Hedgehogs in July • Kay Bullen, BHPS

Betty found out during the day

During July you can expect to see the first of the season’s hoglets coming out of the nest with mum. 

They will start to come out with her at around 4 weeks of age and continue to do this until they are around 8 weeks of age, after this time they will become independent and disperse.

There will still be new born hoglets arriving, born perhaps to last years later youngsters or perhaps when a mother loses her litter and starts a second one and later still when an early successful litter is followed by a second one.

Hedgehogs are not territorial although they can have home patches.  The females’ home patches will be smaller than the male’s.  She just needs enough space and a good food supply to rear her hoglets.  The males will wander further in the breeding season so have a larger home patch during this time.  Once the breeding season is over they will tend to range over a smaller area, concentrating on building a good fat reserve for their hibernation.

If the weather becomes very hot the ground will dry out and this can make foraging difficult as their natural food may burrow deeper into the leaf litter or retreat underground or under stones and paving slabs.  Putting out extra food during these times can help a mother hedgehog feed her hoglets and once they are coming out with her they may visit your feeding station for food. Good quality hedgehog food, meaty cat or dog food or cat biscuits are suitable things to offer.  Don’t forget to put out water for all your wildlife visitors as well, and keep ponds topped up so hedgehogs don’t topple in when looking for a drink.

If you are concerned about a hedgehog it is much better to seek advice sooner rather than later it is better to be safe than sorry.

If you need advice about any hedgehogs contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, they can give general advice and perhaps details of a local hedgehog rehabilitator that you can contact.  Contact them on 01584 890801 or for general advice and leaflets visit their website.

Hedgehogs in April • Kay Bullen - BHPS

The majority of hedgehogs will usually wake up during April and will be preparing for their year ahead.  

The first priority is to replace some of the weight they have lost during hibernation and they will be very thirsty, so make sure some clean ground level water is available for them.  Some may come out of hibernation in a very poor condition and may be found out in the day.  These will need to be rescued and passed on to a hedgehog rehabilitator.

If you have a hedgehog highway running through your garden make sure it has not become blocked up during the winter, access through many gardens is necessary to keep populations viable.  In the breeding season the males can travel several miles throughout the night in search of “love”.  

The males don't stay around to help raise the hoglets, they are nomadic wandering over a large area. They don't have territories to defend and any fighting is most likely be over a female hedgehog or a food dish. The females tend to have a smaller home patch in which they raise their hoglets, the size of the home patch is likely to reflect the amount of food available in the local area.

Hedgehogs tend to be solitary creatures only coming together for courtship or as a family unit when the hoglets are dependent on mum.  If hedgehogs should meet up there is often a lot of huffing and hissing, they also can do this when they feel threatened.  

Whilst not unheard of, April is generally a little early for hoglets to be born but there may well be some noisy courtship! There will be a lot of huffing initially and the male will circle the female, waiting for her to settle down before a very careful mating begins.  

If you want to attract hedgehogs to your garden have a look at the BHPS website for instructions on making a quick and easy feeding station and for more ways to make your garden safer for your visiting hedgehogs.  However firstly you need to make sure hedgehogs can get into your garden by creating a hedgehog highway visit www.hedgehogstreet.org and see how to link your garden to your neighbours.

If you are concerned or just need advice about any hedgehogs contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and they can give general advice.  Their contact number is 01584 890801 or email us at help@hertshgoline.com for advice.   

Hedgehogs in June • Kay Bullen BHPS

This is the start of the breeding season and hoglets will be starting to arrive. You may already have seen the hedgehogs’ courtship with the huffing sounds and the male circling the female. Until she is ready to mate she will keep facing the male, so he will have to keep circling to try to approach from the rear.

If successful, after about 32 days 4-5 hoglets will be born. They’re naked, so no fur or prickles and they are deaf and blind as well. Within a few hours their first set of prickles push through, they are white and in straight lines down the back. The brown prickles start to appear after around 36 hours but the fur takes a little longer. Eyes open at around 14 days with the ears opening a few days later.

The babies would not normally leave the nest, to forage with mum, until they are about 4 weeks old and at this stage they are miniatures of their mother. Hoglets that appear before they are 4 weeks old are often orphans and they need help. Signs that hoglets are in trouble include, being out in the day, being lethargic and wobbling, squeaking loudly, flies being attracted to them. They soon become hypothermic, dehydrated and the flies will lay eggs on them that hatch into maggots.  Even the older ones will struggle if something has happened to mum.  uick action can save their lives. If you have any doubts about their wellbeing give the BHPS a call (01584 890801) or contact a local hedgehog rescue.

