Small hog/hoglet
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This hoglet was in the front garden a couple of nights ago and I just wondered if anyone would take a guess at how old it is and can they still put on enough weight before hibernation when they are this size? For a size comparison the one in the feeding station is also a young hog and the one in the following video is mature I think. I’ll add a few more videos of this hog to my video diary also
Hi Bushsnuffler
It’s very difficult to tell from people’s videos how big hogs are. It might give a slightly better idea if we knew the diameter of the bowl the larger hog is eating from. Even then, not easy. The best way is to weigh the hoglet. But at this time of year they still have plenty of time to put on weight, which the small ones do quite quickly, so I would keep leaving the food out. Maybe put out another bowl with a slightly lower rim so that the little one can get at the food more easily. Being on the small side doesn’t really become a problem until later on in the year, especially if you are supplementary feeding.
Thanks Nic. The bowl is 11cm in diameter, on my video diary you can see full grown hogs eating from the same bowl and I’m guessing the little hog is no more than a quarter of the size/weight of a mature hog. I generally think it’s best not to interfere with wild animals because I don’t want to stress them but on the other hand when I see hogs in the street sometimes they don’t even go into defensive mode as if they’re not that bothered by humans. I know hog rescue places have to handle them to help them but is there any evidence they get stressed by it?
Hi Bushsnuffler
Yes, they do get stressed in captivity and not all that are taken in will survive – so it isn’t an easy option. But at this time of year I would be thinking more about making sure they got some of the food on offer and not even weighing them yet. I have a feeling that some hogs are ‘rescued’ much sooner than they need to be and could potentially have grown large enough to hibernate naturally if they’d been left (as long as supplementary food is being provided). The trouble is that then the rescue places get filled up with hoglets early and when the ones that really need rescuing come along later on, there’s no room at the Inn.
So I would just keep an eye out for the little one and hope that it starts tucking in to a bit of food. Some hogs decide not to hibernate, even if they are heavy enough, so I would keep leaving food out definitely for at least a week after all hogs have disappeared (if they do) and some people leave food out all winter even if all hogs seem to have disappeared. Hogs apparently do emerge during hibernation for short periods sometimes. Definitely leave water out all winter.
There may be quite a few hogs around who have been through the ‘rescue’ process at some time and they may behave a bit differently to a hog who has always been wild – especially if it was when they were young.
Thanks as always for the great info 👍
I’m regularly getting two small hogs at the feeding station now and one has made a nest in the hog house immediately behind the station. I’ve been putting bedding straw around the entrance and it has dragged it all inside over the last few nights, the hog has combined it with leaves and there’s quite a comprehensive nest in there now.They seem to be doing ok, will continue to put food and water out. I put more videos of them in my video diary
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