Hedgehogs

[Suninfrance]

For the last couple of days we have seen a very baby hedgehog out rummaging around during the daytime - is this normal?

Jan

[Pads]

Did you get a photo of them ?

 

No its not suppose to be normal , but for the last few years now i have seen our family of headgehogs out during the day, a few times each year, normally we see them at dusk, but they dont seem to come to any harm on the few day trips they have had. Maybe they are hungary try putting some dog meat out for them.   

[Suninfrance]

I was in the middle of bringing in the washing about 5.30 this evening and saw baby rummaging in the grass.  It was out about the same time yesterday.  It's really small.  I'll try and get pics 2moro.

I usually leave cat bics out at night for the wild cat mum (her kits usually stay in at night now, but she's too scaredey to come in).  It's a fight between the cat, the hedgehogs and the orange slugs for the biccies though.

Jan

[Pads]

If your lucky the headghogs will eat the slugs [:)]

[Suninfrance]

They'd have to be pretty starving to consume the amount we have.  I think they prefer the cat bics

[Chassaing]

This year we have had loads of slugs, but we hope to see more Hedgehogs as we think they are so cute.  This little Herrison came out during the day, quite rare to see them like this.

(Photo taken in July)

[IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc35/lebois_album/herisson.jpg[/IMG]

[Suninfrance]

Herisson is so cute.  What's he doing out this time of year or did the sunshine bring him out of hibernation?

They are such cute little creatures.  I actually stopped in the middle of a country road the other day to avoid one, but he just headed straight for the car.  Only thing I could do was put the hazards on, get my gloves, get out and move the little darling to a safer place.

Jan

[Chassaing]

This little fellow thought he'd take an early morning swim.  Lucky I was able to help him out and offer a towel. (Photo taken in July 07)

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[IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc35/lebois_album/in_the_swim_1.jpg[/IMG]

[vervialle]

I had some advice off the forum in the summer as I also had a baby hedgehog I was trying to save, I was advised that if they did not weigh 500gms by the winter they would not survive the winter, you can over winter them in a cage with straw somewhere warm,but they need to be fed as they will not hibernate. They can only digest goats milk not cows milk and cat food with meat in is best. If they appear drunk whilst walking round there probably is not much hope,hedhehogs suffer from many diseases.Our little one which we named spike only lasted about 48 hours, I was feeding him every three hours round the clock,but although he was taking the goats milk he did not survive.I was so upset our little spike did not survive, but at least I tried,good luck, let us know the outcome.Apparently sometimes there mothers just abandon the weak ones, it is upsetting, but that dreaded thing called nature.

[Chassaing]

Thank you so much Vervialle for all your valuable information.  There has been loads of natural food this year, so we are assuming the baby will have 'bulked up' by the hibernation season.  Furthermore, the corner of the garden in which they hibernate is very sheltered.  We hope they breed again next year so that they keep the slug numbers down.

[vervialle]

Yes they really are adorable and incidently their fleas do not bite humans or live in carpets, they only love hedgehogs and I can vouch for that as spike was covered in them and you must not put frontline on them.As you say they are so good for the garden and I must say I seem to have quite a few in my french garden,amongst the bats ,barn owls ,salamandas , I could go on, it really is a joy to share my garden with them all.

[Helen]

I found one today curled up under a red hot poker plant. I was  stripping the dead leaves off it and found a ball of dead grass etc, not thinking I pulled it aside and there he was. He continued to sleep,snoring very loudly. I'm not sure that hes chosen a good place though since a lot of the vegetation he's using for shelter will die down over the winter.

[vervialle]

Helen if he has already hibernated, could you make a kind of small shelter with some bricks and wood  on the top ,to give him a bit of protection and put some dry leaves on him so he can get away if he wants to.

[Helen]

I obviously did disturb him as he had gone this morning. He left behind quite a lot of nesting materials and had cosy nest. Hope he found somewhere better as we had our first heavy frost last night.[:(]

[chris pp]

At this time of year Hedgehogs are active, in fact hibernation only takes place in cold weather, mostly it's partial hibernation and they will often be found in the day under dense plants perhaps with a mass of grass, it's just somewhere to hang out and will often be warmer at this time of year than in a hedge as it will catch a bit of the daytime sun.

Chris.

[Frank]

Hi everyone

Heres my hedgehog tale!!

We had a big fat hedgehog in our garden for ages so we trawled the net and found some plans to make a hedgehog house as the weather was turning chilly.  Hubby built the house and covered it with a waterproof membrane, put air vents in, added little legs to raise it and we placed it amongst the shrubs in the right direction and weighed it down as instructed on the plans.  My friend gave me some hay and we waited for him to take up residence.  Hubby found him under a peice of wood, so we put him in the house and left him be.  Sadly two days later he was out and about at night and got run over on the road just outside our house, he was on his way back.  So now we have a hedgehog house and no hedgehog!!  My question is, will another come along and take up residence or will that be it??  Do we need to change the hay to change the scent or just leave it where it is and wait.  Seems a shame to waste such a fab house!!  I check it every other day to see if there are any new residents, but none yet.  Any advice greatly received!!

Kimberly