Orphaned baby hedgehogs need feeding by hand every two hours day and night for the first two weeks of their life. Then every four hours for the next two weeks until they can lap on their own.
They are fed with a milk substitute, called Espilac (a dog milk substitute), which is the closest thing to natural hedgehog milk.
Photograph from Catastrophe Aid for Birds and Wildlife, Sweden
Older hedgehogs can be fed suitable dog food and herring.
Photograph from Catastrophe Aid for Birds and Wildlife, Sweden
Read more from my colleague Angelica on wildlife rehabilitation in Sweden: http://www.iwrc-online.org/magazine/2006/winter/RehabilitationinSweden.htm
Ann Novek
Sweden
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Cute! In the UK hedgehogs are one of the species that suffers from road kill, along with foxes, badgers etc.
I used to have a hedgehog in my garden. It came to me in the evenings begging for food , especially pancakes and apple pies.
What really astonish me is the amount of food a hedgehog can eat….
Every night they roam around about 2km.
I would come begging you for pancakes and apple pies too Ann. At least these hedgehogs have faces and can lap, unlike the last one you showed us.
Nice photos Ann. And an intersting article by Angelica. We have a similar sized, spiny animal here, the echidna. A solitary creature, rarely seen. Two days ago I saw one on the side of a bitumen road attempting to cross. I did a U turn to check if I was seeing straight. With a car coming on, I flagged it to stop, but it only slowed down, but at least drove slowly past (in font of)the animal, which promptly curled up.
Then it unrolled and slowly waddled back the way it hac come. On reaching the side of the road again it decided that that was the wrong way, so U turn to cross the road again.
With that, I decided to do my civic duty and stand on the road to stop the traffic. It eventually slowly got across – curling up at every noise or vibration. I did say civic duty didn’t I? Those spines looked long enough and strong enough to puncture tyres.
That was the first time I had seen one in all the years I have lived here. Cute they are, cuddly they are not, and they would be a horror to try to feed. They eat ants. Up close the spines form an artistic set of whorls along each side of the body. Rather pretty.
I’ve seen several here in the west, Helen. When they move fast they look like a mobile concertina.
Well done Helen! I guess your echidna is quite similar to the Eurasian hedgehog, but as far as I know they are not related. This is an interesting topic , with species that are look alikes but not related.
Ann, the closest relation to the echidna is the platypus. Both are monotremes. Egg laying mammals. But they look nothing alike. Like the hedgehog, echidnas curl up and use spines as defence. In mating season, a line of hopeful males follow closely along behind a female in what is known as an echidna train. This must be one of the most hilarious sights in nature. I would love to see one. Does anyone have a photo of an echidna train?
Echidnas are one of the most widely-spread but rarely seen of our mammals. They even exist in places like Manly in NSW, as well as alpine regions.
They are actually relatively easy to feed, as although they eat inverts like ants in the wild, they will eat a runny mince meat mixture quite readily when in captivity.
To pick one up when it is curled up on a solod surface requires leather gloves and patience. You need to get in under them and quickly grab their back legs out, lifting them up carefully by the hind legs and spending some time watching them after you’ve relocated them to make sure they are actually getting out of harm’s way, like Helen did.
Not likely related to hedgehogs, echidnas are monotremes. The Australian type are short-beaked (Tachyglossus), with long-beaked echidnas (Zaglossus) in PNG. Another case of convergent evolution, which is as fascinating as Neil’s mimicry.
It’s always a challenge to examine a hedgehog as they curl up if threatened by slightest danger.
One easy way to examine a hedgehog is to put the animal in a transparent bowl, as it will soon relax and you can check out the underside of the hedgehog.
I think I’ll respect the hedgehog’s privacy. They are cute enough from the topside. 😉
My mom had a pet hedgehog. They’re real cutie-pies and get along well with people (much to the chagrin of greenpeacers, probably.)
Hedgehogs hibernate during the winter. In the autumn I have often found hedgehoges in the horses’ boxes hiding under the hay and straw preparing for hibernation. They have been lucky that they have not been crushed by the horses.
However, I found them in time and carried out the poor sods again into the chill to find a better place to hibernate in….
Echidnas often go into torpor too, depending on the climate they are found in. One I worked with would regularly disappear each winter, but as soon as it warmed up Pugsley would be out sunbaking with her four legs outstretched and looking like a prickly “bear rug”.
Echidnas are also good swimmers: http://www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/June2000/f_echid17.htm
Here is an article with some interesting bits on echidnas, including a photo of an echidna train.
Sorry for the diversion from your hedgehogs Ann. The closet here are across the ditch in NZ where they have been introduced.
Oops article here: http://www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/June2000/
Hi Libby,
Thanks for the interesting link. It’s always good to expand the discussions. I have been wondering what more animals have different genotypes( genes) but similar phenotypes( looks).
Does anybody else has some more examples???
From my memory I know that the Common swift (Apus Apus) looks like Barn Swallows ( Hirundo Rustica) are not related, but the wings are look alikes.