# New to hedgehogs - rescues from the wild



## Elouise (Jul 10, 2012)

Hello everyone!

About a month ago we have found a mother with four little hedgehogs in our garden. We didn't disturb her or anything like that, just gave her some cat food and decided to check the next day. Unfortunately the next day in the morning we found out that she left three hedgehogs in our garden and left with one of them. We thought she might come back anyway and decide to wait till the evening. Sadly, she didn't return and that's how we were forced to take care of three little babies. One died already in the night, he had some trouble breathing ever since we took him inside. We followed all the rules of care for the hedgehogs and now the two of them are 212g and 273g. Big babies who are already eating cat food.

The thing is our plan was to let them out when they will get bigger. Now this seems like an impossible task. One of them has a partly paralyzed back leg and the other one is sort of too keen on my mother. He really really likes being petted. Needless to say, they're both not afraid of humans. They seem to feel very comfortable as well.

I read a bit through your forum and a lot of you seem to say that this Vitakraft food for hedgehogs is bad. *How come? *They seem to prefer it to the cat food (no, we're not buying a cheap one but the best we can get in our area). Also the ingredients seem to be alright. Is it really so bad? Will it cause them health problems?

*Is it true that two hedgehogs can kill each other? Should we already separate them?*

So our main concern is: *should we let them outside or not?* I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to get used to the wild life and all the dangers of it. I also know it's against the rules to keep a wild animal at home but we simply didn't have the heart to let them die in the garden.

*Also, could anyone tell what kind of a species they are? *I can't seem to match it to any of the hedgehogs I found on the internet. I also see that on your forum you're mostly having african hedgehogs which ours probably aren't....


















As you can see on this picture their bellies are partly white, a bit darkish around the area of their feet though. Also their ears a lighter gray colour.










I hope my questions aren't too out of place since it's regarding a wild animal. I would really appreciate some help 

Have a nice day!


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

This forum is for Pet African hedgehogs, Gill from the UK can help he is the best  https://www.facebook.com/#!/Hedgehog.Bottom


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## Elouise (Jul 10, 2012)

Oh okay, thanks a lot for the link  I'll contact him then.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Oh my gosh, they are adorable.


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

They are cute indeed  those are European hedgehogs. You can find some information about them on the web. I personally only know sites in my language but this is what I found in English: http://europeanhedgehog.webs.com/
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/s/00man/ ... rmCare.htm
A forum about them: http://europeanhedgehog.niceboard.org/

They are native to Europe so maybe you could keep them in your garden and feed them/give them a place to hibernate in winter.


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## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

wish i had wild hedgehogs in my yard


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## FiaSpice (Jan 16, 2009)

I hope those contact will help you with the wild one you have now. They are just adorable. They don't look like European hedgehog to be, they are a lot more darker with white belly patch.



jerseymike1126 said:


> wish i had wild hedgehogs in my yard


My aunt lives in France and she once saw one in her garden, I'm so jealous.


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## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

FiaSpice said:


> I hope those contact will help you with the wild one you have now. They are just adorable. They don't look like European hedgehog to be, they are a lot more darker with white belly patch.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


my father is from Iran, they all grew up with hedgehogs running around too


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

I want hedgehogs in my garden too. They are sooo cute! Thanks for showing us the pictures!!!


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

FiaSpice said:


> I hope those contact will help you with the wild one you have now. They are just adorable. They don't look like European hedgehog to be, they are a lot more darker with white belly patch.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I checked on Slovenia and these are indeed no West European hedgehogs like most people know them but Southern white-breasted hedgehogs (I didn't know they lived in Slovenia). But they're almost the same except from the white spot on the chest (they also can mate with their West European relatives). And it makes nests out of grass rather than digging them.


