Think my hogs are returning back to my garden for food
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well, last night was the first night that every single scrap of food was polished off – for a long time, since spring when it was busy (when they woke up after the big sleep), and I have made my feeding station cat and fox proof so it must have been the hedgehogs (sleep at my mum’s each Sunday night so I didn’t see any of the action).
Tonight has been busy, lots of hogs rummaging around in my garden foraging, a hog hidden somewhere within the bushes, making a quite huffing noise (the courting kind) for most of the evening, and now, yet another hog rummaging around, crunching on some leaves).
So perhaps, because it’s near to the end of summer (even though here summer hasn’t really started yet, compared to the last 2 years), and given that it hasn’t rained in a while – I’m wondering if that’s why they are returning.
I wonder because, due to the amount of rain (almost every day for the past month) they have had an abundance of natural food, and possibly too full to be bothered with my feeding station (apart from Walter, who is my daily frequent hog – has been since the autumn last year), which is a good thing I think, if that’s the reason why they have been hiding from me.
If that’s the case, then my hogs are doing all right? I was worried that they were trapped in someone else’s garden or the fox has been eating them.
BTW I have made my feeding station super fox proof now – I use a puppy mat as it’s easier for me to keep it clean each day, but I overlap one of the ends outside of the box, as the lid can keep it in place, however the fox can tear it out), so I put a wooden long board (same height as the feeding station, but just as long), outside the feeding station secured by a lot of bricks so the fox can’t get to the puppy mat. Then I have put a plastic sink drainer over the lid, with it hanging off, so the fox can’t open the lid of the feeding station (it has tried as there are claw marks on the plastic lid and a small crack (on the clip part of the lid to secure the lid in place) where the fox has tried to take the lid off – which I sealed with duck tape), then I have put another plastic lid with an old wooden seat of a wooden outdoor chair, with a very heavy large stone on top of that (so the stone doesn’t go through the plastic).
So far, the fox hasn’t tried to get to the food, and I leave the hogs left overs on the grass, so at least the fox won’t starve (it’s out a lot earlier than the hogs).
But I have to keep adapting the feeding station, as the crafty fox keeps trying to out smart me. Eventually, to keep that pesky fox away, it might end up looking something like a tower block. The hogs need to evolve into learning how to use pin numbers or something, or even keys would be good.
all the food gone for the second night in a row – young fox was about (not skinny just young – I thought it was skinny last week), but hasn’t found a way to get into the feeding station or take the puppy mat out – so all is good.
Fox perhaps not eating all the hedgehogs which I was concerned about – so all good.
Bit concerned about one of the hogs last night – it might have just been foraging, as it had it’s nose to the ground and seemed to be sniffing, but didn’t run away like most of the hogs visiting, it was in my garden for a while and seemed slow – however, I noticed another hog , that looked fairly young (smaller but not a hoglet), rummaging around and going about slowly – so I am hoping the bigger hog earlier was just busy foraging.
I checked if it was using all 4 legs, and it was, it also didn’t appear to be wobbly. My rescue centre is full to the rafters at the moment, and I can only rescue them if it’s something very obviously wrong with it, i.e. not using one or more of it’s legs, and wobbily. Being slow whilst foraging didn’t give me enough reason to pick it up. It did appear to have a white patch on it’s back so I did go up to it, it curled into a ball, and checked it’s spines with my torch quickly, there was no sign of fly strike and it wasn’t scratching – I didn’t feel that the white patch was paint, it looked more like mud underneath the torch instead of paint, it’s hard to tell in the dark.
Hi Hedgie Lover
Have you considered just using an upturned transparent storage box (without the lid) for the feeding station? I know people use lots of different things for feeding stations but it’s always seemed the most practical to me.Pros:
Simple and easy to lift on and off.
Easy to clean.
The base of the box is much stronger than anything with a lid so no issues putting a heavy weight on it.
No plastic floor to clean mess off, just sweep up any old food remnants.Cons:
I suppose if you put it on grass/earth a fox may try and dig underneath but I’ve never seen or heard of this and it would involve a lot of effort.I can’t really see any other cons but if anyone can point any out please do. I get foxes occasionally and although they often sniff around as they can smell the food, after they’ve pushed it a couple of times and realise it’s immoveable they give up. You do need to put a decent heavy weight on the box.
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