General Chat

Just to let you all know that Hogwart weighed in at 900 grams last week.

In old money that is 2lbs.

I now have videos of Hogwart at night after my lovely Christmas present of a wildlife camera my other half bought me. Now I will be able to see what I am feeding down the garden by our hedgehog box too.

I wonder how many little creatures eat the food put out for hedgehogs?

We have enstalled a plastic tray in Hogwarts ark which is much better to wash down. I do use bicarb for washing a lot of things.

One that I over wintered in my study room used to run and snap at my heels as I was cleaning the pen out. Another used to annoint himself with slobber all down his sides. Don't get him too tame as he will loose his self defence of curling into a ball and don't get him too fat or again he will not be able to curl up to defend himself when you release him. Best of luck. It will take ages for you to get rid of the musty scent he leaves behind but a good wash of the area in a bi carb solution usually works best.Elaine :-)

Thanks Elaine,

I weighed Hogwart yesterday after clearing it out. It weighed in at just over 600grms. I shall still keep it in over the winter and release it in March. When we found the little one it weighed just under a 1lb.(454grms) so all the NOT running around the garden hunting for food has paid off.

Young small hedgehogs under a pound and a quarter cannot hibernate or they die.It is too late to put it out. Feed cat food, dog biscs berries etc. They are omniverous. Have overwintered many but do not let them get cold or they will automatically try to hibernate and die. Good luck. Elaine. ;-) :-D

Morning and thanks for your replys Ann and Purple.

Yes they like piles of logs as there are a nice lot of beetles under those. Beetles are their main diet and thats why the droppings that you see during the summer etc are black.

It is a good idea if you have a log pile to have an area under it for a hog to get under and put a piece of old roofing felt over the top to stop rain getting down.

Well my Hogarth came out last night and ate it's food from under the garden seat by its box. I put three small sticks against the entrance and if it comes out it pushes them aside. Also with the hard frost we had last night you can see where it has walked around as there are tiny tracks on the grass.

Our local charity says don't let the tiny ones hibernate, but take them to the centre and they will look after them. She told me what I already knew, not to give them bread and milk or fishy catfood and to give things like digestive biscuits as well, and peanuts, anything that helps to build up the fat to help them stay alive through the cold weather.

With a bitter winter forecast we will probably lose more little creatures, I was feeding the hedgehogs in the garden as usual but didn't see them for a couple of weeks before my holiday altho there is always food outside for the groundfeeding birds so they can share what they have. We have some spaces behind the shed and garage with old wood and such so they might find shelter there and there are lots of leaves etc in the garden too


Lizx

I am sure that I saw the local wildlife site asking people to take the underweight ones in and feed them up to the correct weight to be released. They too are inundated.

Nudge

I am still feeding the ones out in the garden too.

I have hedgehog boxes in the garden with hogs in them already.

It is just that this one is too small to get through the winter and if it does hibinate it will probably die.

I have all the info from those sites that Sue put up and was just about to put the links on here myself.

Survival of the fittest comes to mind.

Would it be possible to provide a free entry/egress outdoor habitat and feed them there rather than bring them indoors?

I feed the hedghogs in my garden with cat food and water.

they eat most of the slugs,beetles and worms in the front and back garden.

There is quite a bit of info on the internet about the food they eat.

http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/db.htm
that one is near Epping Forest.

http://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/


This is the British hedgehog presevation


http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/carers.htm


Good Luck Mel and Sharon in helping the hogs.

Have you heard about these nematodes?

Slugs and snails will only be eaten by hedgehogs if they cannot get the right kind of foods. Also if they et slugs and snails they are liable to get lung worm which will kill them through causeing their lung to get congested.

We have had big problems with slugs this year and,if we lose our prickly friends the problem will be even greater.

They are a very important part of our eco-system.

Hedgehogs are on the decline so any help with feeding them up to get them through the winter is quite ok.

Eldrick.There is a wildlife hospital down the road to me.They are innundated with hoglets at this time of the year and farm them out to people,

I have tended them at the hospital before I started taking them in myself. Each hedgehog costs a charity money and the only ones I have ever lost have been ill before I found them and have been tended by a vet,at my expense,if they have lived long enough to be ttaken there.

Please stop shaking your head now.

*shakes head*

Then take it to somewhere that knows what they are doing!

My thought was that they sleep in grass and hay in the wild.

Over the years I have developed a technique with them. I always used a plastic box that could be washed and put a layer of newspaper,a layer of clumping cat litter and then another layer of newspaper which it would mangle in the night anyway. then I couls scoop the mangled stuff out with the mighty great clumps of litter in the morning when it was in bed.

Until they grew too big for it and could be let go I had one of those grey capsule things that are for small pets to sleep in.

If they are under about a pound in weight DO NOT PUT THEM BACK INTO THE WILD.They don't have enough body fat to survive and hedgehogs need all the help they can get.

I have heard that there is a nematode that is causing internel bleeding. There is a "natural" slug killer that involves nematodes and I wonder if hedgehogs ingesting those slugs are themselves affected.