Hedgehogs often have two litters a year. The second litter is born in the autumn, these young ones are too underweight and young to survive the winter. Most Hogs will hibernate, but they arn't heavy enough, so they are forced to stay up in harsh conditions which are not suitible for them. In the end the die of the cold, or hunger, especially when frost,ice and snow hits. I had been weighing hedgehogs to make sure they were heavy enough to survive. At first I found 1 baby hog.
I took him to my parents house and designed the shed, to overwinter him. All so I could release him in the spring, which is a tried and successful habbit of some people! "Timothy" is his name. He is here with me now at home. Then came along "Shaun" and "Scrummy" the two baby hogs. By now the shed was getting pretty full ( and not to mention smelly). Everytime we went out, whether it be walking the dog or even buying hog food, we would find another. I found "Sophie". She was only a little bit underweight and so we brought her home, fed her up and let her go after a few days...as there was still time for her to put weight on, before hibernation. Then I found "Jam" who was only the size of a tennis ball. We carried him home in a hat, and then he got attached to it.
Then their was "Hope" and "Snuffles". Hope was underweight and so we have kept her and are still fattening her up, but Snuffles had 17 ticks on his face and near his eyes. So we took him back, removed them, fed him and released him within two days. Then their was "Squidgy" and "Cookie". Both in need of TLC.
We had our hands full, so we arranged for a nearby rescue centre to help out and take Shaun and Scrummy. We still have Jam, Timmy, Squidgy,Hope and cookie in the shed with heating on and fresh food,water and bedding right now.
Timmy is the biggest and most tame now. It is a joy to hold him and watch him snuffle up and down my lap and arms.
There have been a couple of great escapes, but only out of their hutches, they were still in the warm shed, so they were fine. We have saved 9 hedgehogs from 2010.
