Any room for a hedgehog near BN16- West Sussex

[simbo65]

Hi,
Lovely Big Leg is now ready to leave the vet. He is doing well, survived his amputation, sleeping during the day and doing what he should.
BHPS advised he should be overwintered and released back into my garden in the spring. Problem is all the carers are overflowing with babies.
I am going to speak to Brent Lodge tomorrow and keeping everything crossed they can take him but the lady I spoke to today said they are really busy and I am speaking to her manager tomorrow.
If not does anyone have any ideas on what I should do?
I would try overwintering myself but we are away in December and I have no idea what to do…….feeling anxious!

[Nic]

Hi simbo65

Really pleased to hear that BigLeg is doing well. Good luck with finding somewhere to over-winter him.

[simbo65]

There was no room at the inn for Big Leg so he is now in the garage for a few days. This is what i have been advised to do. We will put him back in the hedgehog house after the cold snap and keep everything crossed for him.
He is in our dogs old crate all padded out with cardboard and hay/dry leaves torn newspaper. Obviously food and water. Any suggestions on what else we could be doing are welcome.

[Hettihog]

Hey simbo65
That’s such great news to hear big leg has come through his ordeal. Well done you!
What a dilemma you now have! I would be just the same as you. But please remember your advice to me “you can only do, what you can do” 🤗
If I lived near you I would offer my assistance over the Christmas period I wouldn’t mind at all – So I was thinking, is there no one on the forum living near you that would help!
Quite by chance I have found there is another hog obsessionist in my area and I am hoping we get to meet. I am sure there will be a chance we will be able to help each other out with feeding the hogs when we are away- fingers crossed anyway.
It would be great if someone else could share the Care with you Simbo65.
Changing the subject slightly, your not going to believe my great news ! Do you remember the little one that I fully intended to rescue a few weeks ago? Im sure you will remember I stayed out in the cold for two nights – all prepared for weighing and rescueing the little hog that was no bigger than a tennis ball at the time- but then when I didn’t see it I assumed the little thing had perished.
Well Tiny is back! ❤️ Still not very big but twice the the size it was on first sighting – I thought again about weighing, but decided as it’s a regular now and seems to have moved in, I’m going to let it take its chances and monitor its progress.
It’s living under the shed, Hetty has vacated the shed and moved into a hog house – so I’m wondering if Tiny has taken up residence in Hettys old nest? Anyway seems fine, very active, eating well so we shall see.
Big Bruiser and Hetty now in hibernation- just Cutie and Tiny out scoffing every night, but they are certainly packing the food away!😂
Hard to believe Cutie was under weight when first weighed and now Cutie is as big as Hetty!
I’ve got all good eaters here!😂
Take care, simbo65, best wishes to you and that brave little hog big foot – I think that one is a survivor so stop worrying and remember all the great things you do for the hog world! X

[Penny]

Great news that Big Leg is doing so well Simbo65, I would take him in if we lived a bit nearer, but the midlands is a bit far, hopefully someone will come forward who lives a bit closer.

Great news about Tiny, Hettihog, it just goes to show how quickly they can pile the weight on when we leave food out for them, ours are fattening up nicely and still munching their way through four dishes of biscuits a night! 🙂

[simbo65]

Hi Hetty,
So glad to hear Tiny is doing well and that Cutie is still stuffing her face!
Keeping everything crossed for Hetty and Big Bruiser and all the other beautiful hoggies out there that have gone into hibernation. Tiny is a great example that with some intervention from us humans nature will do it’s own thing. Have you seen Alan’s videos? It amazes me that even though the hoglets in his garden were so small they still had the instinct to nest build. Amazing stuff.
Big Leg seems OK but I have never done this so am not sure what I am looking for. He doesn’t seem to have eaten much but he is hiding under hay and seems to be asleep. We are not going to clean/weigh check him until this evening so that hopefully he is sleeping during the day as he should. I have also put a light on so that he may get a difference between night and day. I am sure I read that somewhere but if it sounds like nonsense can someone let me know. I have now had a few conversations with vet, Brent Lodge and BHPS and the general feeling is to keep him in the garage for a few days and then put him back into the hedgehog house at dusk. We will check that he is still a good weight (over 1 KG when he went to the vet) and that he can roll into a good ball. If he is still a good weight the thoughts are he should be given the opportunity to hibernate and be a wild animal. It breaks my heart to see him couped up.
I am taking my own advice and have told myself that we have done the best we can and now we have to trust in his fighting spirit and nature to do its thing.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.

