Take as many bowls as you have hedgehogs. Fill with Iams kitten biscuits.
Pour on Hot water from the kettle.
Add a good helping of Sheba chicken and turkey terrine.
Sprinkle over some vitamins and pro biotic powder. Mix well with a fork.
And there you go, gourmet hedgehog food!!!! I can't believe we had 6 hedgehogs in at the same time!!!!
The Girls have been released!!!! We weighed the girls the night before that way we didn't disturb them on the night we wanted to release them on. Millie weighed in at a whopping 920 grams and Holly at 820 grams!!! That is well above the recommended amount they officially say to release them at. They usually will loose a little once released from all the running around they get up to. And with the cold nights the extra weight will help them survive.
Millie
We moved their nest boxes back under the hazel nut tree and put the board across the top of the two houses. It was raining last night too, so that is good for releasing. It means little beasties are out and about for them to munch on.
Millie all curled up.
We did video them with the new garden cam and watched them this morning. They had a lovely time wandering about and Millie actually went up and said hello to Suzy. :)
Holly rolled up in a ball.
And we did see one of them go back into their nest box (for some reason they are sharing one). Hopefully the other one is in there too. We didn't want to disturb them by looking. There are several other nest boxes in the garden too. And we will be setting up the camera on them tonight and then later onto the feeding area. :) Hopefully they will stick around like Tyler has.
Here is our little boy. I haven't met a hog like him before. Very very huffy and independent. My friend's beaver troop has finally given him a name and I think it is a very good and apt name for him. Spikey.
Hedgehogs do something called self anointing. They do this when they taste something new or smell something new. They start salivating and then transfer this saliva to themselves twisting and turning to try to put it onto their backs. Well Spikey sure does enjoy self anointing!!!
He loves going outside for a run in the pen and it seemed like everything he came along set him off self anointing.
I have found that mint sprigs will set them off usually, but he was doing it after tasting twigs and dirt and grass too.
Be warned and don't let this cute innocent photo of him (butter couldn't melt) give you the idea he is a sweet soft hog. He is not!!!
See those teeth! He knows how to use them. And that rock. Yup he has bitten that rock! He went after my toes today when he was outside. And had a bite of Brian's wellies.
The girls on the other hand are sweet.
This is Henrietta who is now in the conservatory. She will be going into the soft release pen later this week. I weighed her this morning and she is well above 600 grams. She loves wandering around the garden and likes to climb into my raised beds. She was struggling a little and so Brian gave her a step up Brick. :)
And this is little Gail. She is getting on really well. And is just under Spikey in weight. It is almost like she isn't here she is that good of a little one. Not much trouble at all. And a sweet little thing.
And here is Jamie. She came to us last Monday. We still can't quite figure out exactly what is wrong with her. She is an older hedgehog. I normally take in little ones to rear up, so she is my first adult to look after. She is very frail and gaunt. Tires easily. And weighs almost as much as Spikey. The finder found her wandering in a busy road like she was drunk. The poor thing has had babies, but I don't know how recent that was. She was completely dehydrated and has some broken spines on her head and neck area. We aren't sure if she has been caught into something like a chain link fence, or if she was hit by a car.
I immediately started her on re hydration fluids and rang the vet for some antibiotics. And I have been feeding her by syringe almost ever hour that first day even through the night. She seemed to pick up and so I put food in for her to eat on her own, but then she went down in weight again. So rather than loose her, I have been syringe feeding her since. We are now on 4 hour feeds and she is now taking around 25 mls per feed and is keeping some weight on. I do try to get her to eat on her own, but she just isn't interested.
After a couple of days I thought she might like some fresh air and something familiar like grass and dirt. She did perk up and it gave her some new life.
You can tell from these photos how ill she is.
I have also been keeping her on a heating pad and give her a heat lamp treatment when we have to wash the food off her. She has perked up more since these photos were taken and is eating much better although not on her own yet. I feel she is an old girl and as such deserves all the molly coddling we can give her. And to me she is well worth all those nights of getting up in the wee hours and feeding her. She has been wormed and deflead. I think it was the worse case we have had with flea infestation. And I removed one tick from her. I know we have not had rain for three weeks and for her to be so dehydrated I am worried for her babies. Hopefully what ever brought her down did it after they were weaned.
As she gets better her littler personality is coming out and I am growing quite fond of her. Even Brian I think is too, though he calls her a he all the time. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment