April 2011 - Farewell Grumpy, Pinky & Little Lad!

Saturday 16th: Well they've finally been released...out into the big wide world. The 3 Hedgehogs that we affectionately named; Grumpy, Pinky and Little-Lad were transported to a garden in Tickhill, the home of Elaine and Paul. Sandra also kindly helped with the relocation as it was a major operation moving 3 Hedgehogs, boxes and sundry items to this new area.

As dusk fell, Grumpy was the first out and investigating her new surroundings. Eventually she made her way out of the garden and onto the field where myself and Mel followed her as she moved down the edge of the field bordering the gardens. Soon she became a faint shape as the light faded. She seemed to be enjoying herself as she was tasting the new odours and anointing herself. Farewell Grumpy, we wish you success!

Pinky emerged soon after but seemed content to stay in the garden. Before we broke off the "Hedgehog Watch" to have a bite to eat, prepared by our hosts Elaine and Paul, we had hoped to see Little-Lad emerge, but he stayed resolutely in his box.

After a very nice and welcome pizza and a toast with Bucks-Fizz to the Hedgehogs, we ventured back outside into the dark. Pinky was still in the garden but had moved further along the flower-bed and had been anointing herself. No sign of Little-Lad, his box was empty so he would be out-and-about somewhere but two other Hedgehogs were on the other side of the garden so that bode well. at least there is a community of Hedgehogs that these 3 may integrate into.

So farewell Grumpy, Pinky and Little-Lad, we wish you well in your new location.

November 2010 - House Hedgehogs!

Sunday 28th: Last Thursday evening, Melanie moved the 3 Hedgehogs into the house and the warm... and not a moment too soon! Because Friday night saw a deluge of snowfall and overnight temperatures plummeting to -7! It had been getting steadily colder for a few days before and as they hadn't gone into hibernation and were losing weight, we took the precaution of bringing them into the house. They will stay here for as long as it takes during this cold-snap and probably longer. Though all 3 are together in one large penned area, after initial grumbles, they seem to have accepted the close proximity of each other and appear content. All of them sleep all day and do not wake until late at night when they become active for a short while, eat and drink and go back to sleep. Daytime temperatures outside are sub-zero and this is not good for their health. If the weather continues like this, I can imagine that it will have a detrimental effect on any Hedgehogs out in the wild. Saturday night and temperatures were again below zero with a very hard frost!

November 2010 - Another visit by the Wren

Monday 22nd: I posted last week that the Wren made it first return visit for mealworms after a Summer vacation. Well, today he/she came into the kitchen to help him/herself to mealworms! Now tell me that this Wren is not the same Wren that visited all last Winter! Wrens are very flighty birds and it's inconceivable that a bird on it's second visit would hop into the kitchen to eat! It took this Wren, last winter, several nervous visits to the back door before it would come in. Even the Blackbirds took half a dozen days and numerous visits to the back door before they comfortable in entering the kitchen to perch on the side and eat mealworms.

Saturday night was the last time we saw all three Hedghogs. Tonight is the second night that the Hedgehogs have not stirred from their hibernation houses. Last night they never appeared nor ate any food. So we believe that this could be the start of the hibernation period.

October 2010 - Hedgehog Hibernation Houses!

Friday 22nd: The nights are drawing-in and Autumn is finally upon us. It will soon be time for the three Hedgehogs to hibernate for the Winter. So the other night we went to the local DIY store and purchased some wood so that Melanie could construct the houses that the hedgehogs will use for the duration of their hibernation - that is if they decide to!

After spending the best part of the week building them, Mel tonight transferred the Hogs from the old cardboard shelters to these nice wooden boxes. Two have been built as that was what we reckoned was needed... "Pinky", the female that prefers her own company and is behaving rather squarely, has her own box. "Little-Lad"(not so little now), the male and "Grumpy", the other female, we thought, shared the other cardboard box and so Mel built a slightly larger wooden house. Well it turns out that "Grumpy" sleeps on her own too and the male has been cast out to sleep rough under a make-shift shelter... no wonder he likes to come into the kitchen at every opportunity!

Update 4/11/2010:

Mel has since built a third hedgehog house for Little-Lad and he has finally moved-in. All the hogs now appear to be using the houses and with the onset of the early dark nights, both "Pinky" and "Little-Lad" are out and about at 5pm. "Grumpy" meanwhile, stills likes to awaken later. They tend not to spend so much time in the kitchen now, preferring to be outside. The Hedgies have not shown any inclination as yet to hibernate. This is not unusual as the weather is still relatively mild.

September 2010 - Hoglets are now Hedgehogs!

Sunday 26th: It has been a privilege to watch these animals develop from such tiny and helpless creatures to three individuals who have their own personalities and are approaching adulthood. We are approaching the end of the 14th week so they are now 3 months old and all have a healthy weight: the male weighs-in at 818g and the largest female at a whopping 918g! We are extremely happy with the male as he was very poorly when just a few days old and not gaining any weight. It was touch-and-go with him but now he is a very healthy Hedgehog! The only (little) problem with these two is that they keep coming into the kitchen at night and spending as much time as they can in there!

