Hi WildlifeWonder
Welcome to the Forum.
You are lucky having a youngster there! I wouldn’t worry too much about it at this stage. They do tend to put on weight pretty quickly when they’re small and the little one will probably have time to put on enough weight for the recommended minimum weight of 450g before it needs to hibernate. Some leave hibernation as late as December. So at this stage I would keep feeding the little hog and just keep an eye out. If it’s still looking very small in, say, November, you could try weighing it. But if you continue to feed it (and provide water), I imagine it will soon be big enough.
Some hogs decide not to hibernate at all (even if they are heavy enough). I suspect they are mostly the current year’s hoglets – they certainly have been here. They haven’t seemed to be bothered by the cold and continued to visit in well sub-zero temperatures and even snow. If the hoglet doesn’t hibernate, just continue to provide food and water as normal – you might need to put the water somewhere it doesn’t freeze, if you can.
In general, hibernation is a dangerous time for hogs, however big they are and not all will survive. But likewise it’s very stressful for hogs to be kept in captivity so not all over-wintered hogs will survive either.
Good luck. Hope the hogs continue to do well.
