Hedgehogs, please help

[Glow worm]

This was the scene in our (tiny) garden the other night - a riot. There were 5 hogs in total. They are mad for mealworms we leave out for them.

The hog on on the right only has 3 legs -as last year we noticed she was hobbling badly. We took her to a vet and they had to amputate, as her right rear leg was badly dislocated. But she did so well recovering in the following weeks, they let us re-release her last August, and she's been visiting ever since pre and post hibernation. albeit in a rather hobbly fashion. The vet called her Bramble and the name's stuck.

We reckon some of the others, might be some of the 6 or 7 tiny ones we took to a local hedgehog carer last winter, as they were wondering about in December and weighed too little to survive until Spring. We collected them again in April, having been kept warm and well fed by the carer, and released them back into the garden.
I just wish they'd eat a few more slugs!

 

[vernon]

Had that a few years ago. Could hear some very strange noises, went out with a torch, and found two hedgehogs getting friendly. Very interesting it was

It was truly a prickly situation.

 

[Arch]

OT and nothing to do with Hedgehogs, but still a funny picture (not sure if it's real)...

View attachment 29014

There was another on on Twitter the other night where he said if he found the person he'd kill them, and it STILL had 'og' biroed in at the end of the note....

 

[Puddles]

At Nature Tots they did Hedgehogs and all the small people got given their own "Hedgehog" to take home, in reality it was a Teasel (sp????) User76 made us take the "Hedgehog" everywhere until it sort of fell apart!

A golden retriever I had used to bring in baby hedgehogs from the garden and dump them in your lap.

I would feed the hedgehogs in our garden but Major would eat the food

 

[nappadang]

[QUOTE 2642883, member: 9609"]Point to one which you think is good and is 4" square holes about the right size to stop cats but allow hedgehogs.
Is treated wood (tanalised) really a No No - I have loads of it![/quote]
.

Hi,
All our boxes are bought from Ark Wildlife http://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/Category/0/Wildlife_Habitats~Hedgehog_Houses.html not cheap, I know. The ones we have all follow a similar design but the dimentions differ slightly. Here is a link to design similar to ours, which have all had hogs hibernating in them. This link says "feeder" but stuff it with straw and if they find it, they'll use it. Whether they do is pure pot luck but tempting them with a few tasty treats may enhance your chances,
http://rons-hedgehogs.webs.com/hedgehogfeeders.htm

With regards to materials, I'm not sure about treated wood to be honest. I'm a member of a conservation group and we have a number of joiners in our ranks (CCG - Coastal Conservation Group, if any one is interested). These lads make the hog boxes out of thick chip board, treated only on the exterior. They tent to only last one or two winters but are cheap to replace.

hope this is of some help,

Mick

 

[ianrauk]

See plenty of squashed road kill hedgy's the poor things. And the last FNRttC very nearly added to that number but the little fella cleared the fast approaching peleton with inches to spare.

 

[nappadang]

This little beauty came to us at 58 grams.He's more than 58 grams in this photo but not a great deal. No one thought he'd live but through the efforts of Prickly Pals North East (PPNE), he was released into the wild very recently. I'd love to take credit for this but being totally honest, it was my wife and the the founder of PPNE who did all the hard work.

 

[Spinney]

Aww...

 

[Puddles]

 

[DiddlyDodds]

mmmmmmm I remember the taste

 

[nappadang]

I wont bore you with any more pics after Vincent here. Vincent was found in a terrible state after an encounter with a strimmer. Notice his missing ear and scared snout. His back legs had awful festering wounds too. Paula (PPNE founder) spent many sleepless nights bringing him back from the brink.
Once he was out of danger my wife took over and turned him into a proper porker before he was re-released on the banks of the Tyne.

 

[hopless500]

They are lovely little things. Piglet was very cute - and came back to visit after I released him. Couldn't say whether he is still going and been around the last couple of years though
At least he got a chance.

 

[Dirtlover2005]

Just been and put some food out we'll see if they are about this year.

 

[machew]

Badgers are killing hedgehogs, and the cull will benefit both.

 

[Gravity Aided]

At least wolverines are not killing hedgehogs.. I still think New Zealand would probably like to send you some hedgehogs.