Hedgehog help, advice and rescue contacts

Warmth
When hedgehogs are unwell they cannot keep warm, they need to be kept warm. So keep the hedgehog in a cat cage, cardboard box (with lid!) or basket with a lid. Hedgehogs are great escape artists and they will climb out of unlidded box! The cat cage or basket will require sterilisation with hospital strength bleach after use. So if you're only housing the hedgehog temporarily a cardboard box can then be destroyed saving sterilisation. Likewise any blankets used must also be sterilised, so ideally use old blankets/jerseys for warmth that you don't mind throwing away.

OK... so you get your box, cage etc and line the base with layers of old newspaper. Then place a polar fleece blanket or cut up an old jersey and place in one corner. This is where they will snuggle themselves in under the warm jersey to stay warm. They need to be warm, so a warm hot water cupboard could help, if there is airflow! They will not mind the dark in your box, in fact they will prefer it. A hottie underneath the box is tricky as it can be TOO hot (do not use boiling water!) or hotties soon get cold and then actually make the hedgehog colder...Peg Loague uses a special incubator for young ones and waterproof heat pads for bigger ones under cat cages. If your dog has an electric heat pad, use it on low. Don't use a human electric blanket, they are not waterproof.

Water
Do not give milk as while hedgehogs might like milk it is inclined to give them gastroenteritis and the runs, which nether you, nor the hedgehog wants! Instead hedgehogs should be provided with clean fresh water only as their drink. Maintain a fresh supply of water in a HEAVY dish as they are clumsy and easily tip light dishes of water over making a wet cold mess, which is to be avoided as we want to keep them warm! A heavy shallow dish of say pottery or heavy ceramic or glass would work well. Sterilise after usage.

Food
(DO NOT Give hedgehogs bread or milk!). Hedgehogs will eat dry cat biscuits and jelly meat. Dedicated hedgie carers may also collect common garden slugs and snails as kai for their hedgie friend (not the giant native slug though - makes them sick and they are also a native animal..)

A baby hedgehog in rescue care

Handling hedgehogs
Use an old towel to pick up a hedgehog to protect yourself and them and handle very very lightly and as little as possible.

Many people think hedgehogs are disease carriers, they are not. Things like mange are not transferable to humans. Of course, strict hygiene rules apply as with all animals and thorough hand washing after handling both the hedgehogs and their bedding should be observed.

Mange
Mange is caused by a mite on hedgehogs so treatment needs to include killing the mites.

If the skin looks caked in mud and/or prickles are falling out, it is almost certain the mange is the problem. It can be treated quite easily (depending on the severity).

If taken to a vet, a hedgehog will probably be injected with Ivomec. For home treatment, use Advocate for cats and kittens up to 4kg. This normally comes in packs of three tubes but some vets will sell one tube at a time. Apply to the upper back of the hedgehog. Allow at least a couple of hours (or overnight) then soak the hedgehog in oil. Cooking oil is now the recommended oil (it is possible the hedgehog could ingest some) and it is good to add just a drop or two of ti tree or manuka oil as well as these are antiseptic.

Oil lightly again every other day or so as necessary – although they won’t need the big ‘soak’ that they had initially.

The other big problem with mange is that while a hedgehog smells bad it can attract flies, so anyone caring for a mangy hedgehog needs to be very vigilant for fly strike. (See below for fly strike help.)

Mange cannot be transferred to humans (they can cause an itch for an hour or two but cannot live on us) but strict hand washing rules always apply when handling any unwell animals. Use the oil as first aid until you can get to the vet for more help if you feel you cannot manage the mange yourself. It does take a while for the prickles to regrow (about a month), however with care, mange IS NOT a death sentence for hedgehogs.

Flyblow (eggs only)
If still only eggs (they look like piles of white lines) and not yet maggots (the wriggly white larval stage of a fly), apply meths with a small paint brush to the affected area. DO NOT DO THIS IF MAGGOTS ARE PRESENT as the skin will most likely be broken and this will sting the hedgehog. NOTE: The hedgehogs ears must be really carefully checked for maggots as maggots get very deep into ears, causing a painful and drawn out death for the poor soul.

Flyblow (maggots)
Attempt to pluck the maggots off with tweezers. Do NOT apply meths (see above). See a vet.
NOTE: The hedgehogs ears must be really carefully checked for maggots as maggots get very deep into ears, causing a painful and drawn out death for the poor wee thing.

Baby/ies in the nest
Cover back up quietly and gently with whatever material was covering the nest, do not touch the babies, hopefully the Mum will come back and care for them. Do not remove them from the nest. Caring for very young hedgehogs is notoriously difficult, even for seasoned rescuers. Their best hope is that Mum will return and continue on if humans do not disturb the nest too much.

Girl holding a rescue hedgehog

New Book
"The NZ Hedgehog Carers Handbook" collated by Peg Loague of Hedgehog Haven is now available for $10.00 incl postage within NZ. This handbook with photos is a great help for anyone wishing to care for hedgehogs, as a carer or in their own home.

Contents
Receiving hedgehogs into care
Accommodation
Cage Management
Feeding
Tonic and Medication, Health
Cage Sanitation
Preparation for Release and release
Publicity

Please contact Peg by email to purchase this book.

Hedgehog needs per size / lifecycle
Hedgehogs are officially sized by weight to determine their age, however an easy visual indicator is to compare them to balls to identify which stage of the lifecycle they are at...

A hedgehog that is up to billiard ball size is a baby (known as a hoglet or sometimes an urchin) and will probably need syringe feeding. Warmth is essential and seek help immediately. You may be able to rear this baby if you really want to but it is an enormous commitment involving day and night feeding every three hours.

