Caring for Autumn juvenile question…
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Hi All
I have a very young autumn juvenile in my care and although I’ve successfully nurtured baby orphan hoglets from first litters in the summer and have released them at 500g+ in the autumn, this is my first Autumn hoglet.He weighs 100g, is clean, seems healthy, is eating very well and is almost nocturnal, (I’ve found that some hoglets are not nocturnal to begin with because of stress I assume, but settle down eventually).
Anyway, he lives in a large cage which is in my summerhouse. In this mild weather it’s very hot in there in the day time so I bring his cage outside. At night it’s quite cold in the summerhouse so I’ve given him a baby hot water bottle for now, although we do have electricity in the summerhouse.
So my questions are:
As it gets colder will the hoglet try to hibernate?
Should he deliberately be made to stay awake and kept warm with heating in order to continue feeding and gaining weight through the winter? This to me seems the logical option but I’ve read various accounts, so am confused on this.
Finally, I know how hogs become very stressed in captivity as they mature, so overwintering seems a very long time for them. I suppose there is no alternative though.
Appreciate any help.
Hi Cherry
I had started to write advice to you on all your questions but have changed my mind. A 100g hoglet is really quite small to have left mum and I would strongly recommend that you contact your nearest carer and get it looked over. You also need to get a poo sample checked – either with your local carer or through Vale wildlife hospital.
Seemingly healthy juveniles can suddenly go down hill and die so it’s worth getting this done
I would suggest that you ask your carer to look after it until they can assure you it’s out of danger at which point you could take it back to overwinter.
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