‘arry (could be Arabella, we aren’t sure)
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Second attempt at posting a message.
This is ‘arry our hedgehog.
We found him collapsed on our front lawn at the end of May. He was very small,
We didn’t think he’d survive, we put him in our enclosed back garden with some water and dried meal worms under rhodofendron, but later that night we saw him drinking water from one of our potmovers on the patio. He must have been dehydrated.
But he recovered and is doing well, he has a new house under the azaleas near our patio.
This is his feeding station, the lids of these boxes are ideal as bases as it keeps most of his poo and wee off the patio.
We will let him get out of the garden when he gets a bit bigger. I made him a hole in our side fence so he’ll be able to get into next door’s garden “and meet other hedgehogs.” At the moment the house next door is unoccupied and the lawn is two feet high and very thick.
So for the time being the door is bolted. I’ll open the door once the house is sold and the garden more hedgehog friendly.
We’ve a trail camera and we follow his nightly “patrols.”
Hi Sean Regan
Sadly, it isn’t possible to see your images, but well done for helping the hedgehog out when you found him collapsed on your lawn. The best thing to do in such circumstances is to get in contact with a local hedgehog rescue (contact details can be obtained from BHPS – number at the bottom of this page) because there can in some circumstances be other underlying problems. But sounds as if this little hog was lucky.
There are, however, some things which ring alarm bells. You must have missed all the conversations about the dangers of mealworms to hedgehogs. They have an imbalance of phosphorous and calcium which can cause calcium to be leached from the bones. They are particularly dangerous for hoglets who can grow in a deformed fashion as a result of eating too many mealworms. There is some useful information about feeding hogs in this link: http://www.valewildlife.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Feeding-wild-hedgehogs.pdf But it is best to feed hedgehogs cat, dog or hedgehog food for supplementary feeding and only water to drink.
It sounds as if you are saying that you are keeping the hedgehog confined to your garden. If the hog is now fit and healthy it should be allowed to be a wild and free hedgehog. Hedgehogs need lots of gardens to enable them to forage for sufficient food. They can travel up to 2 miles in a night. But how did the hog get into your garden in the first place? Is it able to exit via that route?
‘arry haas settled in quite nicely.
At first he was living under our summerhouse at the bottom of our garden. There’s about nine inches of clearance under it and it has skirts around the sides so there’s just enough room for a hedgehog to get under but nothing bigger. We did buy him a nice house and put it under the azaleas up near the house, but for the first few weeks he ignored it.
I like to play music in the garden when I’m working in it. Just one of my hobbies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQaXsWwUW2w
I guess he eventually got fed up with his rest being disturbed so he moved out and into his house!
As he’s got bigger in the last three months and seems to be very healthy, we decided that we ought to allow him to roam. At the moment there’s no way he can get out of our garden. So I decided to put a hole in one of the concrete base panels of the side fence. This took some doing, llying full length under rhodo and stitch drilling a hole in the panel. Not easy when you’re 81.
Anyway it’s done, I made good the sides with mortar so there’s no rough edges.
But we’re not letting him out yet. the house next door is unoccupied and up for sale. The “lawn” is about two feet high, so he could get lost in there. We’ll wait til the house is sold and the garden restored. I’ll tell the new occupants about ‘arry so he doesn’t get “mowed.” I put a slate up against the hole to stop him going through.
I did all this on Saturday.
On Sunday, my wife and I had a conversation.
She wasn’t happy with the slate coverring the hole.“A cat could knock that over and he could get through. What we need is a little door.”
“A……little……door?”
“Yes, a little door…with a lock on it.”
“A ….little…door…with a lock on it…..you’re joking?”
“No I’m not, so when it’s safe for him to be able to wander next door you can unlock it.”
Now I blame myself, for having the ability to usually “knock something up,” or successfuly engage in a bigger project, which usually starts with my wife saying “What I thought was…”
Anyway.. On my way home from golf yesterday afternoon and before I did some shopping, I called into the local woodyard to see if I could get an offcut length of decking board. I must have been speaking to the manager and because I was vague about how long it needed to be, I explained to him what it was for. We went into the yard and he found me a piece six foot by 4.5″ which was ideal. He wouldn’t take any money for it. All he said was “I like hedgehogs”
So with a bit of “fettling.”
That afternoon I made this.
anything for a quiet life.
Thanks for the kind words.
I’ve repeated mysef between my first two posts as I though one had got lost.