A hedgehog about tennis ball size may be able to feed itself, but this needs to be checked. Put the hedgehog in a warm, quiet place and leave it with some jellymeat, biscuits and water. If it does not eat during the first night, (or twelve hours if found during the morning) seek help for feeding.

A hedgehog bigger than the size of a tennis ball is most likely able to feed itself even if not yet adult. It will still need warmth if unwell or it has been stressed. Certainly for the first 24 hours in care, warmth, dark and quiet are greatly appreciated. By this time, the hedgehog will want to eat at night and sleep through the day.

Big hedgehogs only come in to care if something is wrong. This can range from dog attack, road accident, mange, eating slug bait - to name just a few. Veterinary help is needed in most of these cases.

Adult hedgehogs hibernate for a few weeks in the coldest part of winter. They mate after hibernation. Babies can be born November on generally. Best not to disturb mother and babes - if discovered by accident, cover quietly and leave as the mother will often eat and/or abandon babies if bothered.

Hedgehog myths
A group of five hedgehogs ready for release from Hedgehog Rescue

Peg Loague of Hedgehog Haven debunks these urban myths...

Hedgehogs out in the daytime are always sick
- TRUE or FALSE?
The answer depends on the SIZE...and the
time of the year
Is it bigger than a tennis ball?

If bigger than a tennis ball, it is probably not well if out during the day, its health is likely to be compromised, seek advice or assistance from hedgehog rescue.
By March/April even young hedgehogs should be bigger than a tennis ball and all hedgehogs are bulking up to have sufficient weight for their hibernation so it is a good time to put extra feed out for them at night.

If it is the size of a tennis ball or less, it is a young hedgehog. Sometimes the young ones are still learning that they are nocturnal animals. Just to explain - they are not nocturnal when tiny as they are used to feeding from their mum through the day while she is in the nest resting. They become nocturnal as they start to feed themselves in late spring and early summer. It's at this point that you can see a perfectly healthy young hedgehog about. A hedgehog the size of a tennis ball is in the transition stage from baby to adult so isn't sure whether to be out by day or not. If the weather is reasonable and hedgehog doesn't appear unwell in any way, leave it be.

Hedgehogs are dirty, you can get mange from them TRUE or FALSE?
FALSE. Mange cannot be transferred to humans but strict hand washing rules always apply when handling any unwell animals. Click here for advice on treating mange in hedgehogs

Hedgehogs like milk TRUE or FALSE?
FALSE. Yes they like milk, but milk does not like them! Milk gives hedgehogs very runny tummies, so give only water. Many others I've spoken with, inlcuding myself, are guilty of not knowing this and giving hedgies saucers of milk as a kid...). Click here for more on fluids for hedgehogs.

Keeping your garden safe and welcoming to hedgehogs

Safety
Please always cut the rings off milk bottles, juice bottles, peanut butter/vegemite jars before putting them in the rubbish. Hedgehogs crawl into them, they get stuck on their prickles then they grow into them and have to have them removed surgically. Also empty food tins, yoghurt cartons etc as these can be a hazard to hedgehogs. Because their prickles point backwards, they can get into things but then they can't get back out.

If you have a fish/lily pond, please put a small pile of rocks in one end so that if a hedgehog falls in it has something to climb out on. They can swim quite well, but not indefinitely. If you have a cattle stop, please put a ramp of some sort in it so any hedgehog that inadvertently falls in can get out.

Fishing nets and tennis nets are another great hazard for hedgehogs. These need to be stored well off the ground.

Putting out the welcome mat
In hot, dry weather, put out a heavy, shallow dish of water if you think you have hedgehogs around. If you want them to stay around, put out some cat biscuits for them to eat too. Put out extra feed in March/April at night as this is when hedgehogs are out bulking up on food in preparation and building up condition for their hibernation

Encourage a resident hedgehog to your garden as they are a natural garden helper, eating slugs and snails. Peg says "I have seen a hedgehog die a horrible death from the blue slug bait that is supposed to repel animals." So please don't use snail bait, let your hedgehog population do the job, naturally and safely.

Be very careful raking leaves during the winter. if they've built up against a wall, fence, compost heap or similar, a hedgehog could be hibernating there or, in the spring, have babies there.

Please please if planning a bonfire, build it up only on the day you intend to light it. Hedgehogs are naturally attracted to want to live and breed in bonfire piles left for weeks and months ahead of the day. Most years Peg gets a hedgehog in that has been scorched in a fire...

In honour of hedgehogs
Unfortunately most of the time we see hedgehogs, they are squashed on the road... Hopefully this information will help these beautiful wild animals survive in greater numbers and continue to be a pleasure in our gardens, especially as urban
sprawl continues to squeeze both humans and hedgehogs into progressively smaller, less treed environments. Their habitat is diminishing making
it all the more wonderful to see a hedgehog enjoying that saucer of cat biscuits at night.

I well remember watching "our" hedgehogs as a child in the 1970's. We were all dressed for bed
in our PJs, slippers and dressing gowns and all three of us children would crowd at the cold
window glass to watch the hedgie out in the dark enjoying his special treat. What a delightful animal!
Thank you to Peg Loague of Hedgehog Haven for her kind and knowledgeable advice on which this article is based.

Happy hedgehogging!

by Kim Buchanan, petsonthenet.co.nz

© Copyright Kim Buchanan
and Pets on the Net Ltd

My sister Marianne and I in our garden in the 70's enjoying a butterfly, one of our many wild garden visitors we enjoyed as children...
My sister Marianne (left) and I in our childhood
garden, the good old suburban kiwi quarter acre
in the 1970's, admiring a Monarch butterfly. Just one of the many wild garden visitors
we enjoyed as children...

Kim Buchanan (nee Tutty)