After the plant pot antics of the hedgehogs a couple of weeks back I decided to film the hogs regularly, in the hope of catching some good footage. So far I’ve got about 35 mins of hedgehog activity on film and its eventful to say the least. I’ve caught them headbutting each other, rolling apples, self anointing after chewing on rosemary leaves but last nights footage was the best. I spotted one of my large female hogs up by the feeding bowls near the backdoor. She spotted me but chose to ignore me and carried on munching. I hurried to get the camcorder and headed back out. She was still munching but, just as I started filming, she stopped eating and scurried off, behind my garden store and out of sight. I tried filming her behind the store and I could just make her out, she was pushing a piece of carrier bag under the store and out of her way. Then she ran right along the back of the store and popped out the end, right by my feet. I expected her to run away once she realised I was right beside her but she didn’t. Instead she looked right up at the camera and then climbed onto my foot. She grabbed my shoelace and tried to run off with it but as soon as the lace reached full stretch it pinged out of her mouth. Looking a bit miffed she turned around, came back to my shoe, grabbed the lace and tried to take it away again. The same thing happened, the lace pinged out of her mouth and back to my shoe. This time she grabbed the lace and slowly started to back away, tugging for all she was worth, her little legs trying as hard as they could to make ground and pull the lace away…it didn’t work. She let go of the lace and came back to sit on my shoe where she started chewing on the lace holes and the tongue of my shoe. It must have been tasty because she stopped and self-anointed for a good few seconds before continuing her shoe chewing again. Then the breeze picked up and caused my trouser leg to flap….and that was it. She grabbed my trouser leg and pushed as much as she could into her mouth, looking just like a hamster when it stuffs its food pouches!! With her mouthful of my trouser leg, she tried to run off but didn’t get very far at all so then she resorted to tug of war with my trousers!! Her feet were pushing against my shoe in her efforts and my trouser leg was getting slowly more and more covered in hedgehog saliva! This carried on for 10 mins until I realised the bottom of my trouser leg was soaked and chewed and all the pulling was starting to make my trousers fall down!! Can you imagine? the first person ever to be depantsed by a hedgehog?? I ended up having to stop filming so I could pull my trousers back on properly! The hedgehog would have carried on if I hadn’t have given her a little poke on the side which made her huff at me and stomp off!!! I wonder what she thought my trousers were??????

 Anyway, yesterday I got in touch with the BBC after someone told me that they were looking for people to write in about their garden wildlife and they might be used for Springwatch. This afternoon I heard back from the beeb. They’ve asked me to send in my hedgehog footage. So who knows, maybe my hedgehogs will be stars on this years Springwatch?? I can’t wait!!!

My hedgehog hotel is built!! And it’s waterproof and weatherproof (touch wood). So far its stood up to all the stormy weather so I’m happy with that. This weekend I’ll be sorting out all my treatment kit, microscope, food…to go in there. I’ve got lino on the floor so its easy to clean and I want to get some thing to cover the windows a bit. My hubby is going to rig up electrics down there for me so I can have a proper treatment area and I’ll be able to utilise my microscope camera when taking samples from new hoggie patients.

I’ve also given my name to the local vets so they can refer hedgehogs to me if they get any in. Whilst doing so there was a lady in the vets who runs a wildlife sanctuary who overhead me telling the vet about what I do so she asked for my number too. I think I’m going to be busy at this rate!! The lady who has the wildlife sanctuary said last year she had in loads of hedgehogs but had no idea how to treat them so just passed them along to the RSPCA. This year she’ll be able to pass them onto me instead!!

I’ve got to get as prepared as I can this weekend because any week now hoglets could start being brought to me. I’ve heard hedgehogs mating in my new garden and in my neighbours gardens since the middle of Feb. I need to get in touch with the vet so I can restock the medication I use on them also I need Cimicat the powdered kitten milk used to syringe feed baby hoglets when they come in.

