Hedgehog Courtship
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I was just out In my front garden putting some food out for the hedgehogs and setting up my wildlife camera trap, when I heard some very loud what sounded like sniffing, but more like huffing coming from a quiet area of the garden. I thought at first that it was just a very noisy hedgehog but then I realised that there were two of them and they weren’t really fighting as they would normally do, one was just circling the other. I went back inside and a few minutes later they were on the main part of my front lawn doing the same thing again. I suspect that it’s courtship rituals? Or is it too early yet?
I looked it up and they seemed to be doing everything that they said online like circling, huffs and puffs and so on. There were two other hedgehogs lurking around at the same time going about their business.
Hopefully that means that we could have some nice little hoglets in the garden in the summer!
Almost certainly courtship, though it can just be a sign of dominance of one animal over the other. What you may notice if it happens again is that it is not the one doing the circling that is making the noise but the one being circled.
I’ve also had some short yelping/barking type noises from the female being pestered which I’m assuming is trying to tell the male she’s not ready yet.
It can go on for quite some time but eventually the male seems to get the message and wanders off.
They can have 2 litters in same year so now would be exactly the time for courstship leading to litter 1 in May/June (hedgehog gestation roughly about 5 weeks I think).Hi Emily
Yes, it sounds as if you have some courtship going on there, although it doesn’t always lead to anything, sadly. It’s unlikely it would be any kind of dominance display. If it was two males one might sniff the other briefly, but it would fairly rapidly proceed into shoving and possible rolling up. Also the huffing is the female. But yes, the courtship ‘dance’ can go on for hours sometimes. Even after all that sometimes one or other of them gets fed up and just wanders off!
The gestation period is about 4.5 weeks, although it can be a bit variable, depending on what the environmental conditions are when the hedgehog is pregnant. It’s thought that in some circumstances the development of the embryos may slow down. Most hoglets are born in June and July, so it’s a bit early yet. But if males and females are around they will breed any time.
It isn’t the norm for them to have two litters a year, although things may have become more complicated in recent times – not only by warmer autumns (so they can sometimes have a second litter late in the year, especially if their first litter fails for some reason), but also some hogs deciding not to hibernate (so that females are around earlier than they otherwise would be and so able to breed earlier). It’s also possible that female hogs which have been overwintered with carers may be released earlier than the females normally return from hibernation. Males normally return from hibernation earlier than females do. That normally gives them a chance to put on a bit of weight before the ‘courtship’ commences.
The hogs normally seem to prepare their birthing nests not long before they produce, so if they look as if they are carrying nesting around now, it may just be for a day nest, but you never know!
Good luck. It certainly sounds as if there are a male and a female there, so that is promising. Fingers crossed for the patter of tiny hoglet feet later on.
Happy hog watching.
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