Spikey Critters Hedgehog Care Blog

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Well I always knew that it wouldn't be for long :-(

HRH woke up last night and just look what a mess he made The little tinker!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

For comparison ... this is Snuffle Snuffle's home ...... and this is what Eden's bed looked like before he firstly turned it into a mountain and then secondly totally trashed it!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

This is one of Eden's mountains, but not the one he has just demolished!

haha little cheeky terrors

Aren't they just x

Lovely pic of a little hoggie who is clearly not camera shy

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I thought I'd share this photo of one of the hogs that live in my garden the other day, out in the daytime, no signs of illness, wet nose, bright eyes, just hungry, so I gave her (?) a bowl of food & fresh water all to herself - I feed them each night & both bowls are licked clean

Just finished checking all the hoggies poo samples again ..... and sadly little Tunip's sample contained some lungworm larvae :-( He is now on a course of meds to get rid of the little blighters!

For those of you that have been caring for hedgehogs for the first time this winter this is exactly the reason why you should get a sample checked, and re-checked for them, throughout their stay with you.

Tunip has not been coughing or losing weight and looks perfectly fit and healthy as did his poos ..... so just because everything appears to be normal and OK to you, it doesn't always mean that it is!

The good news is that the rest of the kids are fine ♥

oh he is ok with treatment! and that pic is adorable

Just been looking at the weather forecast for the next week and it looks like it's going to be just a tad nippy on Friday night ..... back down to -1, brrrr ..... and there I was just thinking about getting my shorts out ready for the warm weather :-( No wonder Eden has gone back to sleep ♥

that photo is lovely , love the ltitle wilde updates .x

Very sad afternoon here ...... lovely adult male hoggie brought in with really bad breathing and a damaged/bloody eye .... he was taken straight to the Vet who decided the best thing would be to put him to sleep :'(

RIP little hoggie ♥

Thank you very much Karen for taking him to the Vet and doing all the running around xx

In the light of yesterday's sadness, it just goes to show how important it is to know exactly who to contact in an emergency.

So could I please ask everyone ..... if you don't already know who your local Hedgehog Carer is and their contacts numbers .... to find out in advance now and keep the number in your mobile phone or somewhere safe, in case you should ever need it .... you can guarantee that if the worst should happen and you find a hedgehog in urgent need of help, you are going to struggle to get the information quickly enough.

The BHPS holds a directory of over 700 carers throughout the country so either give them a call or just send them an e-mail asking them for details of Hedgehogs Carers near to you.

Their contact details are

Tel: 01584 890801
E-mail: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thank You ♥

Some more of the sleepy heads here have either woken up or are about to wake up :-)

Ashby is moving around a fair bit in his "little" nest today so I'm guessing he will come out tonight .... not seen a lot of him for most of the Winter .... although he has been checked/weighed etc. regularly throughout to ensure there are no problems. I will see if I can get a photo of his nest shortly .... so we can compare with Eden's :-)

Talking of Eden .... the little monster was out supervising me again this morning, so the peace and quiet didn't last long!

Just waiting now for two more of the Hogshed hogs to wake up now Davina and Bobby and of course the ones that are in the outside pens ♥

Beautiful sunny day here, hope it's the same where you are.

There have been lots of Bumble Bees flying around and also several Peakcock butterflies ..... it's lovely to see all the activity.

It's going to be really cold again here tonight and then next week around 4 degrees at night time, so I don't suppose any of my wild visitors are going to be turning up any time soon!

I have arranged for one of the hoggies to be sent home on Monday, now that he has woken up, so he can be acclimatised for a short period of time before release.

He came in around October time last year for checking over, as it was thought he was Mo and Jess' Mum and as they had such huge worm burdens I wanted to check her out ..... she was actually a he and he did have worms, was treated and re-checked etc. but before I could get him back to his finder he promptly went to sleep and has slept through most of the Winter .... he wasn't given a name .... so I have been calling him Clint ;-)

I will try and take a pic of Clint before he goes back home ♥

Sadly my first sighting of a hoggie near me was a rta hoggie on the way to work this evening

It wasn't there yesterday tea time when I drove down the same bit of road, so he must have been run over during the night .... lovely, nice big male .... not sure if it one of my visitors, I couldn't see a marking on it, but very very sad. It was so close to the kerb too - such a huge shame to have made it through the awful winter, only to have this happen :-(

RIP little hoggie ♥

Awww he died so sad they work so hard

Putting these on because it shows how many carers there are out there and how much our hedgehogs need our help x

Ashby has obviously been reading the weather forecasts and despite being up and around for a few nights has decided to hunker down for a couple of nights as it dipped to freezing last night and is due to be around 2 degrees tonight and tomorrow.

Bobby is now awake ... but we are still waiting for Davina to put in another appearance.

Its lovely to have them all pretty much awake now and to see them all enjoying their food ..... lots of empty dishes in the morning ♥

Ashby has obviously been reading the weather forecasts and despite being up and around for a few nights has decided to hunker down for a couple of nights as it dipped to freezing last night and is due to be around 2 degrees tonight and tomorrow.

Bobby is now awake ... but we are still waiting for Davina to put in another appearance.

Its lovely to have them all pretty much awake now and to see them all enjoying their food ..... lots of empty dishes in the morning ♥

15 kids awake last night, including Davina who put in another quick appearance .... just hoping she stays awake now, and then she will be able to go back home :-)

Ashby still tightly snuggled up in his bed, lol

I will be glad when a few more of them leave home as I have got used to doing a lot less mucking out recently ♥

Clint .... has been here for several months now, initially being treatment for a heavy worm burden and subsequently hibernating!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

tucking in to his supper on saturday

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

As many lot of you will already know Hedgehog Awareness week is fast approaching and will officially be held between the 5th and 11th May.

Never ones to stick to tradition at Spikey Critters we are going to start our Hedgehog Awareness week today!

Please help us to spread the important information that we will be posting over the coming weeks .... I know for some of you it might be difficult to keep sharing the info, but the more people we can reach the better it will be for the future of our prickly friends.

Thank You ♥

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Another hoggie admitted to the Hogsprickle this morning. He is a nice big male weighing 1079g, he is dehydrated and a bit underweight for his size ..... even at that weight. He is currently waiting for the finder's son to give him a name.

It looks as though he has been clipped by a car and has a large patch of broken spines. There are no obvious injuries/blood etc so that is good.

He has been given some sub cut fluids and is currently on a heatpad warming up .... we are off to the vet shortly for him to be checked over and I will update you all when I get back ... he is able to curl up OK but I am just concerned there may be fractures etc.

He is far too quiet at the moment although he is reacting a little more now he is warming up.

Thank you very much to Peter for bringing him over and for the donation, I really appreciate it ♥

Update on the new hoggie.

He has been to the Vets and there are no fractures, which is excellent news.

He is a bit reluctant to move one of his back legs however and doesn't respond when his foot or leg is touched on the side where he has the spine damage .... the vet has given him a pain killer/anti-inflammatory injection and I will be giving some more over the next couple of days.

He has certainly picked up a lot since he came in and his conditon doesn't appear to be troubling him too much as he just tried to do a runner when I gave him some more fluids 10 minutes ago :-)

I'm keeping everything crossed for him at the moment but it looks as though he is another little character in the making ;-)