With all the bad weather this last week I didn’t expect to find hedgehogs out and about in the garden but they’ve been out every night, polishing off the food I put out each night and enjoying the apples I threw out the other day. I haven’t seen anymore plant pot antics, yet, but the plant pots have been moved most nights (might be the wind but I’ll bet the hogs have something to do with it!)

Well my 12 went down to 6 then down to 2 and now they’re all gone
It’s so weird not having any hogs to feed and clean. Last night I almost went out to feed the empty pens because I was on hog feeding autopilot.

All the empty pens made me feel sad at first…then I went into the garden and accidently interrupted a 3 hog conference taking place by the foodbowls under the patio window. I went back in, so as not to disturb them any further and that was when the mischief started. One of them, the largest female, decided she just had to know what was in one of my empty round planters. So she started scrabbling up the side of it and succeeded in knocking it over. Then, whilst the planter was on its side, she got in it and started to roll it around. She rolled it off the patio and onto the grass, rolling it around and around, faster and faster. Then she fell out of it. Then, jumping back into it, she managed to flip it up and over her, trapping herself underneath. By this point me and my sister were falling about laughing. The planter then started moving slightly as the, now trapped hedgehog, tried to get out. I went out and picked up the planter and the newly freed hedgehog scampered to freedom. The other 2 hedgehogs, stood watching and just as mesmorised by the whole event as my sister and I, quickly scurried off too.

I put the planter back into its usual place and went back inside. 5 minutes later the hedgehog was back, in the planter, wheeling it around and around on the grass again….this morning the planter was right down the far end of the garden and I could see the flattened grass where it had been going around and around, driven its hedgehog driver. Who says hedgehogs don’t know how to have fun???

I’ve moved the planter to a different location to see if she returns and seeks it out again. She’s already out and about in the garden…I’ve seen her peering in through the patio windows already, right in the old planter location. I fully expect to find the planter down the bottom of the garden again tomorrow morning….

My what a blustery few days!!

I spent most of the past weekend coating my new and, as yet, unbuilt shed with weatherproofing. I say shed but really its going to be my Hedgehog Hospital/Hotel, where all my sick, injured and orphaned hogs will stay whilst they are with me for care and treatment. Once it’s built it will be great!! There’ll be room for 10 pens plus a separate heated pen for the tiny babies (those below 200gm) plus plenty of room for my hedgehog medications, food and homeopathic/alternative remedies. I’m not sure yet if I’ll have room for my microscope but I’ll certainly try. There will definitely be room for my treatment table however. Being a hedgehog carer is not as simple as you might think, with all that kit, all the medications and the fact that hedgehogs, being able to curl up into a tight little ball, are not the easiest of patients to treat. There are tricks as to how to uncurl a hedgehog but some are determined not to let you see them, no matter how badly they need help!

My microscope is, perhaps, my best tool when it comes to the more difficult to diagnose conditions. It’s surprising how quickly I’ve come to recognise some of the weird creatures which can survive inside an animal. The really strange thing is how weirdly exciting it is to take a sample specimen from a hedgehog, be it skin scraping, faeces, mucus etc and then look at it under the microscope. The first time I saw live intestinal worms was bizarrely thrilling. I could make out the head, the eggs still inside the adult worm and the whole time it was wriggling everso slightly (I do apologise if you happen to be eating or have eaten recently!).

Back to my hedgehog hotel; it’s being built next weekend by my husband and father-in-law and I’m really hoping the weather stays fine so I can get it all sorted. Now the weatherproofing is done, that’s one less job. I also re-weatherproofed all my current hedgehog boxes and outdoor hutches just in case, and just in time considering all the hail and sleety showers we’ve had here today.

I’m now down to 2 hedgehogs and even they will be off to a new garden home this Wednesday. All my releasees (is that a word or did I just invent that?) are doing well in my garden, despite the weird weather. I see them most nights and always see the evidence of their visits in the morning!! I think they are also acting as a great deterrent to the local cats, who used to use my back garden as a litter tray but now seem to be keeping well clear. All the better for my hogs!!

