Hedwig's Hotel Hedgehog Rescue

19/06/2025

Do hedgehogs dream?
Obviously no one knows however, I decided to take a little video of our 5 orphans the other night and if you watch until the end, the baby at the back is flicking his tail and it looks like he's having a bit of a run 😊

Sorry about the rubbish video, I am no camera man😂

These are 1 that came from a local vet, he is called Tiny Tim and 4 other orphans from the Bideford area.

In total we currently have 13 babies, 9 are orphans and 4 are with mums. We also have 2 hedgehogs that are possibly pregnant. (This is where a scan machine would be incredibly helpful)
When we think a hedgehog could be pregnant, we need to make sure she is housed where we can open the hutch into a double or triple space.

If you would like to donate please see our pinned post or website.

As with human babies hoglet's are expensive 🦔🦔🦔😊😊

01/06/2025

One of our volunteers has organised a hedgehog course run by Vale Wildlife Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre and with the bhps in our area.
It is not often these are anywhere near us down here and will only go ahead if numbers meet the minimum.

This course is arranged for Bradworthy 🦔

If you are interested in learning more about hedgehogs or would like a recognised qualification please read the links and complete the form below.

The links below show information about the course.

https://www.valewildlife.org.uk/courses/

https://www.cognitoforms.com/ValeWildlifeHospital1/DevonSaturday19thJuly2025FirstAidCareRehabilitationOfHedgehogs

Courses 'Hedgehog First Aid, Care and Rehabilitation' We run a 1-day course, ‘First Aid, Care & Rehabilitation of Hedgehogs’, in association with the BHPS at the Hospital in Beckford. It is aimed at hedgehog carers, rescue centre staff, volunteers, vets and vet nurses and provides valuable infor...

31/05/2025

This is Atlas, he came in only as a baby of 120g, he has always been grumpy and huffy😂

He was syringe fed for a while until he would eat by himself.
He's a proper character and especially didn't like being cleaned out showing that he wasn't happy about it.

Due to his size, he was in a soft release pen for prep release to have some practice at foraging.

He has now gone back into the wild with the finders. 😊

Good luck Atlas and safe travels. 🦔

For ways to help us look after these cute but not very grateful animals, please see our pinned post on this page or visit our website.

28/05/2025

15/05/2025

Please click on the link and vote for Hedwig's Hotel Hedgehog Rescue

https://movementforgood.com/index.php?cname=Hedwig%27s&fbclid=IwY2xjawKTPytleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHnbKesnAlu7fS_A-5jyFfwcLzgYN3UgfCusPEpgZYXCOhKCX0-nnVPYtPt8K_aem_Ybd9rCwV05VSShO9iby2XA

Nominate a charity for a Movement for Good award now.

14/05/2025

On February 3rd, we had 2 young people bring us Shredder. (named after a teenage mutant ninja turtle character)

He was clipped by a strimmer and the young people found him.

Luckily they brought him as soon as they found him so we could start treatment fairly early after the injury happened.

He was put on pain medication, anti inflammatory medication, antibiotics and his wound cleaned and sprayed with wound spray.

His treatment was intensive and was over a long period of time. You can see from the pictures the improvement made over time.

Very happy to say that he's had the all clear, his spines have come back and he was released back into the wild earlier this week in a lovely garden close to where he was found.

It is vitality important to seek help from a rescue as soon as possible with these kind of injuries, accidents do happen but its what you do next that is extremely important.

You can minimise the risk by just checking the ground before any gardening work takes place.

Good luck Shredder and safe travels 🦔

11/05/2025

Hedgehog awareness week

Day 7
Hedgehog spines are made of keratin, this is the same thing as our hair and nails.

Hedgehogs are born with spines but they are white, softer and are under a membrane. The spines come through within a couple of hours.

Hedgehogs have between 5000 and 7000 spines.

One of the main causes of spine loss is ringworm.

As a hedgehog ages it takes on a ginger colouring.

10/05/2025

Hedgehog awareness week
Day 6
Popular myths

1) Hedgehogs are covered in fleas.

Not true, Hedgehogs are naturally itchy creatures and this is how they groom.
Hedgehog fleas are species specific and won't live on any other animals.
In our 7 years of doing this we have only seen 2 hogs with fleas, 1 only had 1 flea.

2) Do not feed fish flavoured food.