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## Kelsey the hedgehog (Jun 15, 2012)

how long did you say you have had them? i understand wanting to eventually put them back in the wild.. but i also understand not wanting to give them up  

i would suggest raising them in your home with a more natural approach.. if you can.. try to re-create something for them that they might get in the wild. rather than a igloo house maybe you could try to make a grass nest for them like Draenog said they do in the wild. considering these are not domestic hedgehogs..

and it's okay for them to go outside, in your garden or backyard.. just supervise them so they don't get lost or hurt. depending on how long you have raised them, a lot of wild orphans easily get attached to their new moms and i can only imagine how it would feel to the poor baby to lose two moms in one garden.. 

hope this helped.


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## jerseymike1126 (Jan 20, 2011)

please keep us updated with photos though! we love all hedgehogs


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

They are SO cute! They almost look like tenrecs. I'd bet you could probably transition them to living outdoors by setting their cage outside and letting them wander around and come back during the day to sleep, and then eventually you can just leave them a little hide box with food and water so they can be "wild" but you still have them around.  What are the laws on keeping wild hedgehogs in your area? If they're happy with you, and it isn't against the law, you might even be able to keep them so long as they seem happy.


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## Ela (May 16, 2012)

I could be wrong, but I don't see a problem with you keeping the hedgehogs even though it may be against the law to keep wild ones as pets. The reason for me saying so is because most rules are set up to protect hedgehogs and keep them from being taken, bred and sold as pets (they are listed as a protected species in some areas). If you found them in need of immediate care and they have become domesticated, I think it could be cruel to send them back out in the wild again. Plus, they're just 2 little cuties, not like an alligator or anything else large and dangerous.


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## Elouise (Jul 10, 2012)

Thanks for all the replies!  I'll post some more photos this weekend when I have time  I noticed a lot of you are from USA. You don't have hedgehogs in the nature? I really didn't know that, I thought it's a common thing to find them wandering in your yard almost everywhere  It sure is a blessing to have them around just like that but also incredibly sad to see them dead on the streets  I wish people cared more about them.



Draenog said:


> They are cute indeed  those are European hedgehogs. You can find some information about them on the web. I personally only know sites in my language but this is what I found in English: http://europeanhedgehog.webs.com/
> http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/s/00man/ ... rmCare.htm
> A forum about them: http://europeanhedgehog.niceboard.org/
> 
> They are native to Europe so maybe you could keep them in your garden and feed them/give them a place to hibernate in winter.


Thanks a lot, I will also check that out 
I'd love to keep them in my garden but I live near a highway and the neighbours around here act pretty careless about hedgehogs. They are mostly annoyed by them. You can see a lot of dead hedghogs on streets daily in this season. It's so horrible. I have even rescued one from a street myself not so long ago so it wouldn't get killed. We also have dogs who are not too fond of them and that breaks my heart 



Kelsey the hedgehog said:


> how long did you say you have had them? i understand wanting to eventually put them back in the wild.. but i also understand not wanting to give them up
> 
> i would suggest raising them in your home with a more natural approach.. if you can.. try to re-create something for them that they might get in the wild. rather than a igloo house maybe you could try to make a grass nest for them like Draenog said they do in the wild. considering these are not domestic hedgehogs..
> 
> ...


I had them for 4 weeks and 2 days now. We have been feeding them every two hours when we got them, even woke up in the nights 

That's a good idea, we were already planning on putting them outside a bit next week. I'm just pretty worried they couldn't get used to the wild life as it is :/ They don't seem to be scared of humans and they have never curled up into a ball. Also as I mentioned one of them has some kind of a problem with one of his back legs and we are considering keeping him since he probably wouldn't be able to function normally in the wild 



Draenog said:


> FiaSpice said:
> 
> 
> > I hope those contact will help you with the wild one you have now. They are just adorable. They don't look like European hedgehog to be, they are a lot more darker with white belly patch.
> ...


True that, as I saw it might be possible that they are some mix. None of the hedgehogs on the internet look quite like ours  However this southern white breasted hedgehog is the closest I believe. But they're not brown, not even a bit. They look almost greyish-white-silver.



