Hibernation help for the hedgehog What you can do if you find a hedgehog
It's fall, it's getting cold: time for the spiny animals to hunker down. If you come across a hedgehog outside now, it may need help. Here's how you can help the animal through the winter.
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- Hedgehogs may need help in the fall if they haven't found enough food or a sheltered place to hibernate.
- People can help by offering suitable winter quarters such as piles of leaves or brushwood.
- Hedgehogs that appear malnourished or ill should be checked for injuries and taken to a hedgehog sanctuary.
- Keeping them indoors is only advisable in exceptional cases and under certain conditions.
By this time of year, hedgehogs should have put on enough weight to snuggle up in their winter quarters with sufficient reserves and slumber until spring.
If you come across a hedgehog running around during the day, it may need help. This is because it is becoming increasingly common for hedgehogs not to have found enough food to prepare for hibernation.
If the hedgehog has not discovered enough food for its winter fat by October or November, it will not last until March or April. Finding a place to sleep can also be difficult for hedgehogs these days.
People can do a lot to make the hedgehog's winter existence easier. Bringing them indoors should be the exception.
Scarce food supply
Hedgehogs feed mainly on snails, worms and insects. This supply decreases on cultivated land and in the well-tended gardens of their habitat, especially if the power feeding in the fall was preceded by a dry summer. However, if the hedgehogs do not find enough to eat, they cannot gain the necessary winter weight.
Looking for a sheltered place to sleep
Hedgehogs also often search in vain for a sheltered, warm place for their winter nest. Piles of leaves or brushwood are ideal, as are overgrown hedges or compost. Where everything is tidied up and trimmed in the fall and garden waste is disposed of immediately, hedgehogs literally cannot slip in.
Stray hedgehog
However, this does not mean that the hedgehog should be turned into a pet. As a wild animal, it may not be captured and is a protected species.
The situation is different if a representative of the species is still running around outside in November. In this case, it may not survive the winter without human help. This should be checked in such cases.
Check care requirements
What needs to be checked after finding a hedgehog in the cold fall? A decisive factor in the question of whether it is strong enough to survive the winter outdoors is its nutritional status: a rather spherical body shape indicates sufficient reserves. If it appears elongated and the flanks look sunken, the hedgehog is probably undernourished.
Check weight and body temperature
The decisive factor is ultimately what the scales show: a young hedgehog should weigh more than 500 grams, an older animal more than 1000 grams, in order to survive the winter.
The hedgehog's body temperature should be felt before the weight. This can be done using the palm of the human hand: If this feels warmer than the hedgehog's stomach, it needs to be warmed before any other measures are taken.
Hot water bottle for the hedgehog
- To warm it up, place the hedgehog on a hot water bottle filled with lukewarm water.
- Wrap a cloth around the hot water bottle beforehand and also cover the hedgehog.
- It may take a while for its body temperature to rise to a satisfactory level (around 35 to 36 degrees Celsius). The warm water must therefore be replaced repeatedly.
Check physical integrity
Hedgehogs that are found are often generally not in good condition. Check whether the animal is possibly injured, has a cold or is showing other symptoms of illness. Hedgehogs also serve as hosts for various parasites. They usually have to be freed from ticks and fleas, and in more serious cases also from fly eggs and maggots.
Ensure calorie intake
Last but not least, hedgehogs need to regain their strength and need food. Very few two-legged friends have insects or worms in stock, so the hedgehog will make do with cat food or, for example, scrambled eggs - without spices, of course. Always give the hedgehog some water to drink. It does not tolerate milk!
Let the professionals do it
Once the hedgehog has been warmed and strengthened, it should be examined by hedgehog experts, preferably at a hedgehog sanctuary. The animal will survive transportation there in a bucket or a high box with newspaper.
The foundlings often need an injection against lung parasites or other medication. The professionals can also advise finders on what to do next.
Wintering appropriately
Ideally, a hedgehog should have winter quarters where it comes from. Hedgehog stations and hedgehog advice centers can clarify whether it is able to hibernate on its own or whether it needs to be taken in by a human. It is only advisable to keep a hedgehog indoors if it is malnourished, sick or injured, or if it is very young or orphaned.
Taking in and hibernating indoors
As a rule, the finder should also be the one to take the hedgehog in. Provided that they have sufficient space (preferably a separate, undisturbed room with a comfortable temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius) and are prepared to take on the costs and effort of caring for hedgehogs in a species-appropriate manner. Because this is not without its costs.
Hedgehogs in the box
- Hedgehogs do need a protected space, but they also need a bit of exercise. A large cardboard box with at least one square meter of space would be a good shelter.
- If more than one hedgehog moves into your home temporarily, each one should have its own box, as they are solitary animals.
- In the box enclosure, there must be another small box, such as a shoe box, with an entrance where the hedgehog can set up a sleeping nest. Provide him with enough scraps of newspaper for this. Cat litter or sawdust are not suitable alternatives for hedgehogs, as they could injure themselves.
- As a hedgehog hotelier, you can never have enough newspaper in the house. You should line his entire box with it and change it almost daily to keep it clean.
The hedgehog menu
- The aforementioned cat food, whether dry or moist, also provides hedgehogs with a good supply of protein.
- It also benefits from being cooked. Scrambled eggs or well-fried but unseasoned minced beef can be served to him.
- Don't forget to give your hedgehog water to drink. In addition to milk, fruit, nuts and waste are taboo for hedgehogs.
It can happen that the hedgehog stops eating at some point, even in the care of a human, and goes into hibernation. It can then move to a sheltered but cooler place, such as the balcony or garage. Continue to provide him with dry food and water there if necessary.
Feeding until release into the wild
When it's time to release your prickly guest back into the fresh air in spring, ask the hedgehog station for advice on releasing it back into the wild. In any case, the hedgehog should be returned to the familiar territory where it was found.
Outside is best
Even if a hedgehog is provided with a giant cardboard box in the cellar and is given minced meat and eggs every day, it will always prefer the wild to captivity, which is stressful for it.
Hedgehogs are not suitable as pets and do not want to cuddle or play - even though they may look like they do. That's why home care should be the exception.
People can also do a lot outdoors to help hedgehogs find what they need to hibernate independently in the wild.
NABU (German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) provides hedgehog lovers with tips on appropriate garden design. It doesn't take much work, on the contrary: grow hedges, leave leaves lying around and avoid using chemicals as much as possible, for example.
Tidying up undesirable
If you are particularly well-meaning, make piles of brushwood or leaves in the fall for the hedgehog to snuggle up in during the winter and leave them there until spring.
Your own hedgehog den
During the cold season, hedgehogs are particularly comfortable in their own hedgehog houses, which can be placed in the garden. A pile of leaves on top also keeps the hedgehog house warm.
Feeding allowed
Before it's time for hibernation, humans can help hedgehogs to put on weight by feeding them. Specially constructed houses make it possible to feed the hedgehog outside and not feed cats or other unloved guests at the same time. The hedgehog meal is prepared in the evening, accompanied by water - and the bowls are cleaned daily.
With these tips, people can prevent the hedgehog from being taken into the house, which is stressful for both sides, and help the animal to hibernate in its natural habitat in a way that is appropriate for its species. Sweet dreams, hedgehog!
