What to do when
you "meet" a hedgehog
The
European hedgehog is a wild animal, safeguarded and protected by
many laws, therefore it is not possible to keep it or have it as a
pet!
Anyway, in case it is necessary, it is very important to take it to a CRAS (Wildlife
Rehabilitation Centre) where it can be taken care of.
Wearing a pair of gloves, you must gently take the animal and put it in a
box near a hot-water bottle to make sure its body temperature is kept
adequate.
You must leave it quiet, in the dark, without giving it any kind of
food or medicine before having contacted a veterinary or a
specialized centre. It is important to telephone the National Corps of
Foresters or the Province Policemen to get information about the
closest CRAS.
WHEN IS IT NECESSARY TO
HELP A HEDGEHOG?
You must help all hedgehogs whose weight, in September/October, is under the
minimum necessary to go through hibernation: 500/600 g.
This is very important, because without the proper reserves of subcutaneous
fat to be burnt up during the winter the hedgehog dies while sleeping or
keeps on wandering desperately looking for food that cannot be found, and it
dies.
You must take any hedgehog that is:
wounded
infested by ticks (main cause of death
for serious anaemia) and fleas
ill (you suspect that it is ill when
it lays on one side, staggers, drags its rear legs, has problems in walking)
orphan, wandering in search of its
mother
wandering during the day (the hedgehog
is a nocturnal animal, during daylight it can normally sleep up to 18 hours)
animals who are in areas of upcoming
danger (wells, manholes, very busy roads, swimming pools, wire nets,
garden meshes, mousetraps, construction yards, etc.)
From end of
April to end of September, you must be especially careful because the
hedgehog may be a mother that is nursing babies.
Make sure that there is not a litter of baby hedgehogs hidden in the bushes
nearby, waiting for mum hedgehog.
If necessary, take the little ones wearing a pair of gloves, put them in a
box with a hot-water bottle and take them to a Hedgehog Care Centre as soon
as possible.
BE CAREFUL: do not put the baby hedgehogs in
the same box as their mother, because she could be frightened, fail to
recognize them, and kill them.
Even when the hedgehog is in a situation of upcoming danger, as
stated above, you must move it from there as little as possible, in order to
prevent the risk of taking a mum too far from her babies: the animal must
not be taken nor handed over to rehabilitation centres!
Never give food to the hedgehogs you are helping, because there may
be wounds in their palate or their jaw may be injured, and any
do-it-yourself action, such as giving food, can make an already
difficult situation worse.
When the hedgehogs are orphans weighing less than 150 g it is worth
underlying that the rehabilitation must be immediate. In order to prevent
the animal to get too cold, you must remember to put it in a box with a
hot-water bottle; it also needs to be given water and to be fed to avoid
hypoglycaemia.
The baby is fed every 3 hours, with a special milk: ESBILAC
ฎ (Chifa); in case of
emergency, a fennel infusion or goat milk is suitable, while waiting to have
ESBILAC ฎ.
The milk must be warm, and must be given with a small tuberculin syringe
(1ml), without needle.
After each feed, a massage in the anal area is made in order to stimulate
evacuation; to this aim, it is possible to use almond or olive oil to avoid
irritations.
HOW TO DOSE ESBILAC
ฎ
MILK
Weight
of hedgehog |
ml in
24 h |
ml for
each meal |
Number
of meals |
30 g |
6,4 |
0,8 |
8 |
40 g |
8 |
1 |
8 |
50 g |
11,2 |
1,4 |
8 |
60 g |
14,4 |
1,8 |
8 |
70 g |
17,5 |
2,5 |
7 |
80 g |
19,8 |
3,3 |
6 |
90 g |
22,8 |
3,8 |
6 |
100 g |
25 |
5 |
5 |
NEVER GIVE HEDGEHOGS:
Cow milk, milk for children, milk for kittens
By-products of milk
Almonds (because they contain hydrocyanic
acid, toxic for hedgehogs)
Hazelnuts (many hedgehogs have been taken to
the centre in emergency conditions because of hazelnuts wedged in the
trachea)
If you want to help a hedgehog in summer, it is important to use a
parasiticide for fleas and ticks (for example Advantage phials for kittens,
half phial every 500 g): to prevent anaemia caused by ticks in a
hedgehog means that it can live longer and better!
Moreover:
Always have a corner with many little
branches and leaves in the garden: the hedgehog will use them to build
its nest, to rest during the day, or mums hedgehogs can give birth there;
extremely clean and tidy gardens and gardens are not very
suitable for hedgehogs.
In gardens, never use slug and snail
killers or herbicides, that weaken hedgehogs immune system or
kill them immediately if they eat poisoned slugs or snails. There are
products, imported from Germany, which are harmless for hedgehogs; keep on
asking your shopkeeper to have these products available!
In summer, every evening, put clean, cool
water in a shallow bowl, outside the door or in the garden (hedgehog
can die of thirst and go near the houses to look for food, but most of
all water: nowadays, due to the kind of cultivations adopted, the
countryside is getting less and less suitable for the hedgehog, who become a
suburban animal).
Place croquettes or canned meat for cats
in a little house-manger (or a wicker basket turned upside down...) with a
door of 10x10 cm, to make sure that hedgehogs, and not cats and/or dogs, eat
from it.
Last, but definitely not least (this is
extremely important actually), and we will always keep on repeating it:
NEVER do-it-yourself! After a first aid, take the animal to a
veterinary, to SOS Ricci or to another Wildlife Care Centre of the province,
asking for information to the Province Policemen and the National Corps of
Foresters!

SOS RICCI is always available for
information:
please call +39 339 2942329
email: marina@sosricci.it
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