Until you’re able to contact someone put the hoglet(s) indoors on a covered, hand hot, hot water bottle (replace water as it cools). Put this in a high sided box and place a towel over them to keep in the warmth and give some security. Very small hoglets with their eyes still closed will be not able to take solids; for bigger hoglets you could mix some water with mashed up meat-based cat food to make it sloppy, don’t try to force feed them. Hand rearing is very complex, so they should be passed to a hedgehog rehabilitator as soon as possible.

If you only find one hoglet do bear in mind there could be others. Check your garden for more. If you’ve found the hoglet(s) on a walk, try to repeat that walk over the next 4-5 days or longer if possible to keep an eye out for any siblings that may also be in trouble.

If you are concerned about any hoglets or adult hedgehogs contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, they can give general advice and perhaps details of a local hedgehog rehabilitator that you can contact.

Hedgehogs in May • Kay Bullen BHPS

All the hedgehogs should be awake from their hibernation now.  The early risers may also be pregnant so now is a good time to think about making our gardens safer for them.
If you are setting traps put them somewhere where they cannot be reached by hedgehogs.   If you are using poisons again keep them out of reach of hedgehogs and any other animals, wild and domestic.  Many people do not realise that they have a legal duty to do their best to stop animals other than those targeted from accessing traps or poisons. The following is taken from an official Government web site.

Protecting other wildlife from harm you must protect other animals from traps or poison you put down for pests by:

• placing lethal traps under cover or so that other animals and birds aren’t caught

• preventing wildlife from eating poison you’ve put down

Many people use chemicals in the garden, some will be more wildlife friendly than others and there are various websites about organic gardening.  However if you feel you must use chemicals in the garden, especially if you have resident (and possibly pregnant) hedgehogs around here are a few tips.

Take time to read the instructions, when did you last read the suggested “dose” for the slug pellets you are planning to use. Try to restrict access to the chemicals, perhaps put pellets under a slate or old tile or a piece of old carpet and collect the dead slugs and snails up in the morning.  Please remember that killing slugs and snails reduces the amount of natural food in your garden for hedgehogs and some birds.

If applying a liquid application for your lawn perhaps use in the morning so it is dry by the time hedgehogs are out and about. Don’t leave any puddles of chemicals around that wildlife may drink or bathe in.  If possible cover the area treated to restrict access to other wildlife, you could perhaps use some carrot fly netting that allows light and water through but not animals. 

If you use ant powder or similar apply sparingly and wash it away before the evening – if a hedgehogs sniffs the powder it may be in serious trouble.

It is safer for you, your family, pets and wildlife to use non-chemical methods of pest and weed control where possible and appropriate, and when using approved humane traps check them regularly.

Hedgehog Awareness Week runs from 6^thto 12^thMay this year and is a perfect time to remind friends and neighbours to take care of hedgehogs when gardening you can find out more about the week on social media using #hedgehogweek or at the BHPS website.

If you are concerned about any hedgehogs you should see contact your local hedgehog rescue or the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (01584 890801), they can give general advice and perhaps details of a local hedgehog rehabilitator that you can contact.

Hedgehogs in April • Kay Bullen BHPS

More and more hedgehogs will be waking from their long hibernations. They will be very thirsty, hungry and in some cases weak and unwell.

Keep a good look out for any that need help, the sooner they are rescued the better the chance they will survive. 

Now would be a good time to introduce a new hedgehog box to your garden. Male hedgehogs are more nomadic in the breeding season so may only make and use a nest for a short time, indeed in the warmer weather they may just hide under a pile of leaves rather than making an actual nest. However, the females will be looking for a place to raise their family.  

If you have a new nest box you could sprinkle some hedgehog biscuits inside the box to encourage them in, but once there is an occupant stop leaving food in the box as it may attract other hedgehogs.  A female with new born would not welcome visitors and may abandon her young. Any feeding stations should then be a distance away from the occupied nest box.  

Do not be tempted to look inside the nest box, rather place a small piece of screwed up paper just inside the entrance, this will be pushed aside as the hedgehog emerges and you will know it is occupied.  Repeat after 3-4 days as sometimes a female will not leave the nest for several days after giving birth. It really is important not to disturb the box when it is occupied.

