Wickham Market Hedgehog Help

20/10/2025

Been making these posters up. This new little hungry juvenile turned up last night; am so pleased he knows where to come now! At the moment the weather is still quite mild & it was night-time so he's fine, but I will be ready to grab him when the weather changes. Let's hope he stays around! X🦔X

19/10/2025

Please message me if you are still seeing hedgehogs locally, (only have one big female and a spring born juvenile visiting now!) Please share the second image far and wide! Every one counts x

18/10/2025

This is it in a nutshell x

The Hedgehog on the left weighs over 1kg and the one on the right weighs 150g. Both are in good body condition, but the one on the right, couldn’t survive the current night time temperatures if left for any length of time to its own devices in the wild. As the little one gets older, its body will lengthen, but without adequate nutrition it will quickly become emaciated.

We are receiving lots of calls about small hedgehogs out on their own, with people wondering what weight they have to be to manage on their own over winter.

In certain parts of Scotland we get more extreme cold temperatures than in the south of England, which is where a lot of advice given comes from about minimum weight of 600g, and we are already seeing cooler night time temperatures in Dumbarton, where next week for example, a forecast low of 3 degrees centigrade is upon us.

Hoglets born as a second litter, are known as Autumn Juveniles, and they often don’t survive the winter as they cannot fatten up sufficiently before a cold snap. The highest mortality period for Hedgehogs is the first year of life, so in order to have a hope of advancing our endeavour of recovering populations, helping hoglets and juveniles through their first year makes a lot of sense.

The ability to survive the cold temperatures is as much about body condition as it is about a certain weight.

Hedgehogs are insectivores and this food source is scarce in colder months. It is one of the reasons we try to encourage people to provide support feeding for Hedgehogs all year round as natural food sources are hard to come by.

Hedgehog energy is stored in the form of body fat, which allows them to hibernate until spring, with occasional rousing.

Hedgehogs have two types of fat, white and brown. Each has a separate function during hibernation.

‘White fat’ is the main storage tissue and supplies energy for general body maintenance. Essentially, it keeps the animal alive while it hibernates.

During hibernation, a hedgehog will drop its body temperature down to around 4◦C, and only breathe a few times a minute. While this serves its function of ensuring the animal’s energy requirements remain low during winter, some fuel in the form of white fat is still required to keep the hedgehog alive. White fat also serves this purpose outside of the hibernation season, storing fuel for the hedgehog to stay alive.

The function of ‘brown fat’ on the other hand is more specific to hibernation, and is used when the hedgehog needs to become active again. This type of fat allows a hedgehog to gradually boost its body back to normal temperature when needed. Brown fat is usually stored around the shoulders of a hedgehog meaning that when required, the heart is warmed first. The heart then circulates heat around the body. Brown fat is also present in the body in the spring and summer but in much smaller quantities.

So how can you help?

Firstly, please don’t get into the habit of picking up hedgehogs to weigh them, but you may find it useful to have a comparison size in your garden, either an obvious height marker inside the feeder where they feed or something of a known size they can be compared to.

Please provide kitten biscuits and water, biscuits softened by water as an extra resource can help little mouths load on calories quicker.

Get in touch if you are concerned about a small hedgehog and we can advise on a case by case basis.

17/10/2025

Hi, its back at the House of Lords on Monday! Please, please sign and share for your 'ole Auntie Hedgehog Niki! X

When’s the last time you saw a hedgehog? 🦔 Their numbers are falling, so I just signed a petition to make hedgehog highways - tiny gaps in fences to help them - mandatory in ALL new builds. Add your name:

16/10/2025

Loook!! X

Are you a rehabilitator or rescue centre volunteer interested in first aid, care & rehabilitation?

Due to a last minute cancellation, there are TWO spaces available on our course run with Vale Wildlife Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre near Tewkesbury, next Friday (24 October)

☎️ Call 01584 890 801 to book it now!

16/10/2025

This is from a rescue in Grimsby, Charlie's Hedgehog Care. I couldn't have said this better xx

16/10/2025

Please take note; a local vet gave frontline to a hedgehog 2 days ago and last year I had a vet suggesting lactose! 😥

16/10/2025

If you want to help our endangered prickly friends by buying a hoghouse, please read this, thanks x

14/10/2025

More fabulous advice x

🍂PLEASE READ 🍂

🦔 What are they? 🦔

Autumn juvenile hedgehogs are old enough to be away from their mothers but too small to hibernate successfully 😴

🦔 When should I intervene? 🦔

Due to climate change, our UK winters are much milder than they used to be. Consequently, some hedgehog do not hibernate.

This is climate dependent - if its mild, no matter time of year, an autumn juvenile that is being support fed can gain as much as 100g a week - packing on enough to stay wild!

If they are only out at night and about the size of a tin of baked beans, generally speaking, they will gain enough weight with support feeding to successfully hibernate.

Any hedgehog out in the daytime, even if it's displaying ‘regular’ behaviour. Being out during daylight hours is very unnatural behaviour - once a hedgehog is seen out and about during the day, it’s probable for that hedgehog to be days away from death unless YOU intervene.

If out in the day in autumn/winter, whether rushing about or curled up asleep, they need rescuing.
*If you're unsure at all please call us for advice*

Hedgehogs found that look as if they are hibernating (cold and curled up) are unlikely to survive the winter and should be rescued immediately.

* The rare exception to this is if they are found in a well-made hibernation nest. If they are disturbed, they should be re-covered and be left to their own devices. You can leave food and water close by to assist them if you have disturbed them *

If in doubt, call us on 07825 952201

14/10/2025

Couldn't have said it better myself x

10/10/2025

This hows how crucial it is to act fast if you spot a hedgehog out in the day. 😥.

‼️❣️If you find a hedgehog out in the day, don’t delay❣️‼️
Sadly this little one was found on Monday. Placed under a shed.. then it appeared yesterday.. put into an animal run.
It arrived at Spiny Norman’s just now.. it has passed away. Cold and stiff.
It had no chance, it tried to get help.. but sadly it came too late.
😟
I know it’s not always convenient to find a hedgehog rescue & it will require you to put yourself out.. BUT
Please act fast, we can’t help if the Hoggy doesn’t get to us. The sooner it does the sooner we can get to work.
💜🦔💜
When you find a hedgehog out in the day, please place it in a high sided box or cat carrier with an old towel to hide in. You can offer a shallow bowl of water, the next thing you must do is search for a rescue with space.. please remember we work hard and may not be able to get to the phone right away, leave a message we will call you back as soon as we can. If our message says we are full please try the next rescue and keep trying until you find one with space.

You can find a list of rescues at

https://helpwildlife.co.uk

Pop in your Postcode & and search under rescues or small rescues using the drop down menus.

Or

please go to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society website,

https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk

They have volunteers at the end of the phone who can point you in the direction of a rescue.

Your fast action may be the difference between life and death.

Make it matter..
because it does
💜🦔💜

10/10/2025

This is a big pile of trees cut down by a council. A hedgehog rehabber begged and insisted the council looked through it before chipping….

Look what they found tucked in amongst the leaves! 🍂

This highlights the importance of checking before moving leaves, forking or bonfires; and cutting thr trees down to start with!