Hedgehogs hibernate + feed in winter

From the beginning of October, the food supply for hedgehogs decreases significantly. By this time, most perennial males have already gone to their winter quarters. If you now come across hedgehogs in the garden, they are almost always mother animals or young hedgehogs. The hedgehog, which may still be weakened from rearing the young, now urgently needs high-energy feed to eat up the winter fat. A hedgehog can often be seen eating a pot of cat food.

hedgehog children

Most hedgehog babies are born in August. In warm regions such as the wine-growing regions, this can be a little earlier. A mother hedgehog usually gives birth to between two and seven young animals, which by the way are already born with spines. The spines are still very soft at this point. The eyes open after about two weeks. The baby hedgehogs can be seen in the garden at the earliest when they are three weeks old, when they take their first trips with their mother. The hedgehogs can still find enough food in the garden until late September and can easily gain around 10 g in weight per night. Usually, towards the end of September, the young hedgehogs leave the mother and migrate to other areas.

The instinct of young hedgehog children also tells them that they can only survive the winter with good fat deposits. The search for food during this time is very strenuous for the hedgehog and also takes a lot of time. Young hedgehogs sometimes forget to take care of building a nest in time when they are looking for food. The protective nest is then built very late and not with the necessary care. One of the main reasons why so many young hedgehogs die during the cold season.

hibernation

A few weeks later than the male hedgehogs, the female and young hedgehogs also roll up into a ball and begin their hibernation. Your metabolism is reduced to a minimum during this time. The body temperature drops from 36 degrees to five degrees and the heart no longer beats around 200 times per minute, but only eight to twenty times. And the respiratory rate is also reduced from forty to fifty to just three to four. Sometimes the hedgehogs wake up briefly in between, but then stay in their nest. Towards the end of March, the male hedgehogs end their hibernation first, followed by the female hedgehogs in April.

feeding in autumn

While supplementary feeding of hedgehogs between May and September is not necessary or even harmful, it can You can support the animals by giving them food from the end of September, when the food supply has dwindled considerably offer. However, if you feed a hedgehog, you should do it properly. In order to eat up a layer of fat, the animals need a diet rich in fat and protein. Hedgehogs do not tolerate fruit and vegetables, because in nature they feed almost exclusively on insects and other invertebrates. Are suitable:

• wet cat or dog food
• scrambled eggs (unseasoned)
• cooked poultry meat
• cooked, unseasoned ground beef

The animals are given water to drink, which – like the food – should be placed in a flat, stable bowl on the ground. Hedgehogs like milk, but they don't like it. Milk contains lactose, which the animals cannot tolerate and get severe diarrhea.

Hibernation in the house

You should only take hedgehogs into your house to hibernate in exceptional cases. Animals that are out and about in moderate temperatures until November should only be fed and supported with suitable materials when building their nests. A hedgehog really needs help when:

• he is out and about during the day in persistent cold or snow
• he shows signs of malnutrition
• he is sick or injured

If a hedgehog is underweight, this can be seen from the indentation behind the head. This indentation is called the hunger line. Sick hedgehogs are generally apathetic, their eyes slit and sunken. If you touch the animal, it usually does not curl up.

vet visit

While you can support underweight hedgehogs with food, indoor shelter and the necessary hibernation, sick and injured animals need urgent medical attention. Therefore, contact an animal shelter, the local veterinarian or a hedgehog sanctuary immediately.

hibernation weight

If a hedgehog reaches the minimum weight required for hibernation just before or even after the onset of winter, you have to wait until spring before releasing it back into the wild. Depending on age and size, the following values ​​should be used as a guide:

• Young hedgehog: 600 to 700 g
• older animals: depending on size 1000 to 1400 g

In warm quarters, the hedgehog must be provided with suitable food and drinking water until it no longer touches its food. Check the hedgehog's weight periodically to make sure the animal is gaining weight. Up to this point it can either take a few days or, in the case of severely underweight hedgehogs, weeks. Clean the house and run daily.

feeding in the house

A varied diet is the be-all and end-all for healthy feeding of hedgehogs during the winter. Therefore, the feed must be put together with great care. The following things should be taken into account:

staple food

As insect eaters, the animals primarily need proteins and fats. However, since the insects from your own garden can be carriers of parasites, it does not make sense to feed them to a hedgehog. Instead, the following are suitable:

• cat food (without sauce)
• Dog food (wet food)
• Eggs (either hard boiled or scrambled)
• cooked poultry meat
• Ground beef (just cook through)

Corn oil is ideal for frying, as it contains many components that are beneficial to the animals.

additives

Fiber and a few carbohydrates are essential for good digestion. Simply mix the following products into the staple foods:

• oatmeal
• wheat bran
• Dry food especially for hedgehogs

Additional vitamins or minerals only need to be given as directed by a veterinarian. You can also mix individual basic foods together or vary the additives. One tablespoon of bran or two tablespoons of oat flakes or dry hedgehog food is mixed for each portion (about a 150 g yoghurt pot full) of basic food. You may need some water to moisten. Always feed the food at room temperature (never hot or from the fridge).