If you are concerned about any hedgehogs you should see contact your local hedgehog rescue or the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (01584 890801), they can give general advice and perhaps details of a local hedgehog rehabilitator that you can contact. 

Hedgehogs in February by Kay Bullen (BHPS)

Surprisingly there may still be a few hedgehogs around this month especially where people put out food regularly. This extra food allows the smaller hedgehogs to decide when they are ready to hibernate rather than be forced into a hibernation because of lack of food. However, some of the smaller hedgehogs will not have sufficient fat stored to allow them to even contemplate hibernation and the extra food is a real-life saver for them.

Tidying the garden

Do take care when tidying the garden, piles of leaves and compost heaps may well be providing sanctuary for hibernating hedgehogs.  Some hedgehogs hibernate in pampas grass so burning the grass to remove the dead leaves can be very dangerous for them, indeed any burning in the garden should be undertaken with caution.

What to do if you find a hedgehog 

If you should find a hedgehog out in the day, particularly if it is wobbling or has fallen asleep in the open, this is some basic first aid for it. It needs to go into a high-sided box, use a piece of towel or similar to pick it up without getting prickled and bring the box indoors. Cover a hot water bottle with a towel (use warm/hot water so as not to scald the hedgehog but to provide a nice gentle heat) and place the hedgehog on this leaving the cloth you that you used to pick it up covering it. It can have some meat-based dog or cat food and a dish of water.  Don’t forget to keep changing the water in the bottle as if allowed to go cold it will do more harm than good. If you don’t have a hot water bottle use a plastic milk carton or drinks bottle and loosely wrap a towel around the hedgehog and bottle to keep them together, remember this will lose heat more quickly than a hot water bottle so keep changing the water or swapping the bottles. Make sure the water isn’t hot enough to damage a plastic bottle, but warm enough to offer some heat for the hedgehog.

Where to find help 

If you are concerned about any hedgehogs you should contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, they can give general advice and perhaps details of a local hedgehog rehabilitator that you can contact.  Contact them on 01584 890801 or for general advice visit their website (follow link above). 

Hedgehogs in June by British Hedgehog Preservation Society

Just under two weeks old - 05/06/17

This is the time of year when we expect most of the first litters of hoglets to be born.  They are going to be very vulnerable.  If anything happens to mum in the first 7-8 weeks then these hoglets are unlikely to survive without help.  They do not come out of the nest to start foraging with mum until they are 4 weeks old.  So any out of the nest under this age are likely to be abandoned and they are coming out in desperation calling for their mother. 

Should you find a dead adult in your neighbourhood, and it is safe to do so, try to determine whether it is a male or female.  They are very similar to dogs and bitches so are easy to sex if they have not been too badly damaged.  The males do not contribute to the rearing of the hoglets so only if it is a female could there be a risk of any hoglets being orphaned.

If you have a nest in your garden and are concerned the mum may have been killed listen for high pitched squeaks and perhaps place a small screwed up piece of paper in the entrance to the nest, this will be pushed aside as any hedgehog exits the nest.  It is best not to disturb the nest unless you are certain the mum will not be returning.  If you are wrong and the nest is occupied and you have pulled it apart the mother may abandon her babies, or even kill them.

If you accidently disturb a nest try to restore it quickly and without too much fuss.  Check with the screwed up piece of paper to see whether mum is returning, they all react differently, some move the babies over several days, a few have been known to kill them whilst other just abandon them.  If the nest is in a place where it cannot be left catch the mother before the babies as she will be the most mobile.  Place her in high sided box with some of the bedding from the nest and then slip her babies in with her.  Contact the BHPS to find a local contact who can advise and if necessary take in the family.  Do not release them somewhere yourself as mum is very likely to abandon them, given the amount of disturbance she has endured.

With any hedgehog in trouble the sooner it is rescued the more chance there is that it will survive.  Hoglets in trouble will be out in the day (or perhaps without mum at night), squeaking, lying in the open (perhaps several huddled together), flies buzzing around them and even large birds taking an interest with them.

If you are concerned about your local visiting hedgehog, need advice or find an orphaned, sick or injured hedgehog contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, they can give general advice and perhaps details of a local hedgehog rehabilitator you can contact.  Contact them on 01584 890801 or for general advice visit their web site.