Daisy's Delight

On the 23rd July I received a text from one of my carers telling me she'd discovered a huge female hedgehog visiting one of the many feeding stations in her garden. This hog appeared to be in perfect health and weighted a whopping 822 grams. We were both delighted because Daisy has been fattening our hand reared babies for a number of years and releasing into her garden. We've been hoping this would re-establish a healthy population in her area. It appeared we were getting there.

Then on the 26th she texted me with an image of a hoglet she'd discovered wandering around her garden during daylight hours. Delighted our hedgehogs were now breeding we were both a little concerned he was out during the day. So we decided she'd keep him in a hutch and a run for a while to fatten him up (he weighed just under 200 grams) and to keep an eye on him.

The little chap sitting on Daisy's hand

We are now both thankful she did because on the 28th Daisy noticed one of his back legs had become swollen. She also discovered a deep wound and a few large  maggots. This is the problem with hogs because their survival tactic of rolling up hinders a full examination (that is unless you have access to a little gas).  Luckily Daisy has a sympathetic local vet who cleaned the wound and administered anti-biotics. He is now convalescing in an indoor container with towels and will hopefully make a full recovery.

We'll keep you up-dated.

P.S. If you tweet please follow us on Twitter just look for @hertshogline

Sophie's Babies

Unfortunately I've had to temporarily close HQ over the summer because work has taken me away from home. It was not a decision I took lightly but needs must. When I told our fab vets (the A120 Medivets) Sophie one of nurses offered to take on any babies that came in. Little did she realise that within a week or so she would be hand rearing two litters.

The first litter consisted of six babies (which is  big litter). Sadly four died over a period of days. One of the problems when trying to hand read such young hoglets. Thankfully the two surviving hoglets are doing well and the second litter (twins) are also doing well.

Sophie has been keeping me up-to-date with the progress and I wanted to share with you some of the images she has sent me.

So here goes:

The two surviving hoglets from the first litter Sophie took under her wing

A few days later - as you can see doing really well

One of the twins enjoying goats milk and Esbilac

As I get more news and additional images I'll keep you up to date.

P.S. If you tweet please follow us on Twitter just look for @hertshogline

Mmmm - Banana

Recently one of our fosterers installed a motion sensitive camera in their garden. After a little adjusting of the cameras position they are achieving some great video footage of the hedgehogs they fostered. Rob and Di now have a ritual of placing the memory card into the camera each evening then retrieving it in the morning. The memory card is then popped into the computer and they watch the comings and goings of the previous night whilst they enjoy breakfast.

This is one of the first clips they've sent which shows a hedgehog really enjoying a piece of banana. The great thing is there's a 50% chance this is Helen the hedgehog who we rescued in March 2012. If you didn't read her story then click here.  

I hope you enjoy the clip and I'm sure there will be more in the near future for you to watch.