Do not feed

Vary the food every two to three days at the latest, so that the hedgehog does not receive an unbalanced diet. There are some things that hedgehogs will eat but not tolerate. This includes:

• Milk (offer water as a drink)
• nuts and raisins
• Fruit
• seasoned foods
• vegetables and salad
• Dairy products (such as yoghurt, quark and cheese)

feed recipes

For feeding a medium-sized young hedgehog, the following variants have proven themselves as daily rations:

• Fry 1 scrambled egg (60 g) with 1 teaspoon of corn oil and mix in 2 tablespoons of dried hedgehog food
• Fry 60 g ground beef with 1 teaspoon corn oil, mix in 1 tablespoon wheat bran
• Fry 30g ground beef with corn oil, mix in 1 boiled egg, 2 tablespoons rolled oats and some water
• Mix 100 g wet cat food with 2 tablespoons dry hedgehog food
• Mix 100 g of cooked poultry meat with 2 tablespoons of rolled oats and 1 teaspoon of corn oil

induce hibernation

It can happen that a hedgehog just doesn't want to go to sleep. In this case, the animal is deprived of any food for a period of three days and only fresh drinking water is provided. Since a lack of food is also one of the triggers for hibernation, a healthy hedgehog will go into hibernation. As a precaution, place an emergency ration of a mixture of cat food and dry hedgehog food in the enclosure after three days.

Accommodation during feeding

The hedgehog enclosure should be at least two square meters in size and escape-proof. Since the animals normally sleep during the day and are sensitive to noise, they should be provided with a quiet room with light and room temperature.

• Side walls: at least 40 cm high
• wood or chipboard
• Line with several layers of newspaper
• Sleeping house: at least 30 cm wide cardboard (folds upwards)
• provided with loop hole (10 x 10 cm)
• fill with crumpled newspaper

Do not use sawdust, cat litter, straw, rags or the like to fill the house or cover the ground. The ground cover is changed daily (in the morning) and the filling of the house when necessary (at least once a week).

Hibernation hibernation

As long as the animal is fed and nursed back to health, it must be housed in a warm room. However, a healthy animal should definitely hibernate even if it hibernates at home. For hibernation, the hedgehog should be housed in a place with low temperatures so that it really sleeps.

And don't forget: hedgehogs are solitary creatures, so each animal needs its own home and enclosure.

• Temperature: similar to outside temperature
• at over 6 degrees, the animal only falls into an exhausting twilight state
• no direct sunlight
• better winter in the open air
• sheltered place on the balcony or terrace
• garden house

bunkhouse

A cardboard box that you can fill with some leaves or straw is suitable as a sleeping house for the period of feeding. For hibernation, you can put this sleeping house in a larger box or choose the following variant, which is better protected from moisture:

• Construction made of chipboard
• Edge length about 40 cm
• Insulation material: crumpled newspaper
• also insulate under the house
• do not use styrofoam (is not breathable)
• Build a loophole of a suitable size (front opposite to the bedroom entrance)

control

Do not disturb the hedgehog once it has gone into hibernation. If you keep checking to make sure he's really asleep, you might wake him up. A very simple and effective control is possible with an adhesive tape and a piece of toilet paper. Glue the toilet paper at the top and bottom with two strips of tape in front of the exit of the cottage. When the animal wakes up and leaves its house, the paper is destroyed.

If you're concerned that you haven't seen your hibernator in a while, you can peek inside the roost. While you can only see the spines of a sleeping hedgehog, which rise up in slow motion when you touch them, you can often see the head and paws of a dead hedgehog.

Awaken

When the hibernator wakes up depends not only on the weather conditions, but also strongly on gender. Male hedgehogs usually wake up by the end of March, females about three weeks later around mid-April. At the end of hibernation, the hedgehog lost a lot of weight. If the animal you overwintered was now released into nature, it would find very little Food, on the other hand, it has no hibernation nest in the garden to retreat to again could. So start by feeding the hedgehog again until it weighs as much as it did before hibernation. This happens quite quickly and within two to three weeks he should have regained his original weight.

release

Hedgehogs that have overwintered indoors should be released back into the wild as soon as possible. How this reintroduction takes place depends on whether it is a young hedgehog or an older animal.

older animals

A hedgehog has an excellent memory for places. Therefore, be sure to return it to the spot where you found it. There, the animal already knows places to hide, fences, walls and places that are particularly rich in food. If an animal is not released into the wild at the place where it was found, it first has to completely reorient itself and is therefore very endangered at first. All hedgehogs over 250g found weight should be returned to the site where they were found when they are healthy and have reached their original weight after being fed indoors.

• the transport should be as stress-free as possible
• preferably release in the evening
• choose a sheltered spot under a hedge or in the bushes
• Make a nest out of hay for the animal
• lay out some more food

For the sake of the environment, do not leave any boxes or feeding plates in the wild. If you have found the hedgehog in your garden, you can place a wooden house with straw or hay in a sheltered corner of the garden. Offer him his usual food and water for up to two weeks, which you put in a bowl in front of the entrance.

hatchlings

Nest young animals (under 250 g found weight) should have reached a minimum weight of 600 to 700 g when released. Since they were still too young in autumn to find their bearings in their surroundings, the hedgehog first has to get used to freedom. This also applies to found animals that cannot be returned to the place where they were found.

• Release via an outdoor enclosure
• for example a rabbit or guinea pig enclosure
• Minimum height: 50 cm
• Minimum size: 4 m² per hedgehog
• place a rainproof house under a hedge or bushes
• continue feeding for about two weeks
• then simply open the enclosure (do not remove)
• maintain the feeding station for another two weeks

This gives the hedgehog the opportunity to slowly feel its way out of its familiar, small environment and into the new environment. However, never simply place the enclosure and the house in an open area, but rather sheltered under trees or bushes. Cleanliness is also an absolute must here. Therefore, clean the house and enclosure daily and rinse used water and food bowls with hot water.

Conclusion

Hedgehogs should only be overwintered indoors in exceptional cases. Outside, they have a better chance of surviving. If you take in a sick or underweight animal, you should first have it examined by a veterinarian. Feed the hedgehog up to its normal hibernation weight and make sure to encourage it to hibernate.

Learn more about hedgehogs