Nesting question!
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Hi, newbie here. We made a hedgehog house in the autumn which to our delight was used. I gave it a quick clean at the end of winter and it’s now being used again. We have a feeding station for the hedgehog and the food and water is consumed most nights. I read that unless it’s being used as a maternity nest the hog will only stay temporarily. It’s been about 3 weeks now with no signs of any hog let’s so I’m assuming our little resident isn’t pregnant. Is it normal for a hedgehog to use a nest for so long or is it possible that we may still get some babies? Thank you
Hi, I saw a hedgehog in our back garden so I set up some wildlife cameras and realised it’s living under our decking at the bottom of the garden. I’ve got video of it coming in and out every night for the last month and no sign of any hoglets either so I assume it’s just living there. I think if it has a regular source of food, water and somewhere safe to rest during the day it makes sense for it to stay there.
I take every day as it comes, I would be gutted if it moved on but it may happen so I just try to enjoy it while it’s here.Hi Girlmum
Welcome to the Forum!
Hogs in the wild do tend to move nests from time to time – not least, because unless they do, there may be a build up of external parasites. The males are probably likely to move nests more often. But now there are so many hog boxes around, it seems that some hogs are choosing to stay put for longer. Sometimes making it very difficult for their ‘landlords’ to clean them out at the appropriate time! But, especially in the summer, some hogs just make a very temporary nest for a day or a few days. i.e. I have had them in my feed boxes before now and they will just curl up there with very little or no bedding at all.
I’m not sure I totally interpreted the second part of your post properly. Not sure if you meant you hadn’t seen the hog for 3 weeks, or it had been there for 3 weeks. But it isn’t always easy to work out whether a box might be being used as a birthing nest. If you have hogs visiting, there is also the chance that a mother hog will bring her young ones from another garden to get some food in yours, once they are big enough. Fingers crossed!
Good luck and happy hog watching!
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