So I’ve now released 6 of my 12 hogs back into the wild. And ever since my garden has been full of hedgehog poo. Not that I mind, however, it’s great so many of them have decided my garden is a nice place to call home but I would really prefer that they didn’t do it right outside the backdoor and the patio windows. Going out to feed them after dark is becoming a bit like running the gauntlet…..

And whilst on the topic of hedgehog poo I’ve often wondered if it would make good fertilizer. I think I’ll dig it into a couple of flower tubs and find out. At least that gets it off the patio.

I had been hoping to release another 2 hogs yesterday but they’re not quite ready yet. I’ll probably release them this weekend once they’ve benefitted from some homeopathic treatments to boost their immunity to internal parasites. I must admit homeopathy has been one of the most amazing things I’ve come across for treating hedgehogs. The results after just one treatment are astounding. I’ve had hedgehogs collapse and, technically, die yet I’ve managed to bring them around again with some Carbo Veg and for treating any internal parasites I use Sulphur 6c. Incidently, I’ve found Sulphur good for treating ringworm too, an overnight improvement! I now have a rather extensive collection of homeopathic remedies and lots of literature on treating animals with alternative therapies. Some people might say those types of treatments have huge question marks hanging over them as to their effectiveness. All I can say is they’ve been a life saver for many of my hedgehogs. I now use them regularly, alongside conventional medicine, when treating the hogs.

 The early release for my garden hogs is certainly being put to good use. I have heard mating taking place and I can see signs of searching for nest spots. There are now several tunnels leading into the Rosemary bush and, seeing as that’s right next to the patio and all the piles of hedgie poo, I’m certain that its been selected as a nesting site.

My bedroom window is right above the Rosemary bush. I really hope the hedgehogs, if they decide on another romantic encounter, keep the noise down. They woke me at 3am the last time with all their snuffling and snorting…… 

Welcome to my Hog Blog. A chance for me to tell whosoever is out there reading it all about the antics of my hedgehog charges. In case anyone is wondering why I have hedgehogs I’ll give you a little background info. I’m a hedgehog carer for The Hedgehog Helpline, something I’ve been doing officially since May 2007. In the last 10 months I’ve had over 100 hedgehogs brought to me for treatment. 75-80% of these have been successfully re-released back into the wild. There are casualties, unfortunately, and despite my best efforts there are those I simply can’t save no matter what I do. I always feel terrible when one of the hedgehogs I’m treating dies but I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful it feels to be able to release a newly fit and healthy hedgehog back into the wild. Especially if, as is regularly the case, the chances of them surviving when they were first brought to me weren’t all that good.

 Talking of releasing hedgehogs I’m just getting ready to release another few now. Over Winter I had 12 hedgehogs in my care. All of whom were far too small to make it through the Winter and hibernation period. To stand any chance of survival hogs must be at least 600gms, any smaller and they will die whilst hibernating or won’t be able to hibernate and then will probably starve to death due to the lack of food available. The 6 largest hedgehogs out of my Winter 12 have been released now and are all doing really well. How do I know this?? Several were released into my garden to disperse naturally and the others I passed along for release into other peoples gardens which are ideal for hogs. The hogs I passed along to others are all doing well and feeding well I have been informed by email. Those hogs released into my garden, well, they come out each night and pig themselves silly on the food I put out for them. They wander up and have a nose through my patio windows. One even likes to christen my backstep on a nightly basis. And 2 have already found each other and “paired up”. Which is great news for my local hedgehog population and, hopefully, means I’ll have the privilage of seeing tiny hoglets (the official name for baby hedgehogs) foraging in my garden with their mother in the not too distant future. I’ll keep you posted on that one…..

As for the remaining 6 they’ll be leaving me shortly. They are all a good size already but are not quite as large as I’d like them to be yet. A couple more weeks of feeding up, hopefully the weather will continue improving, and they’ll be good to go. Then what will I have to do each evening?? No hogs to clean out, feed, vaccinate and treat??? No worries. I’ll be out in my garden each night keeping an eye on those I’ve released, taking photos to add to my blog and setting up my “Hog Cam”……