As I said in my previous post, the hedgehog’s confinement to our garden is a temporary measure until next door’s house is sold. The grass on what was a lawn is two feet high and he’d likely get lost in there and might not find his way home.
I’ll wait until the house is sold and the garden sorted, then I’ll tell the occupants about the situation, so when we let him roam, he won’t get “mowed.”The door wasn’t necessary, I could have just put a brick up against the slate and it would have been secure. It was just my response to my wife’s tongue in cheek, “What we need is a little door,” so I said nothing, just went along with it and surprised her with it.
Over the years we’ve had several hedgehogs in our garden. So we know what to feed them.
Also four years ago a fox had a litter of six cubs under our summerhouse. She got in from the back as at the time there was no “skirt” at the bottom as there is on the other three sides. There is now. They all survived. I did suppliment their diet with a can of cat food every night. When they were old enough, she taught them how to get out of the garden by jumping up onto one of our Japanese lanterns and scrabbling over the fence. She took them out two at a time over two days.They were quite entertaining, but we only observed them from a distance.
This was videoed through the glass of our French windows, “on zoom.”Hi Sean Regan
You did well helping the hedgehog when it it was collapesed on your lawn, but once a hedgehog is fit and healthy it should be released back where you found it. I know we sometimes want to protect them from dangers, but hedgehogs are wild animals and need to be allowed to be wild and free.
To quote from BHPS advice about rehabilitated hedgehogs:
“We must always remember that, much as we love them, hedgehogs are wild animals and it would be cruel to not allow them their freedom. Healthy hedgehogs should be released and allowed to be wild again. They will travel about a mile in a night, so an enclosed ‘safe’ garden is not suitable (it’s just a bigger enclosure) …”
“Hedgehogs normally use about 1 hectare (2.4 acres) per night. Walled gardens, or even enclosed sprawling country estates that appear ‘safe’ …… are just large ‘cages’, very likely to cause stress as the hedgehogs will constantly try to find a way out.”
“A rehabilitation that results in a wild animal not being returned to the wild is a failed rehabilitation.”
If the hedgehog is now fit and well, I hope that you have allowed it it’s freedom.
Also with regard to offering food to hedgehogs; I have already explained that mealworms are not good for hedgehogs. If a hedgehog has been relying almost solely on food you are providing, because you are keeping it confined to your garden, it has the potential to be even more damaging to the hedgehog. If you don’t want to listen to me, then please read the link which I have given you above from Vale Wildlife who are experts on the matter. Please read that advice, even if you do think you know what to feed hedgehogs – you may be mistaken – knowledge evolves. It also explains, in more detail, the dangers of mealworms.
Please do not feed mealworms to hedgehogs. Cat, dog or hedgehog food are what is best for them and all they need to be offered by way of food. Water of course she be left available for hogs all day every day.
You did well helping the hedgehog when it it was collapesed on your lawn, but once a hedgehog is fit and healthy it should be released back where you found it. I know we sometimes want to protect them from dangers, but hedgehogs are wild animals and need to be allowed to be wild and free.
To quote from BHPS advice about rehabilitated hedgehogs:
“We must always remember that, much as we love them, hedgehogs are wild animals and it would be cruel to not allow them their freedom. Healthy hedgehogs should be released and allowed to be wild again. They will travel about a mile in a night, so an enclosed ‘safe’ garden is not suitable (it’s just a bigger enclosure) …”
“Hedgehogs normally use about 1 hectare (2.4 acres) per night. Walled gardens, or even enclosed sprawling country estates that appear ‘safe’ …… are just large ‘cages’, very likely to cause stress as the hedgehogs will constantly try to find a way out.”
“A rehabilitation that results in a wild animal not being returned to the wild is a failed rehabilitation.”
If the hedgehog is now fit and well, I hope that you have allowed it it’s freedom.
Also with regard to offering food to hedgehogs; I have already explained that mealworms are not good for hedgehogs. If a hedgehog has been relying almost solely on food you are providing, because you are keeping it confined to your garden, it has the potential to be even more damaging to the hedgehog. If you don’t want to listen to me, then please read the link which I have given you above from Vale Wildlife who are experts on the matter. Please read that advice, even if you do think you know what to feed hedgehogs – you may be mistaken – knowledge evolves. But it also explains, in more detail, the dangers of mealworms.
Please do not feed mealworms to hedgehogs. Cat, dog or hedgehog food are what is best for them and all they need to be offered by way of food. Water of course she be left available for hogs all day every day.
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