Mapping TWO hedgehogs visiting my hog house
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I have always been a hedgehog fan since finding one roaming around during the day about 8 years ago in Staffordshire. I immediately took it to a rescue centre. When I got home I made it my mission to make my garden more accessible, so went to work putting in a hedgehog entrance to our garden.
We now live in Cornwall and after many years of asking for a hedgehog house for my birthday, I eventually managed to buy one with money I was given from a friend. My son also give me an outdoor camera. I then went and bought some small shallow bowls and dry food. It was with great excitement that I then went on to build the flat pack house and placed it, along with everything else, in the garden. As we have cats and a dog, I put the food in the house and placed the entrance facing the underneath cavity of our large shed. I have since been able to view a large hedgehog visiting and eating all the food and drinking all the water over the past couple of months. However, this morning I was in for an amazing surprise when viewing the footage, not only was the large hedgehog there but also a smaller one. The larger one was more interested in the refreshments while the smaller was in and out the house wondering around. I do realise tht tey will probably not make it their home for this winter and I’m guessing that I’ll need to make some changes for the future, like putting up a feeding station nearby rather than having it in the house.
Now, I already logged in the initial hog on the map last month, how do I map them both in together?Hi SueMay
That’s a lovely story. First of all, as I understand it, you have to put the two hogs, seperately, on the Big Hedgehog Map. So first fill in the details for one on hog and then again for the other one. That’s certainly how it was last time I put any hogs on there.
The two hogs may or may not be Mother and offspring at this stage. If the little one is eating itself it’s likely it’s already weaned. After that they are pretty much left to get on by themselves, so that Mother can prepare for hibernation herself. But hoglets will sometimes like to be around other hogs, especially at feeding stations, where they often try to share bowls. The hogs are unlikely to share a hibernation nest, but don’t worry, hoglets are quite capable of building their own hibernation nests.
If the little one is really small, you will need to keep an eye on it. It needs to eventually weigh 450g to survive hibernation, but I imagine that it is slightly warmer in Cornwall so there is still a bit of time before it needs to be that weight, especially if it keeps coming for food. They are lovely to watch – very inquisitive little things.
Good luck with them and happy hog watching.
I had two hogs sharing a house earlier this year. I was concerned as the second one to move in was much larger than the first but they lived and ate together quite happily for a couple of weeks then the larger one moved on.
Thank you. I don’t think I’m going to be able to weigh the hoglet as it was feeding around 2am. I will, however, just keep an eye on it with my camera. I did try logging them both in but am not sure if it registered, I will check, and if not do it again tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the future.
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