Which orphaned hoglets are still suckling?
In Germany 80% of hedgehogs are born in the months of August and September. In warmer
regions like the Rhine Valley and the Saarland, litters can be born as early as June and July.
Orphans found in these weeks are still blind and deaf up to 14 days old. The babies are fed
by the mother for the first six weeks of life, and so are helpless without her. These hoglets
must be correctly hand reared if they are to survive.
So-called, "Autumn Orphans" are generally fully weaned and independent young hedgehogs.
How you should help these youngsters is described in
Hedgehog found - what to do?
Housing
Hoglets need constant warmth. A small box makes an ideal hedgehog nest. Wrap a hot water bottle
filled with hand-hot water in a towel (don't use a heat pad as it may get too hot). Put the baby
hedgehog on the wrapped hot water bottle and put another hand towel over him. Refill the hot water
bottle after every feed!
Marking & weighing
The hoglets must be marked so you can tell which is which, use a tiny spot of non-toxic acrylic paint
(or tippex or nail varnish) and mark the spines in a different place on each baby. Each hedgehog should be
weighed on a letter balance (or electronic kitchen scales which weigh in increments of 1 g) - at the same
time every day - and its weight written on a record sheet.
Determining the age of the hoglets
So you can correctly assess the hoglets' progress, you must be able to estimate their age. Their
appearance will give you vital clues. With the proper care they will naturally gain weight.
Age |
Skin colour |
Spines |
Fur |
Eyes Ears |
Teeth |
Weight (g) |
At birth |
pink |
white |
none |
shut |
none |
12 - 25 |
1 week |
pink |
a few dark |
none |
shut |
none |
30 - 50 |
2 weeks |
grey |
dark |
bit of fuzz |
opening |
none |
60 - 80 |
3 weeks |
grey |
dark |
visible fur |
open |
erupting |
100 - 130 |
4 weeks |
grey |
dark |
thick fur |
open |
fully erupted |
140 - 180 |
External parasites
Fleas, ticks, fly eggs and maggots must be carefuly removed with tweezers.
Never use insecticide or bathe hoglets.
Feeding
Use a 2 ml disposable syringe (without a needle!) to feed even the smallest hoglet, put
a short length of bicycle valve tubing over the tip as a replacement teat. Pipettes and puppy
rearing bottles are not suitable! To feed the hoglet, place it on its back in your left hand
(if you are right-handed!) and hold it with your thumb. It will "tread" against your thumb with
its front feet, as this is how it stimulates the flow of milk from the mother with a rhythmic
treading action of its forepaws around her nipples. Human baby food or milk formula, cow's milk,
semolina, rice or oatmeal gruel etc., honey, glucose or multi-vitamin drops are totally unsuitable
for hoglets! The milk replacer Esbilac ®
(German Firma Albrecht, D-88326 Aulendorf), has proved its worth in hand rearing, but it
is only available from veterinary surgeons. (Available in UK from
"Spike’s World").
Mix a teaspoonful of Esbilac with 2 teaspoonfuls of unsweetened fennel tea and add one small drop of
Vitamin B complex (one drop per all hoglets of a litter!) once a day. If you haven't got any
Esbilac for the first day in care and no longer - feed luke-warm,
unsweetened fennel tea to hoglets who are only a few days old The correct amount of food to
give in a 24 hour period equals one quarter of the hoglet's bodyweight. Until the eyes and ears are
open, feed the hoglet eight times during the day and twice during the night. Gradually the number
of feeds is reduced, and the amount given at each feed increased. Hoglets weighing about 100g only
need 5 feeds every 24 hours. The daily weight gain should be 4-7g per day up to a bodyweight of
90g and thereafter up to 10g or more per day.
Toiletting
Toiletting is the opposite of feeding. Young hoglets cannot yet spontaneously defecate or urinate,
the mother stimulates them to do this by licking their tummies and genitals. After every feed, the
carer must massage with a damp finger or cotton bud until a successful outcome is reached. At this stage,
the droppings consist of little pale green clumps.
Weaning
When the milk teeth erupt - at about 19 days old, in addition to their usual feeds,
put some replacement milk in a flat dish like a jam-jar lid. Little by little mix into
the milk increasing amounts of mashed scrambled egg, very finely minced, lean beef, or
tinned cat food, to get them used to adult food. Dilute the replacement milk more and more and
increase the amount of solids. When the young hedgehogs are about 30 days old they should be
completely weaned - even though their food is still finely chopped or mashed - and only give
them water to drink. Further care: Once the hoglets are eating for themselves, it may
already be necessary to divide them into smaller groups of similar bodyweight. You will need
to prepare more and more food bowls! When they are about 5 weeks old and weigh 250-300g,
they should be separated from their siblings and housed individually.
Acclimatisation prior to release
When they weigh between 220-250g (later in the year, wait until they weigh more e.g. 350g
at the end of September) put the youngsters outside in a spacious enclosure. They must learn to
forage for natural food and to catch their prey. After about 2 weeks you can open the enclosure.
Read more about this under Release.
Litter questionnaire
If you see baby hedgehogs (hoglets) or a mother hedgehog with her young, or if you find orphaned
hedgehogs or they are brought into your rescue centre either with or without their mother:
Please support hedgehog research and complete our (German)
Online litter questionnaire!
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