LizardGirl said:


> They are SO cute! They almost look like tenrecs. I'd bet you could probably transition them to living outdoors by setting their cage outside and letting them wander around and come back during the day to sleep, and then eventually you can just leave them a little hide box with food and water so they can be "wild" but you still have them around.  What are the laws on keeping wild hedgehogs in your area? If they're happy with you, and it isn't against the law, you might even be able to keep them so long as they seem happy.


Thank you  Tenrecs? Hmm never heard of that but it looks cute 
As I mentioned I'd love to do that but it's totally impossible :/ It's illegal to keep them at home since they're a wild animal however they do seem happy right now. They eat well, we are going to get them this wheel so they can exercise. In case we will notice that they feel uncomfortable, then we will let them out immediately. On some websites it said that 'the wild nature calls them' and in case that happens we will do our best to find the perfect place to let them outside.



Ela said:


> I could be wrong, but I don't see a problem with you keeping the hedgehogs even though it may be against the law to keep wild ones as pets. The reason for me saying so is because most rules are set up to protect hedgehogs and keep them from being taken, bred and sold as pets (they are listed as a protected species in some areas). If you found them in need of immediate care and they have become domesticated, I think it could be cruel to send them back out in the wild again. Plus, they're just 2 little cuties, not like an alligator or anything else large and dangerous.


Haha SO true, they're so incredibly cute and it almost seems like they like to cuddle which surprises me the most  I'm completely afraid they wouldn't be able to get used to live in the wild :/ It's totally a cruel world out there and they don't even know what danger really means.


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## Elouise (Jul 10, 2012)

Hello everyone, it's me again.
The hedgehogs are doing great, cuddling more than ever. They like to be petted on their bellies and basically lie down when you approach them with your hand. It's unbelievable. They aren't afraid of hands, not even a bit.
However, we have realized they're both males. I've read your messageboard a bit and it stated that a hedgehog is an adult at 6 months. Is that when we should separate them? Or do you think they will start fighting even earlier? We're quite concerned about that, so they wouldn't hurt each other.

And here are some photos of them 
(They were only outside for about 30minutes, we didn't let them out )


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

Thank you for posting new photos! I love your little rescues so very much. They are perfectly adorable. I am glad that they are doing well. You must be taking very good care of them.


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## SquiggyTheHedgie (Jul 26, 2011)

Adorable little guys! As for the separation issues I think that unless they actually show signs of fighting that it would be okay to keep them together since they are siblings. Usually females can be housed together, not so sure about males, but it seems like they are getting along okay.


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## Maddie The Hedgehog (Jul 28, 2012)

wow! amazing!


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

They are so cute!!! I'm so glad you posted more pictures of them.


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

They are really cute!


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## rara-avis21 (Jul 26, 2014)

aww how cute
how are they doing now?

i think if they are poorly/injured and couldn't defend themselves if they were released then they would be classed as rescue hedgehogs really which are normally cared for in homes and enclosed gardens.
i would worry though - do they go outside? do you have an enclosed garden?

in the UK it is illegal to keep them caged or inside as pets (plus it is a little cruel in my opinion) but if they would likely die in the wild if they were released then you should keep doing what you can so they remain healthy and happy.
i have a fence around my garden but a little hole in the far end - Horatio can leave if he wants and maybe he will but otherwise he is happy to wonder around my garden (its very overgrown and like his own little woods!) and he has a very safe home i made him and gets fed and water but i wouldnt want to keep him inside, i think he deserves to be out in the garden like he would normally, he was attacked by dogs this weekend so has been a little unwell and his past home made him unnaturally used to humans - this is part of the reason why i have him here now, he probably won't last too long if he did leave the garden..

also, i would suggest making sure you don't release them around bonfire times as they quite often get into the bonfire or composts and ...

 poor hedgies, well done looking after them so well!


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