![]() You will need to site it properly to give the hedgehog a good chance. You should move it to inside a wooden hedgehog house filled with plenty of hay. If you disturb a hedgehog that has hibernated in a completely unsuitable spot – such as inside a garage that is normally left closed – then you will need to very carefully relocate the hedgehog. In that case, you must take it straight to a hedgehog rescue. If you do accidentally disturb one, cover it back up straight away – unless there is a chance that you have caused injury e.g. Don’t be tempted to tidy up piles of leaves or logs – they may be home to a hibernating hedgehog. The best advice is not to disturb a hedgehog in hibernation. You will kill the hedgehog if you try to warm it up quickly. Waking up a hibernating hedgehog is also a specialist task, so please do not try this yourself. I use a special calculator from a wildlife rescue to assess whether their weight loss in hibernation is acceptable or not. Weight checks every few weeks will alert me to any potential problems and they can be woken up again if they have lost too much weight. I only check on these hedgehogs during hibernation because they have been poorly. Please don’t read this post and think you should go around disturbing the hibernating wild hedgehogs in your garden to check on them. It may also emit a little ‘snore’! Hedgehogs also generally don’t die curled up…. ![]() You can tell that the hedgehog is hibernating and not dead by the fact that it will ‘ripple’ when touched very gently. Lucky, a hibernating hedgehog, just before his weight check A hibernating hedgehog will be completely rolled up into a tight ball with no face visible. Hibernation is a state of torpor, where the core body temperature has dropped, the heart rate and breathing have slowed right down and normal activity has stopped. ![]() The hedgehog won’t be roused by touch or by noise. These hedgehogs missed the deadline for release before the weather turned cold and, if they are well enough and heavy enough (absolute minimum of 650g), they will be allowed to hibernate in captivity. How can you tell if a hedgehog is hibernating? This is a question I am frequently asked by my foster carers, a network of special people who support me with looking after rehabilitated hedgehogs over the Winter period.
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