The X Files Cont'd…
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Hi Penny
Now you mention the name, it rings bells. I have a feeling it is quite old information but even so it’s a shame they have left it on there. Why they have information of that kind anyway seems strange. Have you mentioned it to BHPS?
I did take some photos yesterday evening, but partly because I was trying to get a photo of the marking. The trouble is, this stuff shows up more in infra red than in ordinary light. I dread to think what it is. What you said about the pygmy hogs is a good illustration of what probably happens with the wild ones too.
The little hog – it is the little one who has recently been excessively marked – is in the box again this morning, but now has taken some bedding in, but not much. This is in my newer feed box which was made quickly when the overwintering hoglet made a nest in the other one. it has double partitions and the end section is not much wider than one of the ‘corridors’. Designed to deter the cats. A large male hog slept in there once before but only for one day – it was a bit of a squeeze for him! The little one has obviously decided it’s just right for him/her! So back to one feedbox again. I hope no-one else gets any ideas!
Well, they’ve done it again, just when you think that you’ve been deserted for some new des res and gourmet menu down the road, they all come back. It’s bizarre, they’ve barely touched their food for weeks and the one night I decide to cut back on their rations they turn up in their droves. Not only that, they mostly arrived at dawn to stock on refreshments on their way home and unusually posed for the cameras – must have forgotten that jamming device! Could it have been some late night party, or had they just come back from their holidays, perhaps their new guardians / servants have gone away on their holidays…I’m mystified???
A new little hog also appeared. Like yours Nic, she’s a bit too large for a hoglet, so must be from an early litter, I always find that the youngsters have little pot bellies which give them away, as well as immaculate hair and spines. I can’t imagine any hogs here wanting to bed down in our feeding station, but then where hogs are concerned, you just never know…
Hi Penny
Horace and the little one seem to be playing musical feed boxes for sleeping. Little one, now called Splash (it came from the first letters of the descriptive names I was calling him!) was in there for 2 days, the second of which he took in a small amount of ‘bedding’. Then the next day Horace was in there. Empty for a day and then Splash is in there again! Of course Horace has got ‘form’!
Here, too, they have been eating more food again. And I think Splash must have been the one leaving the tiny hog poos, but, like there, the jamming device seems to be no longer working.
Digger is really messing around. One day there at 3 in the morning and the next soon after 10. There doesn’t seem to have been a time this year when she could, obviously, have had hoglets, unless they are really close nearby.
Well, not long after my last post they all went AWOL again and some nights we have been down to ZERO hogs. Now I don’t want to tempt fate here, but at the moment we are up to two and sometimes three. 🙂 Nero (or VI) vanished and has been replaced by Scrappy (III), so called because he has a large scar running the length of his chin. We also have a small female, she could be Nagini, but I’m still not 100% sure and occasionally we catch a glimpse of a juvenile who walks up to the food bowl, has a good old sniff and then walks off with his nose in the air, refusing to eat anything that’s on offer. I have been busy buying all kinds of hoggy delights to tempt them back, but they are just not interested, the Ark hedgehog Muesli is going down well with birds and an array of gourmet cat biscuits is tempting the entire village population of felines, but none of it good enough for our pampered Millennial hoggies it seems.
None of our hedgehog houses are deemed up to the mark either, so we are desperately hoping that they will be tempted back by a purpose built des res under the new shed. Yes, if 80 square feet of sub divided, dry and insulated accommodation along with an assortment of bedding isn’t good enough for the little darlings then I don’t know what is.
Oh yes, and it seems that the cloaking device has been further refined; it is now possible for an entire dish of prime sausage meat to vanish without a single clip of the culprits, whilst every visit to the adjoining dish of cat biscuits is recorded in full throughout the night…I kid you not!
Hi Penny
It’s been a very strange year here, hogwise, too. I didn’t ever get down to zero, I don’t think, but there was only one for a while. Currently there are 2 adults and a cute little hoglet. None of the old regulars. Poor old Digger never returned – I really miss her – she was such a character.
That looks a very posh des res. How could any hog turn that down!
The hogs here usually get caught on camera eating, but how they sometimes get up and down the garden is another matter! No end to their talents.
Nic I’m so envious, I can barely remember the last time I saw hoglets; in fact it would have been Nagini and her sibling Draco well over a year ago. Speaking of which, I am fairly certain that it is Nagini on the trail cam now it’s managed to capture some better footage…where on earth has she been since June? You never know, digger might just surprise you…
It is very worrying as to where all the hogs have got to and especially the hoglets, there was a time when I hardly dare look out of the back door at this time of year in case there was another teeny weenie one munching away. 🙁
Hi Penny
It would be lovely if Digger suddenly turned up again, but she was an old lady, so it’s less likely, but I haven’t totally given up hope. Glad to hear Nagini is there.
It isn’t long ago that there was only one hog here – then the other adult appeared – I think a youngish male (I saw a suspicious looking blob) and the hoglet only about a week ago. I was so pleased, as I had pretty much given up hope for any hoglets this year. So, some might still turn up there. But I know what you mean – one year there were 12 hoglets. More and more just kept appearing. Three ended up having to be over-wintered and one didn’t make it. I’m hoping these 2 (or maybe 3) will have enough time to put on enough weight as long as they keep visiting. Fingers crossed some turn up there.
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