Hedgehog not hibernating
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We still have a hog visit us every night. We think he is the light coloured hedgehog that we thought too small to hibernate last autumn and with regular feeding he is now a good size but obviously still not hibernating. We leave out water and a bowl of food (a mix of Spike, Wild Things and calci worms) each night. I know mealworms are not good for hogs and hope calci worms are better. He always eats all the worms and only some of the hedgehog food. Our hedgehog house is not being used. I hope we are doing the right thing for him (or her).
Hi Linire
Don’t worry. Some hogs decide not to hibernate for some reason, so you are doing the right thing to continue offering food and water. The only thing is, I would leave water out all day as well, just in case a hog comes out of hibernation during the day and is thirsty.
I have a non-hibernating hog here. Most that I hear about seem to be that year’s hoglets, as the one there is, but this one didn’t hibernate last year as a hoglet and hasn’t hibernated again.
Calci-worms are better than mealworms, as long as you don’t get the really cheap ones. If you are worried, you could contact the makers and check that there isn’t more phosphorous than calcium in them.
Good luck with the hog.
Thank you. He/she visited us again last night despite the high wind and pouring rain. The calci worms I have bought were not cheap and apparently have a high level of calcium. One plucky and hopefully contented hog!
Hi,
I’ve had hogs feeding every night since Xmas day. I was getting worried it was something else, until”old stinky” peed in the feeding station and left large paw prints. It’s interesting that not all hogs hibernate. However I suspect there are different hogs visiting on different nights. This in the South Wales valleys.
LesleyI’m in Kent and have some releases from Medway hedgehog rescue staying in my garden..
It’s been quite mild and apart from some frantic gathering of bedding material recently, the hogs have been active. (Also drinking LOTS of water).
Then the high pressure brought frosts and for 2 days there was no activity, so I stocked the feeding stations with dried food and turned my trail-cam towards the area the foxes come looking for scraps, thinking my hog-feeding was over until the spring.
Then the temperatures rose slightly and now the hogs are out again!
I’m in Eastchurch Kent. It’s reassuring that I’m not the only one with a hedgehog still awake. He or she is still visiting every night. We are monitoring the little one byway of a trail camera. He or she is a good size and looks in good condition. This happened last year but by mid January the hedgehog did go down. This year this one is showing no signs of wanting to hibernate. Yet the others have. I always continue putting food and water out throughout the winter months. I feed them with chicken cat food in jelly, a few meal worms, a small amount of fresh chicken, a little cheese and he likes a couple of slices of banana and a small handful of cat munchies. By the morning most has gone. I think this hedgehog may have been a late baby.
I have normally gone over to dry food at this time of year but as yet will continue as usual.
Hi fourpads
It’s lovely to hear about the hoglet there not hibernating.
It’s great that you are providing food and water, but I would cut out the fresh chicken, banana, cheese and mealworms. The hog is better off with just the cat food. It may seem counter-intuuitive but raw chicken breast (I imagine cooked is similar) has almost as bad a calcium/phosphorous ratio as mealworms and much worse than peanuts and sunflower hearts.
Hopefully all these over-wintering hogs will have a head start when all the others return from hibernation. Won’t be long now.
I have at least one, possibly more eating at my feeding station 3-6 times a night, caught on my trail cam! Last night I moved the cam to face a hedgehog house on the other side of the garden and caught a hedgehog coming out at 11.30pm, having a good scratch and setting off for the night. Came back 6.30am and spent some time gathering leaves in its mouth and taking them into the house. Perhaps it is getting ready to hibernate??!! Will keep feeding and watering 🙂
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