Spending 6 hrs snuffling around my compost heap!
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Hi, hope everyone ok.
So I finally have some hogs returning to my garden, despite building work on the waste ground next to my house which last year’s hogs used so they could come under my fence. My cam picked up a large beauty last night between the hours of 9pm and 3am, shuffling around the compost heap, in/out my feeding station and generally just having a nose! I still have the hog house from last year that wasn’t used, so I’m hoping it will be used this year. Do you think the hog was around so long as it’s looking to nest??
Hi EmmaP
Glad to hear the hogs are back, despite the building works. I expect the hog was just having a general exploration and forage – exploring old haunts. In the process, it would be nice if it was checking out the hog box for a future residence, but I guess it’s a case of wait and see! The males tend to move nests fairly often and the females may not be quite ready to make a birthing nest just yet, but might bear it in mind for nearer the time. Fingers crossed. It would be lovely to have hoglets born in the garden.
Good luck and happy hog watching!
Hi EmmaP
I see from the index that you have sent a post, but it isn’t appearing here. The Forum sometimes misbehaves (especially if by any chance you made an edit to your post) and you may need to send it again. Give it a try. I’m forever having to send them twice!
Hasn’t appeared again – wonder if it’s because I’m putting vid links from Dropbox in it (the ‘link’ tab doesn’t work so was hoping someone could copy and paste). I’ve caught another hog on my cam and just think I have a possible pregnant female but would like clarification.
Let’s see if this post appears ha ha …
Hi EmmaP
Well done. That post has appeared. Were you trying to put more than one link on in one post, because that’s another thing I’ve discovered it doesn’t like. So I’ve started sending two posts if I want to put 2 links, etc. But you will need to say something with each, even if not much, or it doesn’t like that either!
It has been reported and they thought they had fixed it at one point, but it seems not.
Try putting one link on in each post and see if that works.
But it isn’t easy to tell if hogs are pregnant or not. Some hogs are just big. Many wild animals don’t show all that much when they’re pregnant. But it would be nice to see your video if you manage to get the links on.
Good luck!
Yes, it was 2 links, sorry about this! I’ll just post the one below. S/he is very active. I also picked up 5 hedgehog poos yesterday, including one in the feeding station 😀
Ok, this is the one who I think is female https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7vbxh9owa6ppl8/HH2MayFemale.AVI?dl=0
Just checked last night’s cam and have this – not sure what the movement is, submission? They both spent the next couple of hours sharing the feeding box!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n8yyzlgva7qg3fc/HH4MayBothDance.AVI?dl=0
Hi EmmaP
Success! Well done for sticking to it and getting the vidoes on here.
Re. first video – cute hog, but not really enough to tell anything.
Video 2. Looks like the beginning of courtship circling. So the hog going backwards will be the female. There didn’t seem to be sound, but she would probably have been huffing, pretty much in time to the movement. You can see she is moving slightly jerkily, which is quite normal. The other hog, the male, is probably trying to circle her, but maybe not enough space there.
It isn’t unusual for the male and female to be close to each other when eating, at this stage of ‘courtship’. She may want to eat and depending on the male hog, he may just wait until she has eaten before resuming the circling. Or he may be a bit of a pest and keep trying to mount her. (but isn’t going to get anywhere with that without her co-operation, but sometimes you can almost see her thinking ‘just go away and let me eat in peace’!). Or he may just take possession of the food bowl and leave her to stand watching! Depends how much of a ‘gentleman’ hog he is!
Hogs are promiscuous and one female will sometimes indulge in this ‘courtship’ with more than one male in the same night. Sometimes the circling leads to mating, but not always. Apparently, even mating doesn’t always lead to pregnancy. But it’s certainly a good start that there is a male and a female there and fingers crossed for some hoglets later on.
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