Hedgehogs come and go from the houses and don’t really become residents. A hog might stay there a night or two then wander off, come back a few weeks later.
My hog house gets used more when the weather is cold or wet. I think they prefer to sleep “outdoors” when the weather is better.
The tiny hoglet we brought indoors in December to over winter was placed in the house when we released him at the end of March. He was huge by then, stayed a few nights and then disappeared, we haven’t seen him since. Cold snap in April and 2 others were using it. Now it’s warmed up again the hog house appears to be empty.
Hedgehogs don’t need houses and they see the food we put down as a bonus to their normal diet. They can wander quite a large area so don’t worry about Hubert if you aren’t around, I’m sure he’ll do just fine. Would be good to make sure he has other exits from your garden so he can make his way around the neighbourhood and find lots of his natural food too.
