Hedgehogs are still about….

AndyPK said:
Mice like calci worms too then…….?!😉

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I used to watch a woodmouse who crept out at dusk to grab a piece of catfood from the hedgehog food bowl, and then carry it back to his/her nest under the patio. Suddenly that stopped and I never saw that mouse again. Aww.

There are no signs that any other rodents have been eating the hedgehog's food.

Only one of my hedgehog regulars is still visiting my garden looking for food. It arrives at about 6pm, eats about half of the catfood in the feeding bowl (with a few added mealworms for extra flavour - hedgehogs need some chitin in their diet anyway). After a drink of water, it probably goes back to its nest for warmth and shelter. After dawn, the Jackdaws and pigeons eat what's left.

All the others (at least 4 hedgehogs that I recognised) stopped coming here over 2 weeks ago so I concluded that they are hibernating. I will carry on putting out food every evening until the signs are that the last hedgehog has stopped feeding.

If during the coming winter months there are some signs that a hungry hedgehog is out and about again, I will resume putting out food (and fresh water).

I
:h:
hedgehogs.
 
I have mice nesting in the box where I keep my bucket of bird seed. I touched the nest the other day and a tiny mouse popped it's head out to see what was going on :giggle: I have left them there in peace, I suppose they will move on to find somewhere warmer to nest as the weather gets worse. (I hope it's not in the house!)
 
Gina M said:
I have mice nesting in the box where I keep my bucket of bird seed.
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Dont see them moving too far from the larder! :giggle:

we have a couple of Robins who frequent my garage as soon as the door is open and can be seen standing on the edge of the bird seed / suet bucket.. they are cheeky little chappies and are not much bothered that i may interupt them. ::bigsmile:
 
We have not seen a hedgehog for several years.
The badgers have wiped them out along with all the bee’s nests.

T
 
I see hedgehogs occasionally here and I'm confused. The ground is too hard for them to burrow. And as it's mild all winter, do they need to hibernate ?

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Probably not, Yorick - several of ‘my’ hogs have been active all year for the past few years, but that could be because of all the food I put out for them!!😉
 
And spot where the bush fell down near the garage wall……..😕
 
Fox trying to reach the calci worms……..


The garden is pretty well enclosed - I had to remove bits of the front and back gates to allow the hogs easier access….👍
 
We volunteer at our local hoggie rescue centre and have lots of babies in. They won’t hibernate if they haven’t got the wight to survive. Most arrive in a poor state, especially when people let their dog have a go at them. The fear and stress can kill them when they’re back in their dens and hoggiehouses and lots arrive with flystrike, ringworm, lungworm to state a few. Lots of care, good food, warmth and a clean dry bed and we slowly start to build them up again, before we transfer them to the pre-release run and then back into the wild. Some go out to volunteer foster homes, but we’ve a great success rate and it’s amazing how upset we get when we lose one, which isn’t often 👍🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔





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What's happened about the hogs at your old house? Are the new owners looking after them now?
 
Minxy said:
What's happened about the hogs at your old house? Are the new owners looking after them now?
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They might be the same hogs, who also moved of their own volition to Andy's new house up the road. They can travel up to 3 km in one night.

My hedgehogs all seem to be in hibernation. I last saw one at the food bowl about 10 days ago.
 
Minxy said:
What's happened about the hogs at your old house? Are the new owners looking after them now?
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I’m not sure, Minxy - the new owners say they haven’t seen any, but that’s probably because I took all the cameras (28!) with me, and they don’t go in the garden at night….?
As SpeedyDux says, some may have walked up the road to our new place, but, as far as I can tell, the ones in our new garden seem to come from the opposite direction, or from the school field and under the back gate……
Unfortunately I had to take one to the vet this morning - he/she was staggering around the garden early yesterday evening, and I found it collapsed in a flower bed later on. I didn’t think it would survive overnight (I put it in a little container in the shed) but it was still alive this morning…….fingers crossed, but I’m not hopeful……☹️
On a brighter note, there’s a hog sleeping in the house I put out yesterday (videos above), so I’ll put another house out this afternoon in a different part of the garden to see if another decides to move in….😉


Update - the little ‘hog didn’t make it - he was too ill so the vet did the kindest thing……😥
 
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We still have one coming for food during the night. I caught it on camera a couple of nights ago but very misty so could only just see it. I'll keep putting food out whilst it is still being taken.
 
This worm wasn’t so lucky……..

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We have put a hedgehog box in the garden this year. There is a hedgehog all curled up in the straw and half the food has been eaten the next morning. We are not sure if the hedgehog is waking up and eating the food or is it more likely to be vermin? Any thoughts?
 
Nirvanauk said:
We have put a hedgehog box in the garden this year. There is a hedgehog all curled up in the straw and half the food has been eaten the next morning. We are not sure if the hedgehog is waking up and eating the food or is it more likely to be vermin? Any thoughts?
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I bought couple of hedgehog houses at Aldi a few years ago but only one was ever used and that was the first year. It was by the fence with our neighbours garden and they once saw it wander out during the day, relieve itself and then wander back.

I occasionally catch a mouse taking a hedgehog kibble on the wildlife camera, and sometimes our resident blackbirds get in if the food is there in daylight hours. By far the most is taken by hedgehogs though.

If the hedgehog isn't ready to hibernate (which I think is quite likely given the relatively mild weather) it probably is just sleeping/waking as normal.
 
Our foster hog was having a proper wander around the garden today and had a big drink from the hedgehog friendly pond. Then back to bed in his palatial hog house. He’s been eating the food we put out every day. But it’s very wet and windy for the next 24 hours so not expecting to see him until that passes.
 

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