Sorry for not updating the past couple of days, we have been rather busy of late.
The quads are doing super!!!! And will be starting their soft release tonight. Thor weighed in at 645 grams this morning and Holly the lightest of the group weighed in at 510 grams. So they are definitely ready to start the process of being released back to the wild. :)
Last Thursday was a really busy day here. After being up the night before with little Tony and him passing away. Brian and I took him out to a lovely spot and buried him. We even gave him a few little flowers. That morning I received a phone call from my Hedgehog mentor and he said there was a lady here in town who had found a little one and it was at a vets here in town would I mind taking it in. So I rang them and arranged to pick up the little one at around 1.30. Poor little might was covered in fleas. So Brian and I set about immediately putting her on a heating pad as she felt cold, and defleaing her. We used Johnson's Rid mite powder for Birds. Works great and the fleas immediately started abandoning ship. I expect we got rid of well over a 100 on her. Poor little girl. She wouldn't uncurl and I don't really blame her, so we gave her some water in a carrier box and placed her on a heat pad and left her to get used to things with some lovely warm fleeces.
And then we had to take Ace and Millie to the Beavers(very young scouts) meeting. The boys were so enthusiastic over them and were excellently behaved around the hedgehogs. My friend had told them before hand that they had to be extra quiet so as not to frighten them and that they were not allowed to touch at all. First off I gave a little talk about hedgehogs and we had a questions and answers session and the boys told me their experiences with hedgehogs. Then in small groups they were allowed to come into the back room to see them. And they were just so curious about them and asked questions and were just overall fascinated by them. So hopefully we will have some future hedgehog carers or at least some youngsters that will care about them. Unlike the lot that one of the guys on the forum was posting about some horrible kids killing hedgehogs by nailing them to some fence posts. This type of behavior really worries me. So the more that we can share with our kids and educate them about our wildlife can only be a good thing for ours and theirs future.
I am hoping in the future to work a bit more with the scouts and the hedgehogs. They made a donation towards some food and medicine that is greatly appreciated. :) And I will post what the money goes towards when we get the chance to get out and shop. They are also doing a small paper drive for us here too. :) As I seem to go through alot of newspapers. Especially with the quads at the size they are. :)
When we got back and settled little Ace and Millie in their cages and gave them a cuddle and treat to let them know they were little stars. We checked on little Henrietta and she had uncurled for a further examination. I had noticed some blood on her spines, but it was from the fleas and she wasn't hurt with a wound anywhere. I then gave her some re hydration water and a little of the special milk replacer. And she ate that all. I was then able to check her over more and cleaned up a foot that had some muck on it. I kept feeding her every two hours and gradually went to three hours, increasing milk and amounts. Even all through the night. I spent the night on the sofa bed with her next to me. She then had some Hills AD added to the milk the next day and a warm bath, which she thoroughly enjoyed. The flea dirt was awful and it couldn't have been very comfortable for her. They get new spines in all the time and the baths help the skin just a bit as I add a little baby oil and lavender to the water.
Here she is right after she uncurled for us.
Henrietta eating in her carrier box. She preferred being inside it to eat rather than a clear box. I have taken the fleeces and heating pad out so she could go to the toilet there too.
Here she is at one of the feeds with her little friend. We give the single ones a little stuffed hedgehog toy so that they have something to cuddle. :) She is doing much better today and is now up to 220 grams which is a 24 gram increase since coming in. And is now sleeping away in her nice warm fleece lined carrier box downstairs on the coffee table. :)
We are in the process of converting the conservatory over to a Hogspital. :)
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