Baby Hedgehog

[muddled]

Goodness me!

I never heard of those before!
(and lets face it, I'd remember if I had )

You can buy African pygmy hedgehogs as pets.

[sparrow100]

What a fabulous thread! Am so pleased Spike/Teasel is doing so well and steadily gaining weight. I'd love to see more, but our local plot foxes seem to find them quite tasty so I only find bits of them.

Must be fab to see one up close.

[Starling]

Hedgehogs aren't sold as pets but if you have one in your garden you can feed it and do everything you can to tempt it to stay local and not wander off to some other garden.

Starling, could you have an Echidna - they're a bit similar.

Just a little reminder about this link The Creature Feature: 10 Fun Facts About the Echidna | WIRED

Keep any comments suitable for children who may be watching. This is a family friendly site

Echidnas are a monotreme and are actually more closely related to platypus than hedgehogs. I think those are the only known monotremes in existence, I might be wrong.

You can't really pick up an echidna without gloves--those spines are very hard, and very sharp. I used to see them occasionally on the property, but it must have been 10 or 15 years since I've spotted one. They must be Nocturnal, I've never seen one in daylight.

There are platypus in the river at the bottom of the paddock, as well as aquatic white tailed rats and lungfish.

[Scarlet]

I had to clean out his cage today. I'm really surprised, he just uses one corner for his toilet area. It still stunk .
It was weigh in day today too, he's huuuuge came in at 507g!!!! I'm so chuffed.

[muddled]

Oh! He's nearly at release weight!

It'll be a bittersweet day when you let him go...I bet he comes back though xxx

[muddled]

I saw this and thought of you......




How is fatty I mean Teasel getting on?

[Tripmeup]

Fair play to you Scarlet!!

Here is my resident hedgehog

[Scarlet]

Lovely Trip, it's amazing how many people have never seen one. When I was a kid they were everywhere!
Muddled, he doing well he's got a big run that we let him go in when it gets dusk, full of leaves and twigs. oH puts him back in his cage on his last nighttime walk with the dog. I haven't weighed him yet this week but he's eating loads, 200g of cat food per night. I'm starting to worry that he'll never find that much food per night when I release him. I also realise that the food we've put out in the past for foraging hedgehogs is not nearly enough - they really can eat tons!

[Jay22]

Are you expecting him to leave when you release him? If he has any brains he will stay right where he is!

[Scarlet]

Ha, I want him to live the life he should have but I will be sad. Apparently they can travel a far distance through the night. I'd just love him to come back for dinner every evening and I also want him to find a girl in the spring so I can see the little ones

[Scarlet]

I weighed him this afternoon, 620g well chuffed. I'm hoping I can let him go at the end of the month.

[Compo72]

a couple of months ago I discovered we had a resident hedgehog .
We bought a wooden hedge house which the hog seemed to like .
Plus started to put a dish out with some sunflower hearts and mealworms they really enjoy
I'm doing a mammal survey with durham wildlife trust so have a webcam out at night picking up the hogs .
This last week or two we have seen up to 4 hogs at anyone time .
Usually a couple at least every time we go down the garden .
One hog last week was curled in up in daylight on the edge of a shrubby border fast asleep .

This last week the weather has turned that bit colder .
We seem to only have one hog feeding .

From what I've read its a bit early to be hibernating yet .
im going to make a few new homes to see if we can help them survive the winter
I have a old bakers tray . That I can cover foliage n logs etc which so far has proved a hit
Albeit they bribed with mealworms

[Scarlet]

My son made a hedgehog house when he was in junior school about seven years ago. They really do seem to use them.
They may benefit from some cat food (no fish flavours) as well as the treats. I was really surprised how much they eat in a day.
If you do see them out in the daylight it's often not a good sign and if you can spare the time it is worthwhile popping him in a box and taking him to the vets. If muddled hadn't twisted my arm I would have left mine alone, I don't like to interfere but they really are dying out. The wormer works wonders and they can put on weight much easier after the treatment and the dosage is so small the vets is the easiest place to get it.
I'm hoping to let mine go this weekend and with fingers crossed he will hang around for some food for a few weeks.
Have you managed to take any photos of yours? Can you put up "stills" from the webcam - would love to have a nose?

[Nicos]

They can come in and out of hibernation depending on the weather, but I have to say it's certainly getting nippy at night here, so I can imagine it must be affecting them?

I really miss ours, although we do still see , from time to time, her scat.

[Nicos]

Just see your piccie from last week Scarlet!
Awww...he's looking grand!

You should be proud of yourself!