If your visiting hedgehogs have disappeared into hibernation - well done! 🥰 Hedgehogs will only attempt to enter the hibernation process if they are healthy and have enough brown fat to see them though winter. Thanks to you and your kind provisions of safe food and clean water they have reached that happy state. Hedgehogs occasionally rise from hibernation for a top up, so please keep providing food and clean water all through the winter. Covering the biscuits with a saucer will keep dry cat food fresh for around 3 days, before it starts losing its crunch, aroma, and nutritional quality. Here's dear sweet Anya, who rose from her hibernation last night for a top-up snack, before going back to bed. She has been in hibernation since 1st September. The babies she gave birth to here in June dispersed when they were old enough, but sweet Anya decided the maternity wing of the winter cabin makes a nice home, thanks very much, and has stayed.😁 Anya's history: xitter.cf/HedgehogCabin/status/2…

I don't live in the middle of the New Forest. This is a tiny triangle of woods at the end of my road. But the water I put out there every night is the only water available for miles. Despite some recent rain, the ponds, rivers and streams are all still dry from the drought. So these poor deer, along with badgers, foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, and all manner of birds are forced to travel miles each night to get to this water. It's a lifesaver for them. Please be a lifesaver for your local wildlife. A dish of water in the back and front - even if you don't have a garden - may mean the difference between life and death to some poor struggling animal. Please keep it full, and keep it clean, every night. Please don't give up, it may take a while for the wildlife to find you. Every single hedgehog through these hospital doors this year has been suffering from dehydration. It's heartbreaking, hearing these dear sweet animals gasp their last breath, knowing that if someone, somewhere, only turned on their tap and put out some water this precious life would have been saved. Our wildlife are dying of thirst. In this green and pleasant land. Weather and conditions have changed, and we need to change too, and help out those less fortunate than ourselves. It's such a small effort, for such a huge reward.❤️‍🩹

This is dear little Owen right now, this afternoon, still eating little and often, just the way a patient recovering from starvation should. I'm so pleased to say he has survived all his antiparasitic treatments, and will have his last injection tomorrow. But better still - out of the blue his finder called! I had no way of contacting him, as he was working when he brought Owen in and was in such a rush he didn't leave his details, so I was delighted that he rang. Paul actually lives in Northamptonshire - a very long way from where I am in Hampshire. But he said he would make the trip down to pick up Owen when he is recovered, and give him a home in his garden that is open to countryside, and where other hedgehogs regularly visit and are fed and watered year round. I am so happy that this dear brave boy, once starving and so gravely ill, will now have a happy home! He needs a couple more weeks of recovery time here, to build up his strength, but his outlook is bright.😊 Owen's history: xitter.cf/HedgehogCabin/status/2…

Anyone who thinks that has lost their humanity. I feel it’s our duty to help the vulnerable. And all animals are vulnerable.

I am undone. Just look at this little kid. Owen hasn't moved, has had nothing to eat or drink, for 8 days. And then this happened last night. He licked his lips, took a few tremulous steps, then ate, oh-so-slowly, for 19 minutes.🥹 What a little warrior. (In case you're wondering - his spines are all sticking up from where I have administered a twice daily bolus of fluids, to keep him alive, and he's in such a poor state that his skin has lost all elasticity. But as he gradually absorbs nourishment again his skin will recover and his spines will lay flat again). Owen's history: xitter.cf/HedgehogCabin/status/2… And: xitter.cf/HedgehogCabin/status/2…

I'm getting lots of calls from people who have decided to clean out their garage, outbuilding or shed and have found a 'sleeping' hedgehog. Firstly, please leave them there. Put everything back as it was, as gently and quietly as possible, and walk away. Whatever you wanted to do that day is not worth killing a precious endangered animal for. Because of the false autumn this year (the drought traumatised trees into dropping their leaves early, as a survival tactic, and the smell of those decaying leaves is an 'autumn is here' trigger for hedgehogs), a lot are hibernating early. Hibernation isn't a sleep. It's a lowered metabolism. The heartbeat is lowered dramatically from 190 beats per minute to around 15. A breath is taken only once every few minutes. Their body temperature is dropped from 35C to around 5C. Systems not needed for life are shut down. A hibernating hedgehog burns just 1 calorie per day. Isn't that incredible? They still have a sleeping and waking cycle, and are perfectly aware and can hear, but are stiff, rigid, and cannot move. Trapped and helpless in that near-death state. It takes weeks of preparation to achieve this incredible transformation. It cannot be instantly undone. Even the fastest rising, by a young fit hedgehog, takes about 12 hours, before the heart is beating fast enough and there's enough oxygen in the bloodstream to allow muscles to move again. If a hedgehog in a state of hibernation is terrified (by being disturbed by a human) and is panicked into trying to rise too fast, the strain can be too much for him and he'll have a heart attack. It's so dangerous to disturb them that it's actually against the law - and goodness knows our wildlife have few enough laws protecting them. But leaving them in peace is more than obeying the law. It's human kindness. After destroying their own natural habitat, it’s the least we can do - to allow them safe passage through the winter, in whatever space of ours they choose to inhabit. And they chose to inhabit your space because it was undisturbed. Unused. Just as we can smell when a house is empty, hedgehogs can smell when something has lain undisturbed - be it a roll of carpet, a bag of old clothes, or a sack of compost. Undisturbed means safety to a desperate animal. These poor displaced gentle creatures take the chance that small space will stay undisturbed, long enough for them to survive winter. So if you're having a clear out and find a hedgehog please let them stay in peace, undisturbed. Put any covering back just how you found it. Please don't be tempted to add to it, to 'make them more comfy'. 🥰 It's lovely that you feel that way, but the hedgehog will just see it as a predator making their nest unsafe. If there's no access to the building that you know of, please leave the door open a little, or make a cat-flap size hole in the door. And leave a clean dish of water outside the building, and a dish of dry cat or dog food outside in the evenings ( a complete food that has meat as the first listed ingredient). If they are too frightened to continue hibernating there, they will use up a great deal of precious stored energy moving on, and will need to replenish that. And then enjoy the rare privilege, that this precious endangered wild animal trusted you and your garden to be at his most vulnerable.❤️