Any hedgehog that is out during the day is likely to be very ill. The only exception to this is during summer a female with babies to feed may come out for a quick snack and a drink. She will look well and will be walking with purpose. A hedgehog that is out in the day, not moving, especially if flies are around it needs rescuing immediately.
If you're concerned about a hedgehog it needs to get to rescue as soon as possible to give it the best chance of a full and quick recovery so we don't recommend that you keep it yourself hoping that feeding it up will make it better. Hedgehogs are really good at hiding serious illnesses and injuries such as a dog bite which you wouldn't be expected to notice. A few extra days can mean that the medication and treatment does not have time to work and a hedgehog can quickly become very seriously ill and die soon after it arrives.
If a hedgehog hears a strimmer or other garden machinery it doesn’t run away it just curls up into a ball. If it’s in it’s nest sleeping soundly it will probably be completely unaware of the danger and as hedgehogs sleep on their sides, like a dog, the fast action of a strimmer will have hit them before they have chance to react.
Lance – as we called him for short – had been found in the street eating a bar of chocolate. Don’t know if that’s all he could find or if he just fancied something different there’s certainly quite a few that put out food for the hedgehogs in that area.
So when he arrived covered in chocolate he had to have a bath.
At first we thought he had been fighting but as the wounds on his head started to heal and the scabs fell off it became obvious that Lance had been strimmered straight across his head cutting into both ears. He had been so lucky not to suffer more serious cuts and damage and he recovered quickly and was soon well enough to return to the wild.
A hedgehog that hasn’t been able to find enough food will be thin and emaciated. When viewed from above it’s hips and shoulders will stick out and this will make it appear to have a nipped in ‘waist’. Seen from the side it will seem to have a visible neck.
Mainly seen in babies born in autumn/winter – mum will abandon them as weather turns colder and she starts hibernation. With no natural food available at this time of year a small hedgehog will quickly lose weight and succomb to parasites if there are no feedstations nearby offering good replacement food.
Outcome can be good if youngster is rescued in time but often organ failure has started due to starvation and it will not survive.
Ringworm and Mange make a hedgehog look very strange. It's really itchy so hedgehog will scratch off the scabby surface and expose bare skin. Hedgehogs should never be handled without wearing gloves and this is one of the main reasons why as ringworm and mange can easily infect humans. If you handle a hedgehog that is carrying mange or ringworm, not always obvious, then you're very likely to develop scabies or ringworm too.
Some injuries are very obvious, a limping hedgehog is obvious but many will hide injuries well. This hedgehog's leg was so very badly swollen and bleeding it was easy to see. A short course of antibiotics and daily paddles in warm water reduced the swelling and Jimmy was quickly back on all four feet again.
Fly strike is really common in the summer and it can kill. The yellow eggs are laid by flies on a hedgehog that is debilitated and/or injured. In warm weather the eggs hatch into tiny maggots within 4 hours of being laid. They will then make their way into its body through the wound or other opening such as nose or anus. Once inside they will proceed to eat the hedgehog alive from the inside out. Getting a hedgehog with flystrike to a rescue center or a vet must be done immediately if you want to save its life. Ticks are common but a hedgehog that has a lot of ticks indicates underlying illness. Often fly strike and tick infestations are seen together.
