Rearing Hedgehogs

The secret to success with hedgehogs is to keep them warm. Babies have a large surface area through which they lose body heat and next to no insulation to prevent this happening. If they cool down their bodily functions begin to get slower, so digestion, for example, takes longer to release food energy. Their movements get slower, which means that the muscles produce less heat and the body cools still more. Quite soon the hedgehog is trapped in a downward spiral of getting colder and slower and it dies over a period of two or three days.

Warmth will stimulate them. The best way is to wrap a hot water bottle in a layer of blanket and let the hedgehog nestle down on top or against it. This bathes them in all-round warmth and tends to be more effective than heat lamps. Try to keep the temperature constant by changing the hot water every four hours.

In the wild, hedgehogs drink often, so water should be readily available. If you give them an open bowl, they will stomp around in it and can make quite a mess. A water bottle from a pet shop; one that delivers water as drips, similar to the ones used in mice cages is quite suitable. If their eyes are shut, they will need to be fed and given water every two to three hours. The secret is lots of small meals, rather than trying to “see how much they can eat”.

For the very young, milk-replacer, or a weaker than normal solution of Complan, fed through a syringe will be a palatable diet. For baby hedgehogs whose eyes are closed but their spines are starting to develop a brown colour, try a mixture of either Nutripet, Anlamb or Complan with a raw egg yolk, and a small quantity of a commercial dog food that is high in liver. Feed through a syringe.

Take a damp tissue or wad of cotton wool and gently massage the genitals after each feeding to help stimulate their toileting.

Once their eyes open it is not long before they will take food themselves. When this starts to occur increase the amount of canned food in their diet mixtures. (Don’t forget a calcium supplement, Ossal seems very palatable.) Their food should be of a relatively sloppy consistency.

The temptation to keep a hedgehog as a pet can be somewhat over-whelming, particularly one that is raised from an early age. It is important to remember they are wild animals who, even when raised from the earliest age, readily revert to the wild and seem far more content in their natural environment.