This myth came about way back. It was thought that if you feed a hedgehog fish flavoured cat food, it would entice a hog to enter the garden pond and eat the fish.
I have however never seen a hog chasing a chicken or cow 😂

3) Feed the hedgehog bread and milk.

Not true, Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and milk will make them really sick. Bread is also bad for them due to the grain. When you see rescues feeding babies, it is a specialist formula not milk.

4) Feed the hedgehogs calcium worms.

Also not true, in low amounts mealworms are usually not awful however, if the hedgehog has a few from your garden, a few from next door etc. It can lead to metabolic bone disease which is where all of the calcium is basically sucked out of the hedgehogs bones leading to a very sick hog which has to be put to sleep.

5) They'll eat all my slugs.

Again not true.
A hedgehog will only eat slugs and snails if they are desperate for food as just like dogs they can get lungworm from them.

When we advise about food we recommend dry cat biscuits, in the hogspital we feed both wet and dry cat food but our wild ones have dry. This is because wet food can attract flies whereas the dry doesn't.

For further advice on what to feed them please contact a rescue if you are unsure. Most things mentioned when you use Google will apply to African pygmy hedgehogs not our European wild ones.

09/05/2025

Hedgehog awareness week
Day 5

Let's talk babies.

Pregnancy in hedgehogs lasts between 30 and 34 days.

There is no way to tell a hedgehog is pregnant just by looking, only a scan can show it. (we would absolutely love a scan machine,)

Babies are born with spikes but they are covered in a protective membrane and are soft, once born the spines come through the membrane.

Our European hedgehogs can have up to 10 babies each litter but usually they have 5-6. Hedgehogs have 2 seasons a year, one in spring and one in autumn. The babies are called hoglets.

The litter can have more than one dad so this means that the female mates with more than one male. So... Each hoglet could potentially have a different dad.

If mum believes the hoglets are in danger, she will kill them and sometimes eat them. This could be due to predators in the area, people gardening and uncovering nests. If she gets scared, she will just leave them.

If mum thinks that there is something wrong with one or more of her litter, she will take them for a walk and abandon them 😔

How you can help,

Put out food and water so mum doesn't have to travel too far.

Be careful when gardening and tidying up your outside areas. (we have had babies in that were found under decking)

If you uncover a nest. Please just cover it back over. If mum runs away and doesn't come back please call your nearest rescue, the hoglets will need specialist formula and be in an incubator. You will hear a loud peeping noise if they get hungry.

Keep an eye out for lone hoglets, they need help ASAP.

07/05/2025

Hedgehog Awareness week
Day 4

Hedgehogs are quite territorial in that they get familiar with an area and know where they can get food a water. They can travel 2-3 miles a night but will settle where food sources and water are readily available.

This is why we recommend hedgehog highways. These are residential gardens that have hedgehog holes in the fences so that the hogs can visit several gardens.

The holes need to be 5" or CD size and if several neighbours do this, the hogs can move safely between gardens and have a good food and water source.

To encourage them to stay around, a hedgehog house is perfect filled with dust extracted barley straw.

Picture is one of our wild ones from years ago before we started the rescue.

06/05/2025

A bit behind for hedgehog awareness week, sorry

Day 2
A hedgehog seen out in the daytime usually means that they are in trouble, usually with internal parasite burdens which is something that can't be seen unless a faecal sample is tested under a microscope.

Unless.... The hedgehog is moving with purpose, if it looks like it knows where it is going or just coming out to eat and drink, this is likely to mean she has babies and is taking a break while they sleep.

Day 3
If a hedgehog is out in the day and is sick, it can attract unwanted attention from birds and flies.

Birds will peck at it causing injuries especially to the eyes 😔

Flies will lay eggs which then hatch into maggots. Maggots will burrow into the hedgehog via any available or***ce and basically eat it from the inside. In these instances it is VITAL to get the hedgehog help ASAP. This is know as flystrike and the eggs look like tiny grains of rice.

04/05/2025

It's Hedgehog awareness week 🦔

Today's fact...

If a hedgehog likes a scent they do something called self anointing,
This is when they produce extra saliva and lick themselves. It is thought that they do this to get the scent onto themselves

As you can see from the pictures, if you just saw a hedgehog looking like this it could be mistaken to have something horrific like rabies.

This is Beeple who I think liked the smell of my coconut conditioner 😂 pictures screenshotted from a video.