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.

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