Ticks

[Deb4]

Hi
We have spotted 2 ticks in the nesting box, so we can only assume there are more & I’m guessing on the hedgehog as well – we don’t want to disturb the nest or the hog as she appears to be building her nest – anyone got any advise on if we should firstly clean out the house When on her travels & secondly should we intervene by checking to see if there are more on the hedgehog – or do we just leave well alone. We, like many others are lucky to have lots of hogs visiting our garden every night & giving us loads of pleasure watching as they feed, fight & mate. Any advise would be great

[Nic]

Hi Deb4

If you are able to get rid of the ticks you can see (if you haven’t already) without disturbing the hog, that would be good – might stop eggs being laid in the hog house. Otherwise, unless the hog has an excessive number of ticks, it’s probably best to leave it alone. But once the hog house is vacated for certain, give the hog house a clean out, including with boiling water to kill any parasite eggs (ticks and fleas) and of course removing any ticks you can see. It’s possible there will be some tiny ones there. Be careful that you don’t get any on yourself. More info: https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/cleaning-out-boxes/

When I say vacated, I mean completely vacated, not just the hog being out for the night.

Once the ticks drop off the hogs, the main problem is them laying eggs in hog houses, etc. and passing them on to the next occupant.

[Author]

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