The main mating season for hedgehogs is May, with young being born in June. There may be as many as seven hoglets in a litter, although not all may survive. At around three or four weeks, the youngsters start following their mother on foraging trips and by August they start venturing out on their own.
Occasionally female hedgehogs have a litter in autumn, perhaps in addition to or instead of a spring litter. These autumn youngsters become independent in October and must achieve a minimum weight of 600g to stand a good chance of hibernating successfully. Depending on the weather, hibernation usually starts in November or December. Unless the weather becomes unseasonably mild, provided it is not disturbed a hedgehog will remain asleep until March when it wakes up having lost approximately one third of its body weight.
It’s always a joy to see a new generation of creatures at Cowbar but when the mini cam in our hedgehog box captured footage of young hoglets the night before last, it was delight tinged with concern. We will keep an eye on them but, unless we see them wandering around in the daytime looking unwell or hungry, there is little to do apart from making sure the feeding station is kept clean and well stocked and hope that they manage to get enough food into their little bellies. The footage from the minicam certainly shows one doing its best!
To see more videos of hedgehogs at Cowbar click here
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