Not all hogs need rescue!
Morning folks, hope your well? I just want to raise some awareness here please Tis morning. Please NOT all hogs need rescue! Mummy hedgehogs are now beginning to wean their babies, this may look like they are abandoning them, and in some respects, yes they are, they are telling their little babies it’s time to become independent. 💜🦔💜 Hoglets become independent at a very young age, they are still very small, and to the human this may look too small to survive, but believe me, they are adapted and quite good at instinctively knowing what to do. 💜🦔💜 Now if you find a small hog out at night this is perfectly fine, it’s mummy is probably nearby, Please leave it.. unless it is very wobbly or injured. 💜🦔💜 You can really help these hogs now by popping out some food and water for them, while mummy is taking a step back from feeding and caring for them. They do not need picking up. 💜🦔💜 Actually it’s good to feed your garden hedgehogs all year rounds so why not make a feeding station ( great instructions online ) help me help the hedgehogs. Learn all you can. Please join Hedgehig Street. 💜🦔💜 What can you feed? I have on many occasions been presented with a small Hoglet or hedgehog in a box being fed fruit, vegetables see pic. 💜🦔💜 Please NO, NO NO, our wild hedgehog cannot process fruit and vegetables, ( you have probably picked up this advice from an African Pygmy hedgehog site online they are a very different type of hedgehog ) 💜🦔💜 Here in The UK what you need to give them is CAT And KITTEN KIBBLES ( complete feed ) is fine, you can soak the biscuits a little bit if the hog is very small. Also you can offer cat or dog tinned food, or pouches. Please choose meaty flavored meat pereferably. Mush it up with a fork.. and add a little water into the mix, although the hogs are weaning and by now will have teeth, it may help a little bit if they are very small. 🦔💜🦔 This hog in the pic was out last night with its mummy, but because it’s mummy was shoving it away it was picked up and placed in a box with fruit. I know people are well meaning. The hog will not eat Guinea pig food either, neither things the hogs can eat, and there is no water. It was given a little scrambled egg while Tis isn’t ideal it won’t kill the hog unless it was made with milk, pleas kniw hedgehogs are lactose intolerant so please no milk ! 💜🦔💜 We rescues are inundated this time of year, to take a perfectly healthy Hoglet from the wild is really unnecessary, now this Hoglet is separated from its mum ( even tho the mom was shoving it ) it has been taken it away from the education she was giving it the natural way mummy hogs have been teaching their hoglets to be wild for many many many hundreds of years. 💜🦔💜 Of course if we see a Hoglet who is out in the day, in the sun, wobbly, has flies around it or collapsed or unwell, it needs rescue. ASAP, sooner rather than later. 💜🦔💜 We all want to do the right thing, and it’s wonderful that people care and I am glad that at least I have been contacted by the finder and can sort this Hoglet out and make sure it’s ok etc , but in all honesty it would have been better left In the wild. If course I am not angry it just shows that there is still a lot of educating to do. I hope we can all learn together. 💜🦔💜 Please be mindful. Not all hogs need rescue. If your unsure, observe and contact a rescue while keeping an eye on the hog if you can.. that way ni action has been taken except gaining advice .. 💜🦔💜 Lots of love Amanda & The Hedgehogs
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