More information about Hedgehogs please

[FiestaRed]

It’s now getting near to that time of year when the couples meet up.

Can anyone please advise where I can find more information about this time of year please? Do the sows have litters in the same areas they use for hibernation, how many hoglets in a litter and roughly when can I expect to see hoglets leaving the nest?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Nic]

Hi FiestaRed

It’s lovely that you are so interested in the hedgehogs. That being so, you might be interested in a book about them: Hedgehogs by Pat Morris. There have been several versions, so try to make sure you get a recent version.

Meanwhile you might like to check out the information at https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/about-hedgehogs/hoglets/

But briefly, hogs have large ranges – the males can travel up to 2 miles per night. The females ranges tend to be smaller, and they could decide to give birth anywhere suitable within their range. Litter sizes can be approx. 4 – 7, but there is quite a high mortality rate so that 2 or 3 successfully weaned is more likely. If there are both males and females around mating can take place so, hoglets can arrive from early in the Spring and there are often some around into the autumn and winter.

Good luck. I hope you manage to spot some hoglets where you are – they are good fun to watch!

[LeytonGabriel]

Hi. I’m wondering if anyone has any information, either anecdotal, from surveys or knows of reseach linking hedgehog populations and earthworm populations.
We know now that there has been a massive parallel decline in both of them and given that earthworms can provide an important source of food, I’m wondering if there is any link.
Thanks
Gabriel

[Nic]

Hi LeytonGabriel

Your best bet re. research might be to contact the Hedgehog Officer at PTES – email address below. Alternatively BHPS may be able to help you can contact them via their logo at the top of the page.

I seem to have plenty of earthworms here – I quite often capture hogs, on video, pulling them out of the ground on the night cams. Although I have also seen that rats (when they are around) seem to have an even better earthworm extracting technique than the hogs! So, sadly rats also are competing with hogs in that respect.

Let us know what you find out.

Good luck.

[Author]

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