Mutant Rampaging Hedgehogs!
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Hi Penny
That video is absolutely hilarious!
There has been a fair bit of bad behaviour here too. The first night one of the returners was here, he hurtled into poor hoglet, who had been walking down the path, not even considering there might actually be other hogs in ‘his’ terrain. Hoglet didn’t realise he was supposed to roll up, either, and resisted for quite a while. Hoglet is actually quite big now – I really must give him a proper name!
Then the other night one of the hogs was unceremoniously ejected from one of the hog houses, complete with a layer of leaves.
The only unfortunate thing is that it is going to be difficult encouraging them to turn up earlier because hoglet has got used to having his food available all night. He has got used to kitten biscuits, which rats aren’t so keen on, I don’t think, but the other hogs prefer hog food. It will probably work itself out when the weather gets a bit warmer and there is more wild food around.
I was worried about the boys, too. They were much later returning than last year. Now just have the wait for a few weeks until the females return too – I hope. I was worried about some of them as they disappeared a bit too early for hibernation, but maybe it was just because any hoglets they had, had ‘left home’ already.
Hi Penny, I’m amazed the crock pot survived, wow they were feisty. I’m also amazed how they managed to cram in. The hoggies are a determined bunch, those that worry about cats shouldn’t – I don’t think much would get between a boy and his food! Mind you if they argue like that over dinner, when the ladies arrive it must be carnage!
Hi Nic, Nina,
Sounds like hoglet got a bit of a rude awakening, he’ll need to toughen up sharpish if the hooligans around here are anything to go by. I’m beginning to wonder if the main culprit could be young Ben, he was certainly throwing his weight around as a juvenile. I just hope that there are a few more females turn up this year, or their behaviour could get even worse.
Well, I’ve managed to put a stop to their house removals and the hedgehog pot is now well and truly wedged between two plant pots. It is a very substantial pot, so just out of curiosity I decided to put it on the scales and would you believe it, it weighs in at over 4.5 kilograms, not bad going for a hog of around a kilogram or thereabouts. Perhaps we should add weight lifting to their list of many talents… Better check those cat biscuits for added steroids!
Those little beggars have been at it again! I was about to report on how overjoyed I was at the return of young Nagini, but things have taken a rather sinister turn. As I exited the house this morning to retrieve the trail cam, I was greeted by clumps of hedgehog hair all over the doorstep and up the door! No need to worry, at least any bad behaviour will have been captured on video. With freshly charged batteries and a clean memory card there should be no reason for any mechanical breakdowns, so with great trepidation, I uploaded last night’s footage… how wrong I was! Would you believe it, the camera had only mysteriously switched from video to photo mode, so the only evidence of last night’s mayhem is a few blurry shots of hogs and the ‘cat from hell’ fleeing the scene of the crime. Goodness only knows what went off, but with light and dark shades of hair on the door mat and one hog measuring in at over 6 1/2” inches tall, it’s entirely possible that some of it could be feline…another one for the X files!!!
Anyway, as I was saying, I have finally been able to positively identify Nagini, she has lost some weight, but otherwise looks to be in good health and is already attracting a lot of interest from the boys…
Panic over…phew! Now I have had the chance to reassess the crime scene, it appears that it is the birds that are responsible for the hairy mess. In a bid to prevent them from raiding my basket liners for building material, I had placed a container full of horse hair on the wall and it is this which now litters the floor. Somehow I can’t see them being responsible for sabotaging the camera though… 🙂
Hi Penny
I have just written this out once and the robot thing didn’t work and then I found everything I’d written had disappeared! grr. Will try to remember what I said.
That’s a relief, I’d hate to think it might have been hog fur. Your camera sounds a bit like mine, that has happened to me before when I was sure I had left it on video.
I had a funny clip recently when it looked as if two hogs were trying to get past each other in the ‘entrance hall’ of one of the hog boxes. I think they must have been last years hoglets.
Only one, what I think is a female back so far. An early hoglet from last year, she has been seen sharing a bowl with one of the big boys. I seem to remember she was a bit precocious last year and had one chap pursuing her when she was really quite small. Glad to hear Nagini is safely back.
None of the older girls is back here yet. I was a bit worried last year that a couple of them disappeared a bit early for hibernation, so await with slight trepidation. Then I always hope that dear old Digger will live to see another year.
I was only just saying that that nothing about our prickly pals surprises me anymore, but they’ve just managed to do it again. Despite having two hog houses and a log pile in the garden, they have all remained empty since the last tenant (a serial hoarder!) moved out nearly two years ago. He had managed to cram one of them so full of bedding, that there was no way that anything could possibly fit inside, the only reason I can think of is that he didn’t want a next door neighbour. Anyway, where was I …oh yes, the new tenants. Hog house number 1 is now nestled in a very quiet part of the garden and has finally attracted some interest…a lot of interest! A camera has been trained on it for the last week and it is fascinating, all of a sudden the hogs are fighting over it, or whoever is inside. It seems that a lady may have moved in and the boys have tracked her down to her new lodgings. If she doesn’t emerge early enough in the evening for their liking, they go and wake her up. I was rather hoping that it was a female about to give birth, as she has been very active during the day going in and out of her new abode, but with all the boys around she might just find it a bit much and up sticks.
I’ve done it again!…There’s been so much going on in the last few days that yet again I’ve managed to get side tracked. My astonishment is all about the new resident/s of number 2 and the log pile on the other side of the garden under the sycamore tree. We are all familiar with the hedgehog being the gardeners’ friend and dining on all those pesky little black slugs, but I never had them down as gardeners themselves. As anyone who has ever had dealings with a sycamore tree will know, they are classed as agricultural weeds. As much as I love them, at this time of year, the garden becomes a sycamore nursery. Up until two days ago, the ground around number 2 and the log pile was a mass of rapidly growing seedlings. Uprooting them before the Parish council had the chance slap preservation orders on them, was on my ‘to do’ list, but the hogs have done it for me…yes, they’ve actually removed every last one including two piles of hay! So there you have it, we can now add weeding to their long list of many talents!
A short clip of our new lodger at number 1 taking a mid morning stroll, it’s a pity I didn’t have a camera trained on number 2 whilst they were busy pulling up all those weeds!
Hi Penny
Love the idea of hogs doing the weeding!
Hope it is a female in hoghouse 1 and that she stays and has hoglets.
Hi Nic,
It’s not easy to get a camera near number two hog house and the log pile, but I managed to capture our new lodger (who appears to have a few of his own!) and resident gardener Monty, off on a night out and returning again at dawn.
I’m pretty certain that it’s a female over at number one, especially after one male was witnessed entering the garden from the footpath yesterday evening and making a beeline straight for her front door. Like I say, I’m not sure if she will stay around for long though with all that male attention. I only dare use the Bushnell camera outside the houses because it doesn’t give off a red glow and is less likely to put them off, so I don’t know what’s been happening for the last couple of nights. I was a bit concerned about hedgehogs turning up just before dawn only to find the house already occupied. I emptied a pile of leaves on one side so that they could bed down in those if need be and this is the result, captured just before I moved the camera over to the log pile…who needs a house when you’ve got a cosy pile of leaves!
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