Hi Roxyhogan
I agree with Prickles.
My feeling is that we do not truly understand all the factors leading to hibernation. I don’t believe it is as simple as only temperature or food supply. I leave food out until I am fairly sure no more hogs are visiting. In my experience, the hogs have always disappeared to hibernate despite the food I provided being available (other than the occasional under-weight hoglet which has gone for over-wintering). If it was purely about food availability or temperature, all the males would not disappear from here in September.
At the moment there are still hoglets around (some possibly visiting late at night and not seen) which, given the chance, could still make the necessary weight to survive hibernation in the wild. I don’t imagine there is much ‘natural’ food left, so if we don’t continue feeding them, they may not survive.
So, I would keep feeding as you have been, and continue for a while after you have seen the last hog in case it or another one appears again.
