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Home Forums Hedgehog signs and sightings Update on Cutie Reply To: Update on Cutie

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Nic

Hi Hettihog

Glad that Cutie wasn’t upset by her weighing episode.

It would be hard to say for sure whether Cutie was Hetty’s hoglet. It’s possible that they are related. But I have found that many hoglets seem to like sharing food bowls and they will share with hogs who aren’t their parent, both male and female, as well as other hoglets. So sharing a bowl isn’t a reliable indicator of parentage.

Regarding the weight for hibernation. It was circulated a while back that 600g was the weight needed for hibernation, but it seems likely that that originally arose from a misconception. This has now been clarified.

450g is the minimum weight recommended by the experts for wild hedgehogs for hibernation. Extract from: http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/pdf/Hibernation-Weight.pdf ‘They should normally be rescued at weights less than 450g in October – February (depending on weather, frequency at feeding stations, etc)’
The 600g relates to releasing hedgehogs from care (in very late autumn/early winter), as they are likely to lose weight on release. (Information also contained in that document.)

It isn’t always reliable assessing weight by looking at hogs, particularly on video – it’s better if you see the hog yourself – but if you see that Cutie has, say, doubled in size, then I, personally, wouldn’t weigh her again. Neither would I go around picking up every hoglet I saw and weighing it. Once you have weighed a hoglet you can get a pretty good idea of the sort of size of hoglet which might need rescuing.

Bear in mind that there is no guarantee that there will be space for more hoglets in your local rescue, so it’s a good idea to contact them to find out, if you’re worried about a hoglet, before catching it. They will be familiar with the local weather conditions, etc. as well, so might recommend leaving a hoglet that is slightly below weight, if it’s visiting for food regularly and the weather is mild in the area.

Sounds as if Cutie will get heavy enough, though, from what you say!

Hedgehog