Hedgehog with one eye?
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I am going through some of the videos I have collected of the three or so hedgehogs I have visiting me and noticed something. It looks to me as if one of them only has one eye. This is based on the lack of “reflection” from the eye on the night vision camera.
As an example see this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym8bt1zuBSM .
Is this a serious impediment for a hedgehog? My brief research online suggests no, but I thought I would check. I have caught this hedgehog giving other males a good biffing, so it certainly seems to be OK.
Hi AlanB,
I’m coming back to your question – because we have just taken in a female for release from my rescue centre contact. This female had a large proportion of the left side of her face taken off in a trimming accident – she actually lost her left eye and left ear, but fortunately her nose was left intact.
she wasnt given a huge amount of survival expectation due to the severity of the situation and skin regrowth, infection risk etc – but the hog vet did his best and she was rehabilitated for several months at the rescue.
I have to say how amazed I am at her survival instinct and she is incredibly capable and fiesty. The rescue contact has no reservations that she will survive back in the wild, with some feeding and housing support initially from us – (and it would be wrong to keep her in a captive environment).
So – i think in summary to your question – and the expectations from the people who know more about these things than I could ever hope to – is that the loss of an eye is not necessarily an impediment that impacts their survival or quality of life.That’s a lovely story Jan-Marie, so sad that another one has fallen victim to garden machinery though, very lucky that she was found just in time.
We humans manage perfectly well with just one eye so I don’t see any reason why a hedgehog shouldn’t. I am sure that she will be very well looked after in your garden.happy to report that we successfully released our one eyed / eared female at the weekend – Saturday proved to be too wet for it, but Sunday evening was perfect.
she tentatively appeared after about 20 minutes of moving her in her house and had a little exploratory walk around the shrubbery before disappearing for a couple of hours.
she later appeared on camera in an encounter with one of the boys who had been stalking her in her release run for several nights previously.
he set off in close pursuit as she decided to meander off.
she returned, on her own, to her hoghouse around 4.30am according to the camera recording.
fingers crossed she stays relatively close at least for a while and builds her confidence back up – but a good start for her.That’s great Jan-Marie, hope she stays around. Would be a lovely end to the story if she had some hoglets. 🙂
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