Hedgehog hygiene

[HogHome12]

I’m looking for advice re cats urine spraying near my hedgehog house. I currently have a hedgehog in the house, not yet in hibernation but a local cat has been spraying around this area, I don’t believe it’s spraying due to the hedgehog, its because there’s a bit of a fued between 2 local cats as to which one of them my garden belongs to. Would it be safe to use cat urine neutralising spray around the area to neutralise the smell, as its right beneath my living room window? Naturally, I wouldn’t spray the hedgehog house , in fact I’ve purchased a small plastic table to put over the hedgehog house to prevent local cats from sitting on top of the hedgehog house itself. Any advice would be appreciated, I have white wine vinegar and baking soda I could use but I don’t know if these would be safe to use either, plus I’m disabled and a wheelchair user, so will have to get someone else to use these to clean the area, hence my preference to use the neutralising spray, as I think I can manage to use the spray myself. Many thanks for any advice. Claire

[Nic]

Hi Hoghome12

That sounds very annoying the cats spraying just there! I’m sorry I don’t know about cat urine neutralising spray. It might depend what’s in it. I have read that half water half white vinegar can neutralise cat urine, but then that smells too, in a different way (maybe not quite so bad?) – but you could put that into a spray bottle. Does rain make any difference to the smell? We’ve had quite a bit here recently.

Sorry not to be more help!

[TonyUK22]

Hi all,
I’m new to this and this is my first post.
Apologies if it’s not the correct section.
Bare with me as the text is going outside of the edges.
Here goes.
I have encouraged hogs into my garden over the last few months. I now have 2, one is a big hog the other not as big. They both now sleep in the hoghouse I bought for them. They stay in it all day. They haven’t started hibernation yet as I guess this warm weather is allowing them to plump up.
I checked on the hay I’ve provided for them today. I didn’t wake them. The house has a lid plus plenty of protective covering on top of the lid. My concern is the hay, which was specially bought for hogs. It is looking and feeling rather rank. Also it’s gone very dusty. Is it OK to clean it out and replace it in the evening when they are out feeding? I’m also keen on weighing the smaller hog to make sure it’s above the minimum weight. I read it’s 650gms.
It’s the hay that is my immediate problem. They do prefer it to the leaves I leave out. But I will keep putting the leaves out.

[Nic]

Hi TonyUK22

Welcome to the Forum.

No, it isn’t a good idea to clean out a hog box until/unless the hogs have completely vacated i.e. aren’t using it during the day either. You might find that they have somewhere else in mind for hibernation – they don’t tend to stay in the same nest as they have used during the ‘hog season’.

If there are two hogs, it’s possible that it’s a Mother with a slightly grown hoglet, but could also be 2 hoglets of different sizes. If one of them is a Mother she may go off and hibernate and leave the other one to potentially hibernate a bit later.

I think it is a good idea to leave out medium sized leaves as well. They are the ideal material for a hog to make a hibernaculum – partly because they are able to layer them and make the structure waterproof.

The recommended weight for hibernation is 450g. But if you are providing food and water, they are well and normally active and are attending for food every night – bearing in mind the mild weather – I would be inclined to leave them be if they only weighed 350g and keep an eye on them and keep offering them good quality food (cat/dog or meaty hog food). They put on weight incredibly quickly when they’re small and it would be less stressful for them than taking them in to be over-wintered by a hog carer. Hopefully they will both weigh more than 450g, so you won’t need to worry too much.

If you are going to weigh them, try to do that outside, so that it’s less stressful for them. Then if they are an ok weight you can release them again immediately.

Be aware that some hogs (especially hoglets) choose not to hibernate. If those there are amongst those who don’t hibernate, just keep feeding them and providing water all winter.

Good luck, I hope all goes well.

[TonyUK22]

Wow! Great advice. Thank you so much. I feel so much better now. I was anxious about disturbing them.
I’ll do as you advise. Keep feeding. I’ll put leaves out. Fingers crossed. I’m getting used to the forums now. 😊

[Colin A]

Hi,

Recently our amber street lighting has been replaced by much brighter white LED lighting. Whilst this may help motorists see hogs cross the road is there any evidence that brighter street lighting is in any way detrimental to hogs or indeed other wildlife ?

i should add that I have approached our local council because apparently the level of lighting can be controlled and they can turn t down, but so far no action. So when I approach them again I would like some hard evidence, if there is any, to support my request.

Thanks

Colin

[Nic]

Hi Colin

I don’t know about street lights. But I used to leave the outside light on where I fed the hogs, for a couple of hours in the evening (so I could watch them) and the light didn’t seem to bother them at all. If anything I used to have more hogs visiting in those days. I think they, or some of them, are more likely to be a bit wary with lights going on and off (i.e. security lights).

So, whilst others may have different experiences, sorry, but I suspect, as the lights, I assume, would not be going on and off with any frequency, that they wouldn’t bother the hogs too much. From my experience I think hogs would get used to the lights and your suggestion of motorists being better able to see the hogs (and hopefully avoid them) might outweigh any potential problems which the hogs themselves might perceive. Although, potentially, it might make the hogs more visible to predators? – dogs come to mind.

I have, though, heard that some birds start to sing at night in street-lit areas and there are, no doubt other reasons why street lights might be detrimental to other wildlife. It’s great that you are thinking about the impact on hogs and there may be plenty of other good reasons why brighter lights might not be a good idea. Pros and cons, I suppose.

Sorry not to be much help, but good luck.

[Author]

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