How long are hedgehogs active during the night?
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I have had a hog in my hog house for the past 2 days using it as a day nest. It comes out of the house around 7.45pm has some food, but doesn’t take all that is on offer, has a drink then goes off on its evening stroll.
Around 10pm another hog turns up (I wonder if they pass each other somewhere on route!), eats the rest of the food on offer, then also moves on.
I then put out some more food and around midnight the hog resident in the hog house returns and tucks in and pretty much hunts round everywhere hoovering up whatever it can find as well as drinking more water. By then its past my bedtime so I don’t know what it does next.
I have therefore been wondering whether it then just goes back in to the hog house and settles down again?
If so that would mean it has only been active for about 5 hours or so. I guess it could do a lot in that time and travel 2-3 miles around the neighbourhood even allowing for hog distractions!
Does anyone have any thoughts?
Hi hogmeister, I’m certainly no expert but all I can say is that my hogs start feeding soon after I put food out – 9.30ish . They are then back and forth throughout the night until about 5.30. The food will be all gone well before then but they keep coming back – more in hope than anything else. If I notice that most of the food has gone before I go to bed then I will top it up! I’m not sure how many I have visiting – certainly 3 – 2 big and one much smaller. I only know about the two big ones because I have a lovely video clip of one being ‘rolled’ under the hedgehog gap by the other one!
Hi DwarfHog,
I guess they only get around 8 or 9 hours at this time of year with the days lengthening anyway but I guess they are probably active for more than 5 hours.
My hog house has been empty for the past 2 days but today it has had a resident who has just come out for supper.
It seems typically it has 2/3 nights with a resident, then 1.2 nights empty, and I know it has housed 2 different hogs in thr last 2 weeks or so.
I guess you have a trailcam or such like to film the hogs during the night which I must invest in to see what goes on when I’m asleep!
Hi hogmeister, yes I have a trailcam which is a bit temperamental at the moment! And it eats batteries as if they were going out of fashion! I have just invested in rechargeable ones so hope the cost will break even soon. I have a hog house and although hogs have been in and moved the nest material around they haven’t stayed. But they are taking the food and there is a lot of snuffling going on under the choysia! This is our first positive year with hedgehogs although we know they have been around or passing through before. I live just off a nature reserve along the river black water in Essex so if they were going to be anywhere it would be here!
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