Helping Hedgehogs in the UK

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Photo taken by Ste Dodd at a rescue centre which has taken in 6 hoglets after their nest had been disturbed by dogs in a garden. Unfortunately the mum hog ran away and could not be found, therefore these 6 little ones now need to be fed every two hours (plus toileting) and will remain at the centre until old enough for release back to the wild.

If you should accidentally disturb a nest in your garden with baby hedgehogs in it, carefully replace the nesting material wearing gardening gloves so as not to leave your scent on it. When a nest has been disturbed the mother may abandon her babies, kill them or sometimes she will move them to another nest site. If you think the babies have indeed been abandoned or if they are in immediate danger, please ring your local Rescue Centre for advice. In the meantime put the babies somewhere warm and quiet.

Nest was disturbed by dogs and the mum hog ran away and couldn't be found. They are approx 1 week old and are now being hand-reared.

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omg cuteness over load great pictures x

How to tell if a hedgehog is underweight or needs help

When turned onto its back, a healthy hedgehog of the correct weight for its size should be almost round. The distance between head & tail & the side to side distance should be nearly equal.

If the head to tail is much longer than side to side, then it is very underweight & thin.

Another sign of problems is if when lying on its back, the tail end tapers to a V or is much thinner than the head end.

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This shows a healthy hedgehog of the correct weight

the distance between head & tail (A) is approximately the same as the side to side distance (B )

He looks plump and round like a ball

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This is a seriously underweight hedgehog needing urgent help and taking into care immediately

A is much longer than B

Also note the way the head is much fatter than the tail

In real life when the spines don't bristle up, the difference is even more pronounced and easier to see



From about middle of October until the spring) ANY hedgehog weighing less than about 600g should be picked up and help and advice got from a local rescue centre or hedgehog carer. This applies even if it looks round and healthy like the first picture

This information has been based on the research carried out by Dr Toni Bunnell

This is the time we start to see autumn juveniles out and about. These are young hedgehogs from the second litter of the season and if they are small then they are in real trouble. It is recommended that hedgehogs should weight at least 650g or more in order to survive hibernation. Any lighter than that and they will not have the fat reserves to get them through winter and death is a certainty. The tragedy is we are seeing more and more underweight hogs later in the season. Autumn juveniles are vulnerable and will struggle not only to find enough food, but to eat enough of it in time to get up to hibernation weight before the cold weather set in.

Here's what you can do to help:
Any hedgehog out at night and weighing less than 650g will not survive winter. Pick it up, weigh it and call your local rescue or the British Hedgehog Preservation Society for advice.

Any hedgehog seen out by day is in trouble and is often suffering from hypothermia, even on a warm day, so they need to be warmed up. Fill a pop bottle or hot-water bottle with very warm water (not scalding hot), then wrap the bottle in a towel and place into a high-sided box and then gently put the hedgehog on to it ensuring it can get off if it wishes. Then cover with another towel and place it somewhere dark and quiet. Ring a rescue or BHPS.

If you have hogs in your garden, buy a feeding station or make one by putting a paving slab on top of some bricks and put out food. Dry, good quality cat biscuits are ideal as they don't freeze or go off but tinned meat-flavoured cat or dog food is good if you put it down fresh each night. Dried mealworms contain protein and energy and hogs love them. Also unsalted peanuts (crushed) and sunflower hearts go down well. In the morning your garden birds will finish off anything the hogs didn’t eat.

Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and must never be given cows' milk or milk products. It can cause severe digestive upset and even kill them. If you want to give them a drink, make it water. Always keep a supply of clean, fresh water available in a shallow, heavy based bowl.

If you have a pond, create a natural sloping side or pepple beach so they can get to the water easily. Hedgehogs are excellent swimmers but will die of exhaustion quickly if a pond has steep sides that they can't climb up.

Leave a small area of garden as natural as you can. Log piles, hedges, long grass, piles of dead leaves and shrubs with branches that reach the ground are all ideal places for hogs to make their nests. Try not to use slug pellets as the poison in the pellets will transfer to the hedgehogs.

Bonfires are death traps for hedgehogs. If you have a fire, stack the material in one place and then move it to make the fire on a different site the day you intend to light it. Even if you only made it the day before, a hedgehog could have moved in overnight to sleep there and will be burned to death.

Never be afraid to pick up a hedgehog if you think it may need help. They are very docile creatures and deal with being handled very well. Wear garden gloves to protect your hands from the prickles or wrap a towel over the hedgehog to pick it up. Do not worry about fleas as some hedgehogs do have fleas but these are host-specific and do not live on any other mammal. Therefore they will not like you, or your cat or your dog !

Share your stories with us of what you have done to help hedgehogs! Have you created a gap in your fence so that hogs can get into your garden? Do you now put out food and water? Have you created/bought a hogbox for them to nest in? Have you left part of your garden to go wild? Have you altered your pond so that hogs can get out if they fall in?