Meanwhile, the other female is becoming a cause of concern; her current weight is 788g, which sounds good, but she has not gained the weight in the last two weeks that the other two have. She is the only one of the three that tends to behave as Hedgehogs do. She is people-shy, which is good, and spends most of her time outside in the enclosed garden. Though there is plenty of dried cat food out there plus whatever insects etc she can get, she is now lagging behind weight-wise. This Hedgehog was the one that was showing the most promise for release, but now we are holding-off.

Indeed, last week was the week that we were due to release them all but releasing them would in our opinion be a death sentence for them. After checking up on various websites and reading the research on releasing into the wild and seeing poor results with tagged hogs...we have decided to over-winter them for hibernation come December and take it from April when they emerge. When they emerge from hibernation next April, they should wake-up as adults and just maybe they will have all the adult instincts that tell us that we can release them to the wild and know that they will have a fighting chance.

September 2010 - Hoglets now young Hedgehogs

Thursday 9th: The Hoglets are now reaching the end of week 12 and have grown to such an extent that they can be called "young Hedgehogs". It's now approximately 4 weeks since they began to spend all night and day outside in the penned garden. Their weight tends to fluctuate by a few grammes on a daily basis but on the whole, the Hedgies are gaining the weight and thus, the fat reserves. All three at last are ahead of target for their weight according to
http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/, but are not ready for release yet. Having researched the subject of; "release into the wild", we believe that the Hedgies need to be over 700 grammes minimum weight in order to survive the Winter and hibernation.

At the moment, the male is far from ready. Weighing only 588 grammes and although healthy , fit and with a heavy set of quills, he has shown no inclination to making a nest, eating live insects, or showing any purpose in what he does. He does eat dried cat food and live mealworms and would readily eat all that we have, but mealworms are not generally found in abundance in the wild! It maybe that come late December, he may be staying behind but as yet it is still too early to make any decision about him.

The two females weigh-in at a hefty 690 & 670 grammes. Both have a heavy set of quills covering their bodies but like the male, are not eating live insects only live mealworms and dried cat food! Although one of them made the nest that all three tend to sleep in, the second female has shown no interest or need to build a nest.

The big question that faces us is; "If released in the next month or two, would they survive or starve?" I keep coming back with the answer; "they would starve!" These Hedgehogs are not wild animals, they were not born into the wild and know nothing of the wild and how to hunt for food. They were born by the patio door and abandoned/orphaned after a few days. Mel has done a monumental job in raising these three Hoglets to become young Hedgehogs. Though, they still have along way to go. For us, it would be cruel to release these animals into an environment that they have no instinct for. Better that they stay in the environment that they know until the time comes when they show us they are ready to leave!

August 2010 - Looking more like adult Hedgehogs

Monday 16th: This is the start of the 9th week and its been 56 days since the birth of these amazing animals - they look more and more like mini versions of adult Hedgehogs, particularly the two females. Besides being bulky and heavy, (the Hoglets pile on the weight each day), their bodies are now fully covered in quills and their fur has developed a brownish tinge.

The Hoglets are eating only dried food in enormous quantities and drinking water. A Hedgehogs natural instinct has kicked into play as they sleep most of the day and only become active at dusk - meaning late nights for us! As the Hoglets have got larger, they require a greater area to roam at night. This has necessitated in Melanie turning our back garden into one giant enclosed area.

Here the Hoglets can forage amongst the flower beds and rockery for insects and alike. The two females have taken to nest-building amongst the flower beds and tend to spend some of the night inside, while the male still prefers to rest in the shelter we have provided.

At the moment, their weights are 358, 328 & 234 grammes, the latter being the male and because of that we bring them inside the house around 2am for their safety. When the Hoglets top 400 grammes, we will be more confident about having them stay out all night by themselves!

August 2010 - Hoglets and Hedgehog!

Sunday 8th: Well, what a difference a week makes! We're now at the end of the 6th week, all the Hoglets are now into the 3-figure bracket for their weight! The two females weigh 202 and 222 grammes with the male lagging behind on 110 grammes. It's a strange scenario; what the male lacks in weight, he more than makes up for with bodily development. His eyes are fully open, ears are developed, whiskers and snout well grown and bodily hair on his body just like his siblings. The only things holding him back is his body size and his weight. We think that because he's always charging about, he doesn't sleep as much as the other two, so he's continually burning-off calories and loosing body mass! The females are very much on the road to youthful Hedgehog status. They eat, have a little mooch about and then slink-off to sleep. We try and have all three outside as much as possible now and they do seem to be better Hedgehogs for it! Though they are nowhere near the weights needed to release them, so that they have a chance of surviving hibernation and the forthcoming winter. And that will present another problem: where to release them? Do we provide them with shelter and food to start off with? These and more questions are what we have to tackle in the near future. But for now, the Hoglets progress is steady.

STOP PRESS!

In the early hours of Monday morning.....1:50am to be precise, Mel encountered an adult Hedgehog in the garden! I too saw it too just before it scampered off. My bed was calling me, so I too scamperd off soon after. Mel decided that she would stay out a little longer and sure enough, it came back! Not only that but it made it's way to the back door, climbing up a couple of tall steps and then tried several times to clamber over the taller door-step presumably with the intention of getting into the kitchen. After failing to do this, the Hedgehog walked past Melanie (who was watching only a few feet away) across the patio and under the gate through to the front of the house and away!