Autumn Juveniles – should I be worried for them?

[Rubiks]

Hi Everyone.

We have a mum and 2 autumn juveniles in our garden. I’m a little worried that we’re getting later in the year and they’ve still not left mum to make their own nests.

Do I have reason to be worried? I’m putting food out for them every night so hopefully they’re getting enough, but they do still look reasonably small..

Thanks

[stef]

As long as you are feeding them just keep monitoring

[Rubiks]

Ok thank you, I will 🙂

[rookiethegooner]

if they have a reliable source of food which they are making use of then unless you have a sustained cold period of weather before they are starting to get upto size then they should hopefully be ok as nowadays with our milder winters a lot dont hibernate from what i know and therefore as long as they have a reliable and suitable food source then they should be ok

[Kassie]

I had the same issue in late autumn last year. The juveniles were very small and I’d read that although they would try to hibernate they were too small to survive. I decided to put food in feeder all through the winter and I’ve seen them on my camera practically every night.. Now, in March, they’re much bigger . They obviously didn’t hibernate. Thing is you can’t really tell if it’s one hedgehog going backwards and forwards or 4!

[Bethany Craker]

Keep an eye and monitor size, if they eat,drink ect from your feeding station… weighing them is another good way to monitor if they are gradually putting on weight but look healthy as in running around, bright clear eyes, no obvious other problems

You have to be careful if you do weigh them not to disturb the mum or remove them from their mum for a who long a time make sure you wear gloves to prevent your sent going on to them as otherwise the mum may abandon the juvenile

Once they are a few weeks/months old don’t be surprised if the mum leaves them this is normal behaviour

It’s mainly keeping an eye on the weight if they are losing weight that is a sign of internal problems and because of the mild weather in winter months recently they have been very confused meaning some are hibernating early some are hibernating late or coming out early but as long as you have food and water around they will probebly come back

For hibernation the ideal weight for a juvenile/ adult is 600g if they are not this weight then they will risk not surviving hibernation so then it’s safer to contact your local wildlife animal rescue for a check

Hope this information clears up any un awnsered questions feel free to ask me anymore

[Author]

Posts