When releasing young animals (hand-reared or otherwise) into my garden it has becomeobvious that youngsters who were deprived of food very early in life (orphaned babies notfound for several days after the mother has gone/removed from their nest by cats or dogs),succumb much more readily to disease. Hand-reared youngsters with a body weight of 8oz,that never suffered a period of starvation, coped well with the transition to the garden,continued to gain weight, and were released into the wild on achieving their target weight of1lb. Hand-reared youngsters with an uncertain start in life, and those who arrived alreadyweaned but malnourished, succumbed to an assortment of ails, suggesting a more poorlydeveloped immune system than their stronger peers.

The illnesses included:

* Trematode infestation (Brachylaemus erinacei), the infective stages of which are carried bysnails, and which presents as hyperactivity, loss of appetite and consequent loss of weight.The cure for this is Praziquantel, a drug effective in the treatment of fluke and tapeworminfestation. Panacur is apparently much less effective than previous times due to its plentifuluse with sheep and its resultant entry into the soil, leading to a strong resistance on the partof the pathogens it is intended to treat.

* Clostridium perfringens (potentially fatal bacteria), the symptoms of which are virtually non-existent; the first signs generally being a dead hedgehog. With my animals, the two animalsthat fell prey to this bacterium were youngsters recovering from demodectic and sarcopticmange, were isolated (but obviously not enough) in a hutch, and had presumably madecontact with an infected animal through the mesh front of the hutch. The infected animalswere collapsed, very cold to the touch (indicating peripheral shut-down), severely dehydratedand haemorrhaging from the mouth and anus. Treatment of the remaining youngsters (whichwas successful) consisted of an initial injection of baytril followed by 0.2ml orally, twice a dayfor five days. Recent studies have shown that as smaller animals metabolise drugs veryquickly it is necessary to administer baytril twice a day, rather than once daily, as previously.

* Meningitis (caused by a potentially fatal bacterium), with animals displaying poor co-ordination, loss of appetite and weight loss. Caught early, this can be cured with an injectionof amoxycillin, followed by a steroid injection (such as demadex) accompanied by anantibiotic injection, as steroids are known to reduce immune status when administered alone.

In conclusion, those animals with a good nutritional start in life seem to have much greaterimmune status than malnourished ones, which prevent bacteria/flukes etc from taking a holdon the animal to the extent that they affect their physiology. The rule of thumb, then, is toonly release animals into an environment where slugs/snails are present (or where they willcome into contact with other hedgehogs of unknown background), when the animals havereached a body weight of at least 11oz, and have been given a vitamin supplement duringthe preceding days/weeks. Regular monitoring of their weight until they reach the regulatory1lb, should ensure a good outcome.

The above article was published in IMPRINT , The Yorkshire Mammal Group Newsletter,No.25, 1998