# Just rescued a Hedgehog baby! Need few extra tips!



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

So my neighbour just came over and said 'hello dear, your family like animals, there's a baby hedgehog on my lawn, can you help?'

I went over there and in the garden, in the middle of the lawn was a little hedgehog. It can't be more that a few months old, its about a third of the size of an adult. Got all it's spikes, but it looks quite slim. My neighbour said it had been in the sun for a couple of hours, she wanted to see if it went back I to her flower beds.

For now we've put it in a dark room in a box, it was reluctant to roll into a ball when I touched it, like a healthy hedgehog might do. There's no sign of fleas, but we do have dogs, so, providing it eats and drinks, can we spot on it?
It doesn't look like it would have survived on its own, though I feel bad for taking it out of the wild, it would have been caught by a cat/dehydrated if I'd have left it.
I've got meal worms, morio worms, and dog food that it can eat, will that be okay, or should I go and buy some wet cat food? I have some multi vitamin powder I dust on our rats food, should I do the same for this guy?

We've rescued adult hedgehogs from the dogs but they were always, rescue and release that evening.
Providing it cooperates and eats, what weight is a good weight for release?


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

Bump


----------



## Caoimhe-Blyss (Sep 5, 2010)

Hey well done in taking on this little one. I currently have two sisters in my care.

First thing first is you need to weigh the little one. Keep a record on a day to day basis and see if he gains or loses any weight.

They need to be fed CAT biscuits or kitten biscuits. NO FISH and you can offer them cat or kitten meat aswell as water.

My two are about 4 weeks old at the moment so I actually offer them cat biscuits soaked in goats milk. You can offer yours a bit of goats milk as well as it sounds like he might be a little underweight and it will help him bulk up.

There is no need to keep them in the dark. In fact its better to have them in a cage/enclosure etc with a bed and plenty to snuggle into. They then get used to the fact that there is a daytime when they need to sleep and a night time when they need to be awake. You can offer your hedgie some morio worms and mealies but not too many as they are very addictive. 

They best time to release them is when they reach 600grams. If you weigh this guy and find he is that, I would recommend you keep him over night with food and then handle him tomorrow. If he balls up properly release him at dusk in a nice shrubby area. If he doesnt ball up keep him for a little longer as it could be that hes dehydrated and hungry.

DO NOT USE SPOT ONs on them. I will contact someone about what they can need but I think the spot on will kill him.

Welcome to hedgehog world


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

Caoimhe-Blyss said:


> Hey well done in taking on this little one. I currently have two sisters in my care.
> 
> First thing first is you need to weigh the little one. Keep a record on a day to day basis and see if he gains or loses any weight.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply 

I weighed him, and he's 159g, I have no idea how old he might be but he's about as long as an iPhone 4 when he's not in a ball.

As soon as I got him in we got the eye dropper out and gave him some water which he was very grateful for, and we gave him about 10 mealworms which he scoffed down.

I've been to the shop and got some Go Cat and Sheeba (chicken) and also some chicken breast which I understand they can eat if it's boiled? Been on google.

We dragged an old indoor rabbit cage down from the attic, and put him in my room. He's got shredded paper as bedding at the moment, but I can get some hay tomorrow if that would be better? There's a big tube and a box to hide in. I've put a bowl of water in there but in not going to feed him again until tonight 
He's done a poop, which wasn't runny or watery so that must be good.

My room is always quiet but I've opened the blinds so he knows the sun is up, and he's dragged a load of paper into the box and has gone to sleep.
Mum checked him for maggots and fly eggs about an hour after we got him, and he seems free of all that: he also balled up much better when she picked him up, so the water helped him out 

I told my neighbour to keep an eye out for any more. I'm not sure how long they should be with their mothers for, but he seems awfully small to be alone, and I thought that maybe his mother might have been killed and that others from his litter might pop up. I said if she's sees anymore on her lawn for more than about 30 mins to knock as I'd come a get them, then we can see if mummy hog pops up in the night?

We've had fox cubs, badger cubs and various bird babies, but only ever aldut Hedgehogs...I'm clueless on baby hoggies really.
Going on Wildlife SOS episodes and google right now, so your help is much appreciated, thank you.


