Hog Blog

Filmstar Hogs

cazzagirl — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:48:26 +0000

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!!!

Bad Weather

cazzagirl — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:46:02 +0000

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!)

A bit of ‘hoggy mischief

cazzagirl — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:22:21 +0000

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….