Wednesday 30th: Unfortunately the Hedgehog either abandoned or orphaned the four Hoglets. As of last Thursday evening, Melanie has been hand-rearing these tiny Hedgehogs. When we checked on them late that afternoon, they were almost blue in colour with cold and looking like they had been left alone most of the previous night (as Hedgehogs hunt at night and can roam 2 to 3 kilometers) and all day. 
They were obviously in some distress so the decision was made to take them in, warm them as a priority and then feed them. This necessitated me dashing down the road to the local Supermarket and buying a couple of cartons of Kitten's-milk.
Judging by the growth and firmness of the spines, we suspect that the Hoglets were born sometime last Monday 21st, so were initially suckled by the now absent Mother. As you can imagine with new-born animals, they require feeding every 2 or 3 hours and initially toileting. All credit to Melanie as she has risen to the challenge by following religiously a course of feeding through the day and night!
Various sources on the Internet have been checked-out for information on how to raise them. But alas last Saturday, the weakest and most underweight, passed-away. So we have three Hoglets: one male and two females. They are putting on 2 grammes of weight each day and as of yesterday weighed 30, 32 and 34 grammes.
Their eyes are not open yet and so are still blind We estimate that they will not open for another week. The Hoglets don't appear to require toileting now as they can go for themselves. So with fingers crossed and with Melanie's resolve we hope to rear these fine animals.
They were obviously in some distress so the decision was made to take them in, warm them as a priority and then feed them. This necessitated me dashing down the road to the local Supermarket and buying a couple of cartons of Kitten's-milk. 
Judging by the growth and firmness of the spines, we suspect that the Hoglets were born sometime last Monday 21st, so were initially suckled by the now absent Mother. As you can imagine with new-born animals, they require feeding every 2 or 3 hours and initially toileting. All credit to Melanie as she has risen to the challenge by following religiously a course of feeding through the day and night!
Various sources on the Internet have been checked-out for information on how to raise them. But alas last Saturday, the weakest and most underweight, passed-away. So we have three Hoglets: one male and two females. They are putting on 2 grammes of weight each day and as of yesterday weighed 30, 32 and 34 grammes.
Their eyes are not open yet and so are still blind We estimate that they will not open for another week. The Hoglets don't appear to require toileting now as they can go for themselves. So with fingers crossed and with Melanie's resolve we hope to rear these fine animals.
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