re home a pregnant Hedgehog
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We have what we believe to be a pregnant female sleeping in our workshop. Multiple hedgehogs call our sheds their permanent & temporary homes for a while now and I think this female had a successful litter last year in one of them. I use a trail camera every night but obviously don’t witness everything. However, we did see mating behaviour from 29/3/22 to 6/4/22 and our female had the choice of two cosy straw lined pallets that she overwintered in and continued to use overnight after coming out of hibernation on 4th March 22. Sadly it looks like two males have taken these for their night abodes. I guess she doesn’t want the males nearby and is currently sleeping in the workshop under a wire shelf. She is safe but it is not a good place. I have placed 2 extra pallets in two different shed locations right next to this workshop, each with their own heap of nesting material nearby. For some bizarre reason she has chosen the workshop? This workshop will soon be needed to use saws, drills, paint etc. We would love her to stay and have her babies on our property but where she is now is not a good choice. Will she move into one of the better areas to give birth? If she does not, should we make space for her and add nesting material nearby and let her get on with it (this can be done but it is going to severely affect out work commitments) or, wait till she leaves this evening and block off the hole in the hope she will use the extra locations nearby. I historically feed the hogs in the front sheds which are well established with two nesting areas but like I say, they have been claimed by the male hogs who have sort of driven her away. Any advice greatly received.
Update as no one replied… We have decided to move all tools to the front of the workshop as to not disturb our resident. We are just about able to delay work until June and I will place more nesting material nearby to help make her more comfortable so we will see what happens. We currently have 2 occupied nests by at least 3 male hedgehogs, 1 occupation of the workshop by pregnant female and 3 optional extra nest sites in 1/2 acre of Lake District back garden and barns.
Hi wildaboutshiskers
That sounds very dedicated of you to move all the tools, etc.! She might move to somewhere more suitable – it’s still a bit early for hoglets and they tend to build birthing nests quite soon before the little ones are born. But hogs have a bit of a reputation for being a bit perverse and/or doing the unpredictable, so nothing is certain!
There also isn’t any guarantee that she is pregnant, even if you saw courtship behaviour or possibly actual mating. Pat Morris says in the book ‘Hedgehogs’: “Many females still fail to become pregnant, even after several matings, and a fair proportion may escape becoming pregnant altogether.”
Bearing in mind that, as well as how long the hogs take circling, it seems we are especially lucky to see any hoglets at all! But fingers crossed the hog there is, indeed, pregnant and you soon hear the patter of hoglet feet!
Good luck and happy hog watching!
Ah thank you for your reply 🙂 She moved out for one day. Her nest was sparse & made from an old duster with a small bit of straw attached. It was following this trail of straw which enabled us to find her. She has returned and made the nest much larger using the extra nesting material I left for her. She has blocked herself in completely. I have been watching her intently for the last two months and although I appreciate she may not be pregnant, she has grown experientially over this last month. Also she resembles the female who I think had hoglets last year who we captured on camera and although resembling miniature hedgehogs, when seen next to an adult it is clear they were babies. Is there anything I can do food wise if she does have her babies in the workshop? I have witnessed & read that they look for food during the day when they have babies in the nest. I don’t want to leave any food in the workshop with her nest as it might tempt the males to that area.
Hi, I have no real answer to your question but would love to see the footage if possible. I’ll check back for updates.
It is really lovely to hear how much care and thought you are putting into looking out for your hogs.
I have a resident hog who is feeding every hour over night and returning to the hoghouse inbetween, rather than heading off for the night.
I was hoping that we may also have hoglets in the not too distant future, so it would be good to see what you think may be a pregnant female,
Take Care,
SarahHi wildaboutwhiskers
If she has been enlarging the nest she may be planning on having young ones there. They don’t tend to make very elaborate nests at this time of year otherwise. If there are both males and females around, it’s possible for a hog to have early hoglets.
Female hogs with young will venture out during the day, but whether it is to look for food or not, is another matter. They sometimes go out to get a break from the youngsters or if it’s hot, etc. Although, I suspect she would stay with them when they are very tiny. But that doesn’t mean she won’t go out at night as well once they are bit bigger. I would leave food where you normally leave it – that may be where she looks for it. The normal food, i.e. meaty hog/cat/dog food or cat/kitten biscuits and water should be fine.
You can put photos on the Gallery – accessed via the home page or for videos check out https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/my-hedgehog-street/your-hedgehog-videos/
Good luck. Fingers crossed for some hoglets!
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