Overwintering Hedgehogs!

We recently published a post on the plight of hedgehogs and the significant number of them we are seeing this year that require help. The summer months saw many being left severely dehydrated due to the extreme heat. We had several which required intensive care and fluid therapy for a few days before they even started to make a recovery. 

Now the summer months are coming to an end, their help does end there, this year we are expecting alot of youngsters, from second litters, that are now venturing out looking for food to get ready for the winter months and their eventual hibernation. Although a true hibernation doesn't occur, they do sleep for long periods of time and lower their heart rate to an astonishingly low beat. They will wake during this peroid to go looking for food and then sleep again, the problem arises when they are too small to hibernate, but still do!! They don't have the fat resevres to cope and if they are too small they will die during the hibernation process. 

This year we have launched our biggest overwintering event we have ever hosted. We have teamed up with Lancing & Sompting, Help for Hedghogs, run by Debbie Henner, to make sure we can care for your spiky friends over the winter. 

We may be able to house them all between us, but if not, we need your help.

Thanks you to everyone who has offering to foster one of these beautiful creatures if we need it. 

Desperately Needed

When a hedgehog comes into us it is assessed and given any medications needed, Flea preps, worming, or fluids. It is then placed into an incubator, to provide warmth, a cold hedgehog will shut down and may die. At the moment we only have one small incubator, which allows us to house one hedgehog at a time, until they are warm enough to be transferred to a suitable cage.

Once we have had them and are satisfied they are ok, they can be moved through to our indoor cages. Some may need to remain in this incubator for several days. 

We would like to purchase a large incubator, this would house 6 or more juveniles at a time. 

This is a huge ask and everyone has been so generous this year already, however the incubator we wouold need to house these adorable creatures is around £670 We don't have enough left in our budget for this. If you would like to help with a donation to help us purchase this item, we would be eternally grateful. You can do so by clicking here 

We are hoping to purchase the Brinsea TLC-50 Advance Intensive Care unit from Brinsea  

Hedgehogs should weigh a minimum of 600g to be able to hibernate.

They will hibernate from the end of October as a rule of thumb, once the colder weather starts through till the spring.

Overwintering hedgehogs will need feeding several times a day and they also need to be kept warm!

Any large hedgehogs that look unwell should be checked out before hibernating. Smaller ones must be checked if found out during the day, as this is not normal for them. 

You can help right now by putting food out for the hedgehogs in your garden! 

So whats involved??

Theres a few pieces of equpiment you'll need:

• Indoor rabbit cage or suitable large cat carrier.
• Kitchen weighing scales.
• Gardening gloves to handle the hedgehogs (the small ones are alot more prickly!) 
• Newspaper for lining the basket.
• Shredded paper for them to sleep in, torn up newspaper is also fine.
• Small bed, a cardboard box is sufficient, although they will prpobably ignore it.
• Shallow Cat bowl to allow food and water.
• Cat or dog food a mixture of wet and dry (dry should be small kibble) , try and avoid fishy flavours, whilst they can have it it does take their stomachs a while to settle on it. 
• Hot water bottle, if needed for the colder nights. A heat source or warm room would be preferable. 

Hopefully the video below will explain a bit more about what is needed.