Hedgehogs help

[Deauville]

We appear to have a couple of baby hedgehogs nesting in our back garden but cannot decide whether or not they are safe. Their habitat is safe enough but should they be wandering about in the daytime? A couple of days ago we spotted them scuttling around and after a few minutes they disappeared into a pile of leaves, so we left them alone. Today there is one of them out but it is staggering a little, I don't know if this is because it is weak or just freshly awakened (it has just stopped raining after about three days of constant rain) - any help or guidance would be appreciated, now thay we've found them we don't want to lose them

[Jacqui Too]

Hi

We have rescued hedgehogs many times but not at this time of year! Usually in nov/dec if we have had a mild autumn and we find half grown ones that are not fat enough to survive the winter. I think they have to be over 600 grms to survive, so we have taken them in and fed them cat / dog food over the winter till spring and then released them again with no apparent harm.

So I think the best you can do is to leave them some tinned cat food and water near to where you have seen them, maybe they have woken up early from their hibination and are hungy!

Good Luck

Chipie

ps when I say 'in' I mean put them in an outside rabbit hutch with lots of straw so they can hibinate

[Deauville]

Thanks, I would have thought the hibernation period would have finished by now, this one is pretty small and I shouldn't think it is anywhere near 600gms, I'm begining to wonder if it has been abandoned and is struggling to feed - there were two a few days ago and they seemed quitr lively, but this one keeps dozing off.

[Jacqui Too]

Hi

I need a spell checker!!

When I mentioned 600 grms that is the wieght they need to be before the winter so they have enough fat to see them through hibernation

Sounds like your little things are weak after hibernation or still waking up.

Cat / dog food and water is the only thing you can do without bringing them in

Chipie

[Nicos]

Deauville- I would agree with Chipie to offer cat food and water. Have you weighed it? It does sound like it could be one of an early litter.

They can have problems with their lungs and internal parasites and it may well be on it's way out.

Meal worms are a favourite live food if you can get hold of any.

Good luck...

[Deauville]

The other one has turned up now and he's as lively as can be, grubbing for food and looking healthy. The sick one is taking water from a pippette and we've crushed and soaked some dry dog food but, thus far, the sick one isn't touching it (although Herry seems to think it's wonderful!)

It could be the early awakening thing but I must admit it looks a bit crook

[Deauville]

As I was tryping a shriek came from the garden and when I went out Jan poinetd out a THIRD one stumbling and wobbling from the nest so I think that more or less confirms that it's probably an early awakening of a litter but with one sick one.

What do you do with a sick baby hedgehog in West Dordogne?

[Jacqui Too]

[quote user="Deauville"]What do you do with a sick baby hedgehog in West Dordogne?[/quote]

You can either leave things to nature[+o(] or bring it in and put it in a box with dry straw/ hay/ leaves  and offer warmth, food, water and hope for the best

Good luck

Chipie

[Nicos]

If you do bring it in, try to handle it as little as possible. If it becomes humanised it won't ball up or hiss to protect itself . I'd be tempted to offer it ( and therefore the whole family) extra food and water and just keep an eye on it. Be aware - they can give a nasty nip.

[suein56]

[quote user="Deauville"]

What do you do with a sick baby hedgehog in West Dordogne?

[/quote]

If you can get some tinned cat food that is the second best thing to mealworms. Cat food contains more of the right kind nutrients than dog food and it does need to be the moist kind ie in gravy rather than 'terrine' or chunks in jelly.

Sue

[Russethouse]

 I hope ChrisPP sees this thread but if not FWIW I wouldn't give the dried dog food, just tinned cat food for preference and probably not cows milk either :

http://www.fow.org.uk/rescue4fow.htm (scroll down)

http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RSPCA/RSPCARedirect&pg=wildlifeadvice&marker=1&articleId=1024473673415

http://www.hedgehg.dircon.co.uk/hedgehogs/firstaid.html

Hope these links help

[Nicos]

Just a thought- it might be worth checking it for ticks as most hedgehogs tend to have one or two, but this little chap may have a lot more and may therefore be affected by them. ( they're easy enough to remove with a pair of tweezers)

[Deauville]

Thanks for all the advice - we now have FOUR, they're still out foraging (although the weak one seems to have holed up somewhere) The ticks are not really a concern as sadly the dog food is left over from when we lost our dear friend. We'll try and get some catfood though - Should they really be out and about at this time of day though?

[chris pp]

It's completely normal for you to find young hedgehogs out and about in the daylight hours at this time of year, it's what they do. They are this years young and are just making their way into the world, best to leave well alone, there is plenty of natural food for them and nature will take its course, if that means that some get eaten or die through sickness that's the way it is.

If you simply try and provide the best habitat you can, avoid the use of chemicals and watch what you are doing with garden power tools the rest will normally look after itself even if it does involve some deaths.

Chris

 

[Nicos]

The ticks are a problem for the hedgehogs though Deauville- it's worth a check on the sick one.

No  I think they shouldn't really be out at this time, but they may have been disturbed or hungry- or if you've had a lot of rain, the nest may have got damp/flooded???

[Deauville]

Thanks Chris, I thought you'd come up with the definitive answer - and of course natural selection is the best way after all but will we cause any problems if we do put food down as suggested by others (and indeed by other sites)?

Sorry Nicos, I mis-interpreted your reference to the ticks and automatically linked dog food/ticks/dog together. These little blighters seem clear of anything - the only problem now is that we can't get any work done cause they're such cute creatures we're spending all our time watching them!

[chris pp]

 I can't see any reason not to put some canned pet food out for them if you want to and as has been said a shallow dish or saucer of water. It's not at all unusual for there to be one weak or sick creature in a litter, it's the same with some birds, but it's a numbers thing "have 4 or 5 to loose 1 or 2".

Good luck, Chris

[WJT]

I agree about nature and natural selection and all of that, in fact it used to happen to us. [:)] But I certainly don't see anything wrong with a little intervention. Not to say in the whole scheme of things it would make a big difference but I for one could never just watch an animal or any creature for that matter suffer and die if I could help.

Deauville, I have never seen a baby hedgehog so can imagine how cute they are. Good luck and let us know what happens.

[Deauville]

If I could work out how to do it I could post a photo!

[Russethouse]

Instructions here: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/819635/ShowPost.aspx