Baby hedgehog doing well

What a difference a day makes!  Our  baby hedgehog was barely hanging on yesterday but a heated pad, lots of cuddles and a bottle feed every two hours have done the trick.  He’s put on weight and is up and moving around.

He doesn’t have his eyes open yet but finds his way your hand and the milk by scent – he makes a little snuffling sound when he’s on the trail of his next meal.   We’ve called him Solo and he’s really sweet, the smallest hedgehog we have in at present.  Hoglets are vulnerable until they are between six to eight weeks old, then we can breathe a sigh of relief and say we’ve reared him.

When this baby hedgehog’s eyes are open, at about 3 weeks old, he should start to wuffle down a bit of proper food.  We’ll try him with scrambled egg, a bit of liver gravy, mashed up biscuits are sometimes liked.  Anything that is semi-liquid and rich in protein is good.

Even as babies, you will find that all hedgehogs have personalities and strong preferences.  Some like mealworms, others chopped chicken  We’ve even had one who dipped her mealworms in milk before eating them.

The most important factor in successfully rearing the babies is keeping them warm.  Solo has a nest inside a beanie hat which is then on a heated pad.  It’s warm and cosy and he loves it.

If you find a hoglet and don’t have a heated pad then you have to improvise – a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel does just as well but you have to keep warming it up.   If the baby gets cold he will surely die.  All hedgehogs like a nest and a pile of hay in a box in one corner of their den or hutch is perfect.   They will often shred paper up and take it into their nest to make it extra cosy.  During the day it’s hard to tell there are any hedgehogs in residence as they bury themselves deep in their bedding.