Question about eating habits in October
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I also did wonder if things continue in the direction of declining numbers, these stately homes may end up charging an additional fee for entry into last known hedgehog habitats in the UK. Wouldn’t that be a sad state of affairs! bit like the song about ‘chopping all the trees down and putting them in a tree museum – charging $25 just to see ’em’.
I feel I should repeat, for those of us who didn’t see the link to:
GUIDANCE FOR RELEASING HEDGEHOGS
THAT HAVE BEEN REHABILITATED
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BHPS-Guidance-For-relasing-Rehabilitated-Hedgehogs.pdfTo quote:
“To try to offer best practice advice, The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS), British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (BWRC), The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Vale Wildlife Hospital (VWH) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) put their heads together with Dr Nigel Reeve and Dr Pat Morris to come up with a guide for rehabilitators that all collaborators are happy to put their name to. This document is a result of that collaboration, and is based on detailed research by Dr Nigel Reeve and Dr Pat Morris, published in major research journals”This is the authoritative advice.
P.S. By the way, Penny, you may already have seen, the advice actually mentions country estates and the potential problems around them.
Thank you Nic and Penny. We miss him terribly but all the happy memories and the hoggies are keeping us going.
Last night there were a few shared naps in the hog house but big daddy took off at about 4 and stayed somewhere else. He has done this a few times now. Cyclops had the house to himself. He/she is very lucky as big daddy worked endlessly dragging leaves, twigs and bits into the house and Cyclops is reaping all the benefits. Can’t wait to see what the trail cam has in store for me tomorrow!Hi Simbo65
Lucky Cyclops! Big Daddy might be planning on hibernating soon. They often, apparently make more than one nest. I think the two remaining adults here may have gone to hibernate now. One disappeared several days ago and the other was missing last night. There were just two hoglets – in the pouring rain (poor things!) and (horror) a rat. Strange thing was I didn’t see it eating out of the hog bowls and that cam is usually quite reliable. Plenty of images of the wood mouse!
Good luck with the footage tomorrow. I hope Cyclops decides to stay put in your hog house.
Not sure how Big daddy evaded the camera night before last but there he was at 18.15 yesterday evening (5 minutes after food was placed in food station) waddling out of the house and straight for the food! Followed an hour later by Cyclops coming out of the house.
There is obviously a very friendly dynamic. Despite his size I have seen Big Daddy behave very submissively in the past and being that Cyclops is young and small I hope that continues.
I have noticed they are both scratching quite a bit so will find out who our local carer is and see if they need any help.Hogs can always be relied upon to keep us guessing! Good old Big daddy – been using the old invisibility cloak again! And one of the adults was back here again last night.
I find usually the adults do behave very nicely towards the hoglets until they reach a certain size. That hasn’t quite happened here this year, but I think the two (seemingly adults) may have been very early hoglets so they don’t seem to think they need to tolerate the small hoglets and are quite happy to shove them out of the way. That’s as bad as it gets so the hoglets aren’t usually too worried.
Hi Nic-
It is lovely to watch the hoglets and you are lucky to have 2. Cyclops isn’t tiny so I assume he was born in an early litter. It could be he is just a very small adult and perhaps his bad eye has caused problems for him. It is sometimes difficult with the trail cam as even the mice look like enormous rats- or maybe they are rats!! AArrgghhhh!
I have noticed that Big Daddy has a lot of ticks. I have only caught one side of him on the cam but have counted 7. Slightly concerned that the warm weather could mean the hog house is a breeding ground for the horrid things. I will call a local carer for advice and the BHPS have given me 2 people that are close to us which is great
Big Daddy stayed away last night or perhaps transported himself without the cam picking him up. Cyclops is in again.
Hoping all your hoggies were around last night.Hi Simbo
Yes, it is lovely having the hoglets visiting, although these two don’t seem to get on very well together and mostly turn up separately. Luckily their markings are quite different, so I can tell them apart.
It’s a good idea to contact your local carer, to at least have a chat about the ticks. They can ask the appropriate questions, etc. Don’t know if you saw Autumnwatch last night? With all those ticks – which they seem to think is the result of climate change. I hope that doesn’t happen here, although fear it may. Ghastly thought.
Haven’t checked last night’s images yet, but I have a wood mouse back who has been making frequent appearances!
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