hedgehogs!

[ivan]

Worth mentioning that hedgehogs may be struggling with the recent cold. If you see any hedgehogs out foraging in the daytime, they are in trouble and need help. With the mild autumn weather, hedgehogs have reared a lot of late litters this year, which means some aren't big enough to survive a winter. The consensus seems to be that if you find a hedgehog that weighs less than 350g, it won't make it through the winter, and needs to be taken into care. There are lots of hedgehog rescue shelters that do this - just search for a local one in your area. Last week I found a 190g hedgehog foraging in the day. Over the next few days I located 2 more of its siblings(?) - 210g and 250g, and all were taken to Brockworth Hedgehog Rescue in Gloucester - Big shout-out for this charity, which survived entirely on donations. Sadly I also found more that had died. These little hedgehogs desperately need warmth and are often dehydrated, so getting them into care as soon as possible is vitally important. Put them in a cardboard box with some straw and a hot water bottle wrapped in some old tee-shirts or towel for transportation. If you can't transport them straight away, make sure they have access to drinking water and they like to eat wet cat food (and can put away a LOT of it!!).

[Moxi]

Not seen a hedgehog in a long time up here and the last one I rescued was a one eyed adult who was dehydrated and under weight, we named him Nelson - well you would wouldn't you ?

As you say Ivan they can snuffle a lot of wet cat food and two days after finding him he was well on his way to recovery and we were able to take him over to our local RSPCA recue centre that could cater for wildlife.

Moxi

[ivan]

Coincidentally, found another stumbling across the road in the late afternoon this evening. It's tucked up with a hot water bottle, and hoping we can get him/her up to a rescue centre later on....

[Stan]

And here’s a video of Brockworth Hedgehog Rescue.

[Joeboy]

Will.keep an eye out in the garden borders.

[Oliver90owner]

A trail camera set up, to observe them in one’s garden is a good idea, and nests can be made to plans on t’internet.

I plan to use old beehive boxes, with a bit of partitioning installed, for a couple in my garden if I can ever get roundtuit.

Drain pipe tunnels will be fitted in fences (just above ground level (so they remain dry) for access/egress when I make my growing section cat-proof. I like having hedgehogs in the garden.

[Stinsy]

The latest episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage on R4 is all about hedgehogs...

[Mart]

Been feeding hedgehogs for the last 3 weeks whilst neighbours are on holiday (and their 3 cats). Neighbour has built a small house, with a door (hole) too small for cats, and I put a handful of dried worms in each evening.

Neighbour has a movement camera set up outside, and it's fun to see the hogs 'fighting', or chasing off cats. The big ones seem to charge into the side of smaller hogs. Great fun to watch their antics.

I think they are one of the most fascinating and stunning creatures on the planet.