearest wildlife hospital, they need to be 500gms plus to get through the cold winter. If you are never sure, if you find a hedgehog or have any questions give us a call at VWR 01386 882288 we are always happy to advise.
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angela smith
vale wildlife rehabilitation hospital
I just have one hog left at the moment and he seems unusually dependent on the food I am putting out. He is pretty big though (600g+) so he can stay where he is at the moment.
It does seem though that food is in short supply this year. I doubt that the floods are responsible in my area since we barely had any. I did read that it has been a very bad year for caterpillars so maybe the hogs food is poor aswell....
Hi Gary, I think the hedgehogs are finding food in short supply, and with the cold nights, it really is not helping for the much smaller hedgehogs that are out there. The poor things really are struggling, and we are getting so many in which are very dehydrated and very cold,and still alot of them are under 300gms in weight and this is no way near the weight they need to be to survive the winter. We have been giving fluids to every one of them as soon as they come in for at least the first 24hrs, and longer if needed. Yours is a good weight and should be o.k. for the winter, keep an eye on him, things can change so quick with them, but i'm sure you are feeing him up well :) ANG.
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angela smith
vale wildlife rehabilitation hospital
