General Chat

:-D

My younger daughter and her fiance stayed over last night.
When she stays, I have to sit on the back step (strangely at the side of the house) to have a cigarette.
Last night I was puffing away, when the gate started rattling.
I coudn't see why, so got up to see.
There I found a very youngt hedgehog battering the kitten 'proofing' (wire) we'd put on the bottom of the gate 5 years ago, to stop the (then) kittens from getting onto the road!
I sat and watched it,, and listened for the mother and other babies, but heard nothing.
By now, the cats were getting a little too interested, so picked it up and put it in the back garden, on the route I knew a mother hedgehog used to make years ago.

I'm really chuffed :-D

lucky you indeed ,i used to love watching snuffles ,on an autumn evening ,alas i havn't seen my hedgehog for two years.Fred :-\

I have wintered several babies. stinking little varmints that they are. Even have a special cage for them. Have seen no hedgehogs around here for two or three years.

This is a pretty hedgy friendly area too but I have stopped putting food out for them because we have too many rats about now. One neighbour has several dogs and she leaves her back door open at night.She had one spend the winter in her kitchen.

Until the wet room was built we had an outside lavatory and I used to leave a sack of hay on its side in there. Often a hedgehog would stay in it for a day.

Don't complain Sharron ,you would smell a bit too if you couldn't wash between your spines ,lol,besides ,they feed on all the nasties in your garden ,slugs ,snails and the like ,Fred :-)

Put a few peanuts out each evening they will appreciate that. Take down the kitten wire to allow access - the same route will be used for many years - ours has been for over 30 years.

My cousin used to take in injured or baby one ones.
She would keep them till ready to go back out in the wild.
She too had rats though that went in for their food :-(

Marion

Hi Chris,
The kitten wire is staying-it stopped the hedgehog from going into the road!!!
About 7 years ago, (pre kitten wire) this time of the year, when one of my cats was elderly, frail, dying and refusing to come indoors, I spent quite a few nights sat on a picnic blanket with her.
We'd hear the hedgehogs (mum & most of the babies) come up one side of the garden - and one sole baby snuffling up the other side!!!
He'd get past us- then rapidly cross the garden to join the others!!
They never went out on the road, they'd snuffle around the front garden a bit, then come half way down the back garden and slip under the fence into next door's garden. Later on, they'd come back and go behind my shed.

The way the houses are arranged means there are a vast amount of gardens - at least 40 - all backing onto each other - all with either wooden fences or the occasional chain link fence. There are many gaps in these fences, which gives the hedgehogs an enormous range, without going anywhere near a road!!
I never feed them - there are enough slugs & snails in my garden to feed an army - thye don't eat them fast enough!! The Sloworms do a poor job of despatching the snails too!!!

Point taken Maggie!!!! Keep the wire up. Ours takes two routes - one from woods through our carport and into garden and then through side gate. Other comes from woods into next door, into us and out our side gate.

We actually had five one night some 3 months ago - normally have up to three.

Badger killed one on our front lawn earlier this year and OH was devastated.

...glad I haven't got Badgers, Chris.
A neighbour's cat decided to 'take on' a badger, and was quite seriously injured. As the neighbour had children, the cat took to taking refuge in my house!!!
Neighbour would come over every evening to give him his medication.
Once he was better - he took on the badgers again -and seriously lost - he was killed..

Well evidently he did not learn his lesson. Nature is a hard task master.