[simbo65]

Thanks Penny. Midlands a bit too far but my last post explains that the general feeling is he should be released fairly soon.
Glad to hear all your little ones are still doing well.
Will keep you posted on how we go.

[Penny]

Hi Simbo65,

Sounds like you have a good plan and yes you are right about the light in the garage. Our adult male visitors disappeared a few weeks ago so he’s probably ready for a long winter snooze. 🙂

[simbo65]

Because of the torrential rain forecast I am putting off release hopefully till tomorrow. He does seem to just want to sleep. I hope he is OK but my gut tells me nature is kicking in and as you say the boys are all toddling off for the winter snooze.
Fingers crossed they all do well and their little faces will be back in the spring

[Nic]

Hi simbo65

I think you are wise to wait until the weather conditions are a bit better to release BigLeg. Especially if he isn’t desperately trying to escape.

You might want to check out the following https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-018-1244-4 but if you don’t want to read it all the conclusion was:

Conclusion

In conclusion, this study is the first to compare overwinter survival and behaviour of wild and rehabilitated hedgehogs and demonstrate that rehabilitated hedgehogs survive well if released in winter and exhibit natural behaviours of nest building, while changes in weight are similar to wild counterparts. Based on these findings, we recommend that wildlife rehabilitators can release rehabilitated hedgehogs during winter if the criteria used for release are similar to those used in this study. That is, hedgehogs should weigh over 600 g, have passed a veterinary health check, are soft-released in areas where the individuals were originally found or suburban areas without main roads and badgers, and during periods of mild weather (> 0 °C) over winter. Following these guidelines will reduce the periods of captivity for rehabilitated hedgehogs and allow them to reintegrate into their natural habitats as soon as possible, improving their welfare, whilst reducing the costs of care for the wildlife rehabilitators.

I got to that via this link from Hedgehog Street https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/guidance-on-releasing-rehabilitated-hedgehogs/

I know it’s slightly different as BigLeg has had an operation, but might be helpful.

[simbo65]

Thanks Nic,
I will read the full article tomorrow.
We checked him out earlier and he has been eating and seems to be quite relaxed. He now has some straw as well as hay as I read this make good bedding for them
I am tempted to buy a rabbit run and a new house so I could put him in the garden first before big release.
What do you think? It’s becoming quite expensive but I don’t mind. The hubbie just won’t get a Xmas present!

[Nic]

Hi simbo65

That did make me laugh! Poor hubbie!

I can see where you’re coming from and on the face of it, it sounds like a good idea – give him a chance to try out moving around a bit more with just his 3 legs – to get a bit used to it. But I have no experience of that sort of thing. Whether being in the open might make him more inclined to want to get right out into the open. I don’t know. But I can see that it must be a bit of a scary thought letting him go completely in one go. I think you might need to ask someone who has dealt with that sort of thing before. Maybe you could try BHPS again on Monday.

P.S. I think I’ve just seen Siili – she disappeared a bit quick to be sure, but she’s been the only one around for a while. I realise she may have been here yesterday, after all, and wearing her invisibility cloak!

[Coley]

Do, it, I’m sure ‘Hubbie’ will understand, wor lass would put me in the shed and a deserving hog in the bed under similar circumstances.

[Penny]

That did make me giggle Coley, my hubbie always says he’d get more attention if he had prickles! 🙂

I agree with Coley Simbo65, if you feel he would be safer in a house with a rabbit run then do it. I purchased a large metal one from a well know auction site for about £40, thankfully I haven’t had to use it yet. Our local carer used to do this and all her patients hibernated successfully, it would certainly give him a chance to get used to just three legs. 🙂

[simbo65]

Thanks-
I only have a small garden and it would have to be a 6 foot run as i wouldn’t want to put him on a lawn where he is open to the elements.
It would also mean he would be in the garage longer as I would have to order on line….decisions, decisions……

[Author]

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