We had a (small) visitor last night!
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Having not seen any hogs since October 15th I really thought they had all gone into hibernation but regardless I have kept on putting out fresh hog food and water (and will continue to do so).
So after 11 days of watching the greediest Mouse in the world systematically removing as much hog food as it could each night on the Trail Cam last night I was rewarded by a small Hog at 05:00 this morning.
It stayed for quite a while and ate quite a lot of hog food.
I’m a bit worried about its size and we were down to 3 degrees last night.
Hi Hal_Chase
The little hedgehog does look quite small, although it isn’t always easy to tell from photos. The best thing to do is try to weigh it. Not the best time to be catching hedgehogs at 5.00 in the morning, I know, but it’s the only way to be sure. You may find that now the hoglet knows where to find food, that it turns up earlier.
I would contact a hedgehog carer in advance to get their advice and see if they are able to take in another hoglet. Have a temporary night time container ready, in case. So – high sided box/pet carrier with lots of newspaper in the bottom to soak up any spilt water, etc. I usually use torn up paper strips for bedding, but enough so that the hog can hide underneath. Make sure there is food and water available. Hogs are excellent at escaping so make sure if using a box it is secure, but that it also has air holes.
Take your scales into the garden in advance, to avoid stress to the hoglet. Use gloves to pick it up. I usually use an old 1 litre ice cream container to weigh in. An underweight hoglet easily fits in. Make sure you take account of the weight of the container. The hoglet needs to weigh 450g to have a chance of surviving hibernation. Your local carer (who will know about local weather conditions, etc.) may advise you to leave it for a while if it’s a bit smaller and you are feeding it, in the hope it will put on weight quickly. It is very stressful for hogs to be taken into captivity. If it is over 450g let it go as soon as possible and move away as quickly as you can so that it can get on with it’s life. Some hogs will stay firmly rolled up when being weighed and others will try to escape, so be prepared.
Hogs don’t always seem to mind if it’s cold as long as they aren’t wet at the same time. The hoglet who didn’t hibernate here last year continued to visit in well sub-zero temperatures.
Good luck.
Thanks for the info, I’ve moved the camera closer tonight to try and get a better view when it comes back (normally I do have the camera closer but moved it back last week so I could ‘scan’ a wider area.
If it regularly comes earlier I may attempt to catch/weigh.
Will post up better photos if I get any!
Hoglet came back last night, not sure what time as I forgot to set the time on my Trail Camera after charging the batteries (D’Oh!).
It stayed for quite a while eating, also have some video which I might put a link up to later if anyone is interested.
Hi.
Your hoglet is adorable. Great picture with the cat.
Please keep us posted with developments. We caught footage of a very small hoglet a few weeks ago but only saw him the once. I’m hoping he found somewhere else to get food.
Good luck with the little oneHi Hal_Chase
I agree, adorable hoglet! It seems a bit bigger than in the first image, which just goes to show that, either it’s the unreliability of images, or it has grown a bit already! They can grow very quickly at that age, so if you keep feeding it might be o.k. even if you can’t catch it to weigh. I would still weigh it, though, if you get the chance. Once you’ve weighed one, if any others turn up, you’ll have a better idea of whether they need weighing too. Hoglets are very good at ‘impersonating’ each other, so you might even find there is more than one!
The Hoglet (if it is only one…) came back 5 times last night, earliest visit was 19:36 (an hour earlier than we have seen hogs recently) and the last visit was 03:56 when the temperature dropped to -3 for the first time.
Here is a selection of some of the visits, what do you think to its shape? I’m no expert but its looking quite rounded with less of the ‘Mohican’ look you get with younger hogs. It also drinks and eats well and I’ve seen it eating bugs, not just Hog Food.
To be honest, in some of the images it still looks a bit narrow, to me (especially in the first image from your most recent message – rear view – which is really the best angle to tell from), but it really is so difficult to tell, especially from ‘still’ images. But hopefully it will keep coming and fatten up a bit more.
They do, each, usually make several visits a night, so it’s possible it’s all the same one. If it’s started visiting earlier, might you be able to give it a quick weigh?
Glad to hear it is doing a bit of foraging as well.
Hi Nic,
unfortunately we were out last night so weighing is not an option.Trying a video link below….hopefully it will work!!
@Nic Not sure if you got a chance to see the above video but this Hoglet is still visiting every night and I think has grown since the above footage.
Let me know if you see this and I will post a more recent clip so you can comment on the Hoglet size.
Hi Hal_Chase
Yes, sorry, I have seen the video. To be honest, it’s so difficult to tell from video. I’ve got used to the ones here, because I have seen them in real time too.
Sometimes it’s handy to see them in relation to a food dish you know the size of, so I’m guessing the one in the corner is one of those fairly standard green ones? That can be a way of assessing growth. But then when they go into the box the size could be distorted by the extra layer the light had to go through, etc. But they are also very good at stretching out one second and then shortening themselves so they can fit into a bowl the next. So that a very short clip is not that reliable.
The only really reliable way is to weigh one. Once you’ve weighed one, if more come along, you get a good idea of whether they’re bigger than that or smaller. But if it’s growing, that’s a good sign and some don’t hibernate until beginning of December. The trouble is you never know when they will decide to go. They don’t necessarily wait until they’re big enough.
I’ve still got a couple of hoglets here, but there also seems to be a new small cat on the block which managed to get into the feed box and another which has decided it doesn’t mind eating the hog food cats aren’t supposed to like. Of course none of them are to be seen if a rat turns up!
@Nic Yes that’s a standard green food bowl, well spotted !!
Just an update…
We are getting two, possibly three Hogs visiting several times a night currently, one Hoglet and one medium sized (who might be two…who knows!!), they are eating plenty of hog food and drinking fresh water regularly.
Hi Hal_Chase
I still have the two hoglets here as well. Getting quite big now. I’m beginning to wonder whether they are going to hibernate at all.
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