The little hoglet sleeping off a feed in its incubator.
We have called her Arabella for now – it’s difficult to tell the sex at this age, as everything moves as they grow, but I think there’s a good chance it is a female.
She is only taking 0.5ml of formula per feed at the moment, We would like her to take 1ml really, but she is toileting well so hopefully she will start taking more per feed soon. Hoglets of this age cannot go to the toilet themselves, so we have to stimulate her to go to toilet with a wet cotton bud. It is extremely important that they are toileted before and after every feed.
The feed is a special mix of formula and other mixtures to help prevent bloat and colic (amongst others) that can be fatal to hoglets, and they need extreme care while being fed to prevent inhalation of the formula.
It is always difficult hand rearing tiny hoglets, but we have had good success, so remain hopeful for her chances.
