No Room At The Inn

This time of year it's not unusual for us to receive a large number of calls from people who have found small hedgehogs. However it is unusual for us to take in entire litters. Over the last month we have rescued a litter of four with their mum (see below) plus a second litter of four hoglets (without their mum).

This is mum with her four hoglets on the 10th October (still suckling)

Thankfully all eight are doing well. The sow who came in with her litter has been returned to the wild whilst her hoglets will stay with us for the entire winter. However this has caused us a slight problem in that all eight are now too big to share a hutch, so we have had to split them. So just two litters have used all eight of our hutches (left hand side of image at end of this post). This means we have had to get creative by using large plastic storage containers and rabbit houses as make shift accommodation.  

Sadly this means the shed is more than full (as you can see below) and we have had to close our doors to new hogs. We don't like to turn any hog away but we have now physically run out of room. 

Even the work surface on the right is now full!

This also means food bills have gone up. So if you would like to support our work please pass on our details to anyone who may be interested in a hog talk (we cover a 15 mile radius of Bishop's Stortford). I'm fully CRB checked so can do talks to Rainbows, Brownies, Cubs etc. We also give talks to WI's, Gardening clubs etc. They can contact us via our Facebook page or via our website for further details.

Our Latest Success - Little Stinky

I've written about this little chap before - to read his story just scroll down to previous post. However I wanted to share this success story with you.

On the 26th July I received a text from our youngest carer/fosterer Daisy. She'd found a small hoglet wandering around during the day with a badly infected, maggot filled wound on his back leg. If she hadn't have rescued him he would have died. But  just over a month later this is how he looks.

Looking on top form 

On the 1st September I'm pleased to announce 'Little Stinky' was released back into Daisy's garden, where he was found.  

Enjoying his re-found freedom

So congratulations to Daisy - a job well done!

Little Stinky's Story

Daisy one of our carers has been fattening hoglets for a few years now and releasing into her garden. On the 26th July I received a call from her, she'd found a small hoglet wandering around the garden during the day. We decided he'd need a little help and she placed him in one of her outdoor cages. 

'Little Stinky' the day Daisy found him

Daisy soon discovered this was a good idea as he had a badly infected wound in his back leg. The leg was very swollen and there were maggots in the wound. Daisy and her mother cleaned the wound as best they could then off to the vets he went. He spent the night at the vets, who cleaned the wound further and administered an antibiotic. 

I received a text on the 2nd August saying that although the wound was healing well it appeared he had broken toes. So back off to the vets for a check up. Since then Little Stinky has been going from strength to strength and on the 18th of August I received this photo of him.

Now weighing a fantastic 359 grams

If you look closely you can see his deformed toes, which thankfully shouldn't cause a problem when Daisy releases him in a few weeks time. Without help from Daisy this little chap would surely have died so THANK YOU Daisy for being such a star!!!

P.S. So if you ever see a hedgehog out during the day there is a very strong chance it needs a little help. Please pick it up and contact someone for advice. 

Nelson and Mrs X

Although HQ has been closed since the end of June our work looking after hedgehogs has continued. We received a phone call from the fab Roebucks vets in Stevenage. They had two hedgehogs who had unfortunately lost an eye each. As this left them very open to attack on their blind side they needed to go into a secure garden.

Thankfully we have a good network of volunteers and two of our fosterers have taken on the challenge of looking after Nelson and Mrs X (she has still to be named).

Nelson is the smaller hog (300 grams) and Mrs X is the larger (600 grams)

Nelson is now settled into his new home and as you can see has a lovely new hutch with a run all to himself. Once the garden is fully escape proof he'll have the run of the garden, which is full of lovely thick bushes and great places to forage. 

Nelson in his new home

Mrs X has gone to a garden and joins Vince who is partially paralysed. However this doesn't stop him getting into the house and hiding behind the washing machine!

Vince behind the washing machine again!

In readiness for their new tenant new houses were created for Vince and his new lady Mrs X. 

New purpose built home 

Both new homes in position

Homes being covered so they are snug, dry and warm ready for winter

As you can see we rely heavily on the support of vets such as Roebucks and our volunteer carers and fosterers. All of whom support us by giving their time for free and often support our work financially.

So I'd like to take this opportunity like to thank Elaine for taking Mrs X, Wayne for making two fab homes and John for taking Nelson. 

Lastly if you'd like to support our work you can do so by purchasing your office supplies using this link. Each time you make a purchase we are given a commission on the sale and it doesn't cost you a penny!  

Helen and friend (an update)

In March 2012 I introduced you to Helen the hedgehog who was very skinny, covered in ticks, unwilling to eat and had something wrong with one of her eyes. If you'd like to refresh yourself on her story simply follow this link:

I wanted to show you how well she's doing in her new home and how she also has a friend (another one of our rescue hogs) who she bumps into most nights when she visits her favourite eating place:

As you can see both hogs are doing exceptionally well and we keep fingers crossed that at some time in the year we see some hoglets tagging along behind her.