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

Here's a couple of photos of the little tyke.


----------



## Caoimhe-Blyss (Sep 5, 2010)

Hey he looks to be about 5 weeks old so he will need to be in your care till hes about 10weeks and 600grams. 

Shredded paper is absoultely fine. My two get newspaper for bedding and shredded newspaper for nest making.
Boiled chicken is fine for them and they do actually love it and cos its full of protein that will do him some good.

Do ask your neighbour to keep an eye out as most hog mothers give birth to 2-4 young but sometimes they can just have the one.

Good luck


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

Wicked. Thanks for your help.

Hopefully he's the only one 

I'll keep the thread updated with his progress in case anyone is curious 

If you do find out what flea treatment I can use, could you let me know?


----------



## Shelleyred (Jul 11, 2010)

He looks a lil cutie! Good luck with him and hope he is ok!


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

Shelleyred said:


> He looks a lil cutie! Good luck with him and hope he is ok!


Well he made it through the night  he's eaten quite a lot of the food I put in for him and left me with a couple of poops.

One thing. In the night I kept hearing a kind of scream from him. I thought it was my rats having a scrap at first but it was him. Is that because he's scared? Is he playing with the teddy I gave him to snuggle with? Or might he be injured? We had a really good look at him and couldn't seen any injuries.


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

He's gorgeous. The beauty of hedgehogs is that they're one of (I think) only 2 mammals that can be 'hard released' - in other words once they're grown and ready to be released you can take them somewhere and release them, whereas most of the others have to be 'soft released' - put in a pen for a number of weeks until they acclimatise to where they are and learn to find food.


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

feorag said:


> He's gorgeous. The beauty of hedgehogs is that they're one of (I think) only 2 mammals that can be 'hard released' - in other words once they're grown and ready to be released you can take them somewhere and release them, whereas most of the others have to be 'soft released' - put in a pen for a number of weeks until they acclimatise to where they are and learn to find food.


Ooo that's good, one less thing to worry about. I hand reared a Squirrel once, that was fun, as it got older it got less tame and one day we opened the window and off it popped. It would still come in the garden for Monkey Nuts from our hands, that was over 6 years ago, so I assume it's dead now.

My brother has been drafted to make a little Hedgehog house to put in the front garden, just like a hut, gonna fill it with some leaf litter or hay? Just so he does have somewhere to go if he gets a bit scarred for a bit 

He's eating like a champ 
Got expensive taste though, he only eats Whiskers Kitten biscuits and Sheeba wet food. I don't mind I just want him to make it.

The spines on his back seem to point in random directions and I trod on one that had fallen out last night, again, ouch.
Might he have ring worm? His skin seems a tad dry but not flakey, an he's not going bald.


----------



## sam n mushu (Jun 4, 2012)

hes lovely, well done for taking him in, 

hope he gains lots of weight.

good luck

so cute


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Rawwwrchazli said:


> The spines on his back seem to point in random directions and I trod on one that had fallen out last night, again, ouch.
> Might he have ring worm? His skin seems a tad dry but not flakey, an he's not going bald.


The spines are designed to lie in one direction when they are not needed to protect. As soon as the hedgehog curls up the spines are designed to point in different directions so that animals aren't tempted to bite them.

And their spines fall out just like our hair. :2thumb:


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

So just got home and found a box on my door step with another hedgehog in it.

This one is about 10g heavier than 'Jethro' and seems livelier. I weighed it at 165g.
Not sure what to do, it's bigger, so I'm guessing maybe a week or two older?

Should I try a bulk it up like I am doing with Jethro?
It's got a wild appetite, just like Jethro, like it hasn't eaten for a while. My only problem is I only have the one cage, so can't they live together?


Also, do hedgehogs get bored? I hear Jethro biting the bars at night, so yesterday I let him wander about my room, I don't mind that at all, I just don't want him getting to humanised. He still bites the gloves when I pick him up, and shuffles away when the light goes on.
His weight is increasing by maybe 1g every 1-2 days.
Is that okay?


