Hedgehogs in winter: when and how long do hedgehogs hibernate?

Hibernation is important for many animals to survive the cold season. In addition to bears, the epitome of the hibernating animal, this includes bats, marmots and of course the hedgehog. The insectivores depend on this form of rest in winter in order to survive until the next spring. Many people ask themselves when the Erinaceidae begin their sleep phase and how long it will last.

Hedgehog hibernation

Why do hedgehogs hibernate?

Winter is very hard on animals of the same temperature, especially mammals and birds, and a lot of energy is required to survive the cold temperatures. Since the hedgehogs are insect-eater, they cannot find any food for several months and therefore have to go to sleep in winter. The following causes that trigger this behavior should also be mentioned.

• Spiked dress: Hedgehogs have exchanged warming fur for their spines, which is reflected in a greater loss of heat
• hormonal changes, especially in the females
• shorter days
• cold

Hibernation

During hibernation, the animal slows down its body functions so much that it does not have to go to the toilet, eat or drink. As a result, it saves energy that it previously consumed with food and stored as fat. It must be indicated that hedgehog species in Western and Central Europe often have an intermittent hibernation, i.e. a deep hibernation. The warmer the region, the greater the chance of winter dormancy, as is the case in Germany. With this it can happen that the animal wakes up and falls asleep every now and then. The deep hibernation, however, is actually typical.

Tip: Did you know that hedgehogs do not go through hibernation in hot, dry areas, but instead go through a different condition called torpor. This is a rigidity that occurs during dry periods and effectively protects the hedgehog from an acute lack of water and food, but less so from predators.

time

When the hedgehogs go to sleep depends largely on the region and the weather. The onset of winter is crucial, but the fat pad is even more important for the animals. Hedgehogs try to eat the fat deposits up to long-lasting temperatures of 5 ° C in order to withdraw to their winter quarters at the latest by this time. However, this time is not ideal and many of the animals withdraw between 6 ° C and 11 ° C, as the risk of hypothermia is still low here. There are clear differences between the sexes and the age of the animals with regard to the point in time.

male

• male Erinaceus are the first to retire to their winter quarters
• the time for this is usually at the beginning of October, with September being used for this in particularly cold regions such as Scandinavia
• the males disappear first and curl up for the winter because they do not have to recover from a possible pregnancy and rearing offspring like females do
• For this reason, you can completely devote yourself to the search for food, which quickly leads to the required fat pad

female

• the females usually choose their roost for the winter a little later, as they have to recover from rearing the young and do not have as much time to search for food
• typical for this are usually one to two weeks later like the male hedgehog

Young animals

• when young animals go to winter quarters depends heavily on their weight
• Since the young animals still have to put on a lot of weight, the search for food for the cushion usually takes longer
• so it is not uncommon for young hedgehogs to be looking for food at the end of October
• however, the longer the pups wander outside, the greater the chances of hypothermia
• the young must first eat a weight of at least 500 g to 700 g in order to survive the winter

Compared to young animals, the minimum weight of an adult hedgehog, regardless of gender, is around 1,000 grams, with more being better. If the animals weigh only 700 grams, they are already considered emaciated in terms of hibernation. When you will move into your accommodation for the winter is uncertain and can be delayed considerably.

Tip: You can give young animals a little help with the food they need if you know that there are hedgehogs around. All you have to do is provide a bowl of oatmeal or wheat bran and cat or hedgehog food to aid in weight gain.

duration

How long hedgehogs stay in their hiding place also depends on the temperature. In general, it can be said that the animals have long weeks ahead of them from November to April in which they starve themselves down to around 200 grams or a little more.

The typical process of hibernation is as follows:

• After the animals have moved into their quarters, they fall into a twilight sleep
• at body temperatures of 0 ° C you fall completely into hibernation
• only about two percent of the metabolism works
• however, sense organs and organs for survival remain fully functional
• if the body temperature rises again to around 30 ° C, the animals slowly wake up
• then they begin to move again until they reach their normal body temperature of 34 ° C

Since the hibernation lasts a long time, disturbances can lead to an interruption of sleep. This can have fatal consequences because the animals burn a lot of energy when they wake up in winter, especially the young ones. For this reason, the hedgehogs must not be disturbed in winter, as the chance of survival in such incidents is greatly reduced. You can help the animals out by setting up winter quarters that are undisturbed from possible predators or troublemakers, especially cats and dogs. In this way, the insectivores can come back to the daylight healthy and undisturbed after about five months.