Hedgehogs

RedFraggle

Spike was fine outside in a hutch with hay and newspaper. Indoors is always at least 5 degrees warmer than out. The hog will be fine if you and your dogs etc are.

pinkcandyflossprincess

you could allways get a little heat pad that you use for kittens etc if worried to put under his towels? they are cheap on ebay , sure hes fine though!

lostinrates

RedFraggle wrote: »

Spike was fine outside in a hutch with hay and newspaper. Indoors is always at least 5 degrees warmer than out. The hog will be fine if you and your dogs etc are.

Oh dear, I'm afraid inside is not warmer than outside thrugh summer or right now, I'm sure it wil be through winter though...I hope it will be! Our house rally is very ''rustic'' and I think the kitchen wall is about to fall off....not many people would try and live here ATM!

what temperature do hedgehogs start to get seppy at I wonder?

My dogs have a heat lamp, an the cats do too then at night sleep under the covers with me. I think a heat lamp would be too warm for a hedgehog, and would be hard to focus it to give hima choice. Heat pad might be a better solution!

lostinrates

oh, he made a cute little squeak tonight! so sweet!

Paradigm

lostinrates wrote: »

oh, he made a cute little squeak tonight! so sweet!

Keep him safe, warmish, feed him up & release him next spring.

I didn't beleive they were endangered but I drive for a living & the number of hogs I see as "road kill" is virtually none, I see lots of squirrels & badgers but hardly any hogs! They must, for some reason, becoming quite rare!!

Froglet

lostinrates wrote: »

oh, he made a cute little squeak tonight! so sweet!

Squeaking is not cute,it can mean they are in pain,so do keep a close eye on him,and come over to the hedgehog forum and ask for help if you are worried.

This is a post that might explain it...........



Hedgehogs and Wildlife / Hedgehogs / Prolapsed rectum in a hoglet

on: Tuesday 10 August 2010_ 19:16:17

Neighbours brought Spike, male 132g approx 4 weeks, to me last night after finding him on Sunday walking down the road. After realising that he wasn't eating the food they offered, cat food, they brought him to me, but told me he made a squeaking noise every so often and would only stop when picked up and held.

I put the squeaking down to wrong diet and sheer hunger, and indeed by the end of the evening he was happily quaffing rehydration fluid and even managed a little Cimicat. He was still squeaking every so often, which I assumed was hunger and indeed, after feeding, all went quiet (he is capable of lapping himself).

However, this morning I noticed blood in his bedding, and saw blood coming out of his anus. One minute it was there...then it was gone. Assuming a potential prolapsed rectum I rushed him to the vets.

They agreed it did look like he'd suffered a prolapsed rectum (probably because he hadn't eaten for more than 24 hours and was now getting regular feeds) but that it had popped back in itself. There was some mild swelling but nothing serious. They were loathe to do any operation on a hog that small, but asked me to return if it came out again.

They agreed worming may be good to do, as he is hyperhog when he's awake, and suggested that could also be contributing to the bleeding.

He is on supervised three hourly feeds (Cimicat/rehydration fluid mix which he seems to like) and is doing the usual pale green Cimicat poo and is weeing regularly. However, every time he passes something he starts bleeding at the back end again, and lets out a loud squeak : so it wasn't hunger shouts but pain shouts. Away from toilet time he's inquisitive, fidgety and constantly on the move, although thankfully he has started sleeping properly today and is buried away in the bedding.

I haven't started worming yet (was planning on doing that tonight), but has anyone come across this before, where a hog shrieks every time it toilets ?

I'm wondering whether it's something like cystitis ? Would that explain the blood loss at the back end though ?

He may have worms,and they will need treating.There are ways to find out which sort.There are people far more knowledgable than me on the board,so don't hesitate to ask.Young hoglets can go downhill very fast ,after appearing ok for a while.

lostinrates

Froglet wrote: »

Squeaking is not cute,it can mean they are in pain,so do keep a close eye on him,and come over to the hedgehog forum and ask for help if you are worried.

This is a post that might explain it...........



Hedgehogs and Wildlife / Hedgehogs / Prolapsed rectum in a hoglet

on: Tuesday 10 August 2010_ 19:16:17

Neighbours brought Spike, male 132g approx 4 weeks, to me last night after finding him on Sunday walking down the road. After realising that he wasn't eating the food they offered, cat food, they brought him to me, but told me he made a squeaking noise every so often and would only stop when picked up and held.

