Hedgehogs in Distress (Brixham) 6th April 2013

This is Mr Chips, a new visitor to the feeder last night, he was unmarked so he has not been here before. He is a big lad of 934 grams and estimate that he is about 2 or 3 years old.
I am hoping that he is going to return tonight. (note the 2 white spots on his centre back.)

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Feet going everywhere as a punch between Julius and another hog starts up in the feeder last night at gone 03:00 hrs.

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Very strange, I've just had Megan in because I've noticed that someone has painted a white stripe across her bottom?!

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Of course my cat has to know exactly what is going on in her back garden!

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Only little Megan came last night in the poring rain at 01:30 and shown here at 03:44 hrs BST. Poor little scarp she must have been socking wet! I do worry about that little hedgehog!
I'm wondering if she is pregnant, she is not on heat as Julius does not take much notice of her, but I think it's more likely that she is not mature enough yet to have a litter.


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Little Megan (she's not so little anymore, she's now 827 grams) has a now finished a course of worming injections and the Ivomectin drops have cleared up the mange mites that were causing her to loose spines, so she will not need to come in again.
But I will still need to keep an eye on her as she seems to be living somewhere which is full of ticks, I've just sent a load of them off to the Health Protection Agency this afternoon.

aww good weight ... ticks are vile I still don't no how to remove them with out getting the head stuck

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Changes are happening here hedgehog wise!
For the last couple of weeks Megan & Aquarius have been coming to the feeder as soon as it gets dark. but they have not been seen now since Monday the 1st.
Aquarius was last seen just after midnight and Megan almost 12 hours later.

Megan was seen to be very restless, drinking and eating a lot (shown here) and going backwards and forwards, I am wondering if she is pregnant and has gone into labour, she left at 23:00 hrs and has not been seen since, she had been coming at 2 hour intervals throughout the night to eat.

If she has just given birth it is going to be 5/6 weeks before the hoglets make an appearance, (the middle of August) being born this late in the Summer will mean that they are unlikely to grow big enough to survive the Winter, hibernating in the wild, so they will need to be rescued, especially as my neighbours have a habit of getting up in the middle of the night to let their dogs out to go to the toilet in their back gardens.

But this is all theory, she might prove me wrong and turn up tonight.
No hedgehogs came last night!

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Panic stations here today, a lady rang this morning to say that she had a hedgehog nest in her garden full of babies and the mother had not been seen for 3 days, but later on a hedgehog was found locked in one of her neighbours sheds.
As the hoglets had not been fed for 3 days and the temp today is 24 C they were in a desperate situation so I set off to Cornwall to collect them, (all six of them!) together with the hedgehog that was rescued from the shed, which fortunately later turned out to be the missing mother.
I managed to get the original nest into a cardboard nest box in my large Zoozone cage and all the hoglets have now settled into it. Mum is very thirsty and has been drinking frequently since she arrived here.
Fingers crossed everyone!

Its looking good!
She has just got through an 85 gram pack of wet cat food mixed with wet kitten biscuits, I just refilled the dish again.
She is currently rebuilding the nest with the straw that I left outside the nest box and I've just given her some more as she has used the first lot.
What an amazing little Mum she is!
It's times like this that hedgehog caring is so rewarding!

Gosh mum is very hungry, she as eaten almost a dish of socked kitten biscuits and half a packet of chicken cat food!

Julia (as I have now called her) and her 6 babies are doing fine, she spent all night eating and rebuilding her nest with the straw that I gave her.
To give you some idea of how underweight she was, when she arrived here yesterday she was 733 grams, this morning she has shot up to 1094 grams!

Due to the current lack of hedgehogs visiting the feeder at night, I am currently working on a plan to put 'Julia cam' online in its place, watching her bring her babies out to feed will be infinitely more interesting than watching a bowl full of slugs!
Watch this space for details.

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You can't beat it, this is what greeted me this morning one chilled out mum with hoglets feeding in all sorts of positions!

I have just checked on Julia and the babies and everything is fine, she has just finished feeding them and she has come out of the nest box and is now asleep on the straw outside, when I get the camera all set up tomorrow you will all be able to see this online.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The camera on the feeder will be offline until further notice, it is being replaced by 'Julia cam'.
Julia arrived from Cornwall with her six hoglets on Sunday. Julia is an amazing mum despite all the odds of having to find enough wild food to make milk to feed the babies, dodge Badgers in a neighbours garden, having to survive being locked in a neighbours shed for 3 days in the hottest weather that we have had for 7 years, she has somehow managed to raise 6 beautiful babies who are now about 2 or 3 weeks old.
Julia and family are now getting the 5 star treatment in my hedgehog unit and their activates can be seen on camera which will be online for longer than the feeder cam was.

My special thanks go to my friend and fellow hedgehog enthusiast David Matthews of Electrocam for donating the web hosting facilities. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Julia's webcam [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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"Its such hard work feeding hoglets in this heat"
Julia asleep on the floor of her cage this afternoon after a feeding session in 26 deg heat.

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Julia out last night with one of the hoglets at 01:00 hrs, seen here in Infrared.
There is a higher resolution video capture card on its way to me today so after tomorrow the online pictures and recorded images will be of better quality.

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One of the hogletts this morning, now 111 grams.

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After coming in on Sunday at 733 grams, Mum is now a healthy 1000 grams.