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

According to Dr Toni Bunnell (who I met when I had the squirrels - she runs a hedgehog rescue in York and has written papers on the development of hedgehogs) a hedgehog isn't fully weaned until it reaches the weight of 250g, so the second hedgehog probably will need some help until it gets to about 250g, as it may still have been dependant on mum. She reckons that the British hedgehog isn't fully independent to forage until it reaches a weight of 200g, so I think your 2 hedgehogs aren't able to forage themselves and need the help you are giving them.


When we have hedgehogs that are no longer in intensive care and are preparing for release, we put them together and haven't had any problems, so you could try putting them together and keeping an eye on what goes on?? They both sound pretty young, at those weights, so would probably get on together and find comfort from each other.

As far as the weight gain, that doesn't sound very much, but I've never had hedgehogs at home so haven't weighed them to check on weights, so all I can say is to let them eat as much as they want and that's the best you can do.

By the way, if you can't find any fleas on either hedgehog, then your dogs aren't under threat. hedgehog fleas are 'host specific' and will not live on your dogs.


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

feorag said:


> According to Dr Toni Bunnell (who I met when I had the squirrels - she runs a hedgehog rescue in York and has written papers on the development of hedgehogs) a hedgehog isn't fully weaned until it reaches the weight of 250g, so the second hedgehog probably will need some help until it gets to about 250g, as it may still have been dependant on mum. She reckons that the British hedgehog isn't fully independent to forage until it reaches a weight of 200g, so I think your 2 hedgehogs aren't able to forage themselves and need the help you are giving them.
> 
> 
> When we have hedgehogs that are no longer in intensive care and are preparing for release, we put them together and haven't had any problems, so you could try putting them together and keeping an eye on what goes on?? They both sound pretty young, at those weights, so would probably get on together and find comfort from each other.
> ...


Thank you!
Between the two of them last night they finished a pouch of Whiskers Chicken oh so meaty and a half a hand full of kitten biscuits 

I haven't seen any fleas on either of them yet, but I doubt they are flea free, it's good to know the dogs won't get infested


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I remember reading somewhere that urban hedgehogs are more likely to have fleas than rural ones? We have more problems with ticks than fleas at our sanctuary.


----------



## corvid2e1 (Jan 21, 2007)

Same. We rairly get them in with fleas unless they are very down to begin with, despite their reputation. incidently though, while hedgehog fleas are host specific, they will also carry cat fleas, which will bite anything.


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

corvid2e1 said:


> Same. We rairly get them in with fleas unless they are very down to begin with, despite their reputation. incidently though, while hedgehog fleas are host specific, they will also carry cat fleas, which will bite anything.


I live in a fairly rural area so the lack of fleas will make sense 
Both are doing well, getting nice and chubs


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Great news! :2thumb:

Do keep updating us with their progress.


----------



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

So both babies are over 200g now 

I have one issue.
The smell of the cat food they eat is stinking the whole house and attracting so many flies through the window.
Now. I tried them on kitten biscuits dry, and also soaked in water/goats milk/soya milk. Nope.
They've gone off chicken, and they won't eat anything unless it wet cat food in Jelly or if it's mealworms.
Now I put them in the old chicken run at about 830 last night as it got to dusk, for about 2 hours and they rustled about in all the leaves that have got stuck in there, but then I bought them back inside.

Will they be okay if I release them into there now? It's fenced in and they can't get out, I can still feed them every night. And still weigh them to keep an eye on them.
It's 8ft X 7ft.
There's an old best box in there that I can modify to give them a hide and I can fill it with hay.

What do you think?

Then once they hit the 600-800g mark I'll open the gate and let them out?!

I hasten to add this run has been out of use for 5 years, in fact we use it as a vegetable patch, but this year we were a bit behind on the green fingered approach, so it's empty.


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I do agree cat food stinks :lol: Thank goodness our cats only get a small portion in with their dried food and eat it nearly all, so it doesn't hang around for long, but you can feed them a dried cat food, or dog food.

You could also feed them raw beef mince and if the chicken you are feeding is cooked, you could try them on raw chicken? 

It shouldn't be a problem to put them outside, as it will give them a chance to get used to the cooler night temperatures, as long as they have an upside box full of straw to tuck up in during the day.

Then when you are happy with their weights you can indeed just open the door and allow them to leave when they are ready.


----------