I put the squeaking down to wrong diet and sheer hunger, and indeed by the end of the evening he was happily quaffing rehydration fluid and even managed a little Cimicat. He was still squeaking every so often, which I assumed was hunger and indeed, after feeding, all went quiet (he is capable of lapping himself).

However, this morning I noticed blood in his bedding, and saw blood coming out of his anus. One minute it was there...then it was gone. Assuming a potential prolapsed rectum I rushed him to the vets.

They agreed it did look like he'd suffered a prolapsed rectum (probably because he hadn't eaten for more than 24 hours and was now getting regular feeds) but that it had popped back in itself. There was some mild swelling but nothing serious. They were loathe to do any operation on a hog that small, but asked me to return if it came out again.

They agreed worming may be good to do, as he is hyperhog when he's awake, and suggested that could also be contributing to the bleeding.

He is on supervised three hourly feeds (Cimicat/rehydration fluid mix which he seems to like) and is doing the usual pale green Cimicat poo and is weeing regularly. However, every time he passes something he starts bleeding at the back end again, and lets out a loud squeak : so it wasn't hunger shouts but pain shouts. Away from toilet time he's inquisitive, fidgety and constantly on the move, although thankfully he has started sleeping properly today and is buried away in the bedding.

I haven't started worming yet (was planning on doing that tonight), but has anyone come across this before, where a hog shrieks every time it toilets ?

I'm wondering whether it's something like cystitis ? Would that explain the blood loss at the back end though ?

He may have worms,and they will need treating.There are ways to find out which sort.There are people far more knowledgable than me on the board,so don't hesitate to ask.Young hoglets can go downhill very fast ,after appearing ok for a while.

Oh crikey.....thank you for telling me. He seems ok...moving about fine...although, maybe more active than usual tonight, eating and drinking....I wasn't in the room when he squeaked, I heard it from next door...that's where I can hear him moving around too...

I'll call the wildlife centre for worming advice....they didn't suggest anything when I took him in. No blood, and no change in his poop...no blood anywhere.

I will join the hedgehog forum. I need some knowledgable people to call on and ask questions.

Froglet

They are endearing little critters and grab your heart but they are very complex and ,being wildanimals,are not as easy as people realise.They can suffer from so many things.I have learnt a lot over the years about them but would still not be confident enough to start medicating them.I leave that to my friend who has been doing it for years.But on the forum they are lovely people and will help you,day or night.

Thanks so much for all you are doing.I have read some of your posts elsewhere and you are like me,an animal lover who would help any creature in distress.I wish there more more people like you.

Welshwoofs

Well I've just taken in the first youngster of the season for me. He's just over 200g - now installed in a rabbit cage in my garage and is busy making himself a bed out of the straw there.

Busy-Bee_6

Welshwoofs wrote: »

If you find a 200g hedgehog at this time of year it's an Autumn born juvenile and almost certainly won't make it through the Winter as it's not big enough to hibernate.

I'm a hedgehog carer myself, raised a few through the Winter last year. I use rabbit hutches for them, give them wet cat food (meat ones, NOT fish!) and some dry cat crunchies to keep their teeth in good order, along with a supply of fresh, clean water (they drink a lot!). The ones I took in last year I got from 190g and 200g respectively up to 900g and 1kg before I released them in a safe area the back end of April.

As Froglet says, slugs and snails are NOT their primary food source, if fact they will only eat them if there is nothing else. In fact many late born hogs taken in have got lung-worm due to eating slugs and need ridding of that if they're to have any hope of survival.

Rule of thumb, if you see a hog in the daylight at this time of year it needs rescuing. Once we hit November, if you see SMALL hedgehogs out, even at night, they need to come in and be over-Wintered.

I'm a little confuced at the moment. I've got a small hedgehog in my garden but i keep reading different weights are safe. I thought on Autumnwatch the other day they said 300g is danger but I've seen reports hedgehogs won't survive unless they're over 600g. I don't know what to do because I feed the little fellow every night and don't want to upset it but equally don't want to leave it out if its going to die.

Can anyone tell me what to do for my hoggy