Snuffle Lodge Hedgehog Rescue

All six of the recently admitted litter are doing really well, even little Conker who is now sat at just over 140g. The three bigger hoglets are doing fantastically well and are heading towards 300g at an alarming velocity - hardly surprising given the sheer volume of food they're gorging themselves with - 6 pouches of cat food went yesterday.... The middle two are also doing well - we've identified the genders of four (so far three girls, one boy) but two are incredibly shy and curl if we so much as breathe on them, so the names will have to wait for now (apart from Conker, who is female).

Tom, who was part of the Walnut Tree gang, but who had to be readmitted when he was found wandering about two weeks ago weighing a pathetic 372g, has now completed all of his worming treatment and is now a very solid looking 640g. We're hopeful of getting him out for attempt number three at life in the wild

Meanwhile, we finally have a gender head count on the litter of six - four females, two males. Incredibly (apart from Conker) it's the three females who are the fatties (and are together) and the two males who are the in-betweenies. Food disappearing at an alarming rate - the expression 'eating us out of house and home' is appropriate here.

Another bigger hog, Dusty, will have her last mange treatment today and we are hopeful of getting her out in the next few days all being well. Dusty has the accolade of being the grumpiest hog in residence at present. With Tom and Dusty on the exit route, it'll free up their big cages for the ever-expanding (size-wise) litter of six.

Basil, the hog with a head injury, is making slow progress and still needs regular syringe feeding, although he can lap for himself when the dish is presented in front of him - he just lacks the energy to seek out food for himself and keeps falling over onto his side. I suspect this may be a balance issue, given the injury to the side of his head, and hopefully continued anti-inflammatories and antibiotics will set his gyroscope right again.

Encouraging news regarding Basil, our Wollaton head injury hog, who is not toppling over as much as he was and is now trying to take food for himself, both during the night and during the day, with varying amounts of success. Last night he ended up with most of the food all over the side of his face, this afternoon he managed to completely overturn one of the saucers with his grub in. Still needs regular syringe feeding, and he starts salivating as soon as we enter the room...

We are now nearly at capacity,with a Snape Wood juvenile extracted from Carol's box in one of our last remaining indoor hutches.

Carol (one box), Paula and Jon (the other) have decided to stay in the Lodge garden, with Carol and Paula now busily or very close to hibernating. Jon is, however, still active. The interloping juvenile mentioned below has been extracted and brought inside.

The litter of six which came from around the corner a couple of weeks back are all developing at different rates. The three girls are now well on their way to 500g. The two boys are not doing quite so well on the weight gain front, one around 350g, the other around 300g. The smaller boy took a couple of backward steps, but has now pulled out of whatever malaise he was in and is now making up for lost time. And little Conker ? She was the runt of the litter and is now bigger than the two boys ! She remains on her own and is doing fantastically well.

Toffee, the little munchkin who came in from a community garden, is now a strapping lass around the 500g mark. If she continues at this rate, we may be able to get her out on the patio to hibernate over winter.

As promised, catch up time. The Epperstone triplets which came in about 4 weeks ago (Holly, Marmite and Trevor) are now all chunky little hogs weighing in the late 550s/early 600s and all still happy in each other's company. All being well, we may be able to get them outside in a run to hibernate over winter.

Meanwhile, the three Bulwell hogs which are technically 'free' remain bunked up together across two boxes, and have been joined by another hog. The two girls, Paula and Carol are definitely hibernating, Jon stirs occasionally and comes for a snuffle around the garden. We're not sure the gender of the interloper, but we're keeping a close eye on him.



Orinoco, the little hoglet which also came from Snape Wood, responded well to worming but is being a little slow in his development. He will be overwintered indoors with us.

Outdoors, Hector is settling down to hibernate - he's at the stage where the appetite is reducing, so we think the next cold spell will knock him out for the winter. Hopefully we can get him to an enclosed garden next year - we do have one in mind.



Dusty, the hog which was found scuttling around the waste/recycling centre at Eastcroft, has now completed her mange treatment and weighs over 800g. She will be going out into a run tonight.

Sadly, Basil the hog who came to us from Wollaton via our vets with a small bite wound passed away last weekend - we suspect some neurological damage here.

Parsley, another Snape Wood hog who was discovered out during the day and in a poor state, is now doing very well and is still midway through his worming treatment. He has put on weight and is now starting to return to his full round shape. He is also the fastest hog we have on four legs - put him down when cleaning and he's gone in the blink of an eye. We now have to contain him in a small cage to stop his Houdini-like escape attempts.

Tom, the hog which we released earlier this year, but who was found a month or so later weighing a lot less than when he went out has been fully wormed and is now over 800g. He has been in pre-release for a week and will be allowed to run free on Monday night, assuming the strong winds forecast for tomorrow have died down.

And so Dusty is now outside in pre-release - 800g of pure hatred, Dusty is probably the grumpiest hog we have had for a while. She makes even Sandy look like a pussycat...

The Bulwell triplets have now dispersed, with Paula, Carol and Jon now making their way in the wild. Checking their boxes revealed a 434g munchkin, who is now indoors (Dill), in one house, and one just shy of 600g in another, who we will keep monitoring but hope not to have to bring in.

After those three, Parsley and Toffee should be the next out in time for the big snooze.

Plans to get the Epperstone triplets out into a run tonight have been scuppered by the low night time temperatures forecast for the next couple of nights. Hopefully we can get them out Tuesday.

Sadly, we will remain closed to new admissions for the present time as we are at capacity.

A quick check of Hector reveals him to be doing well - 958g and close to hibernating if the green poo and still full food bowls are anything to go by. Hogs will have a purge of their stomach contents just before hibernating, resulting in pure green bile being excreted - nothing to worry about.

Thanks to Kerry and Emma for returning their hoggy-houses. Emma didn't leave empty-handed as she kindly took Dusty away for release. I have warned Emma to keep a safe distance as this is one angry hog. Dusty came to us as a tiny, discovered in Eastcroft waste depot (hence her name). She underwent treatment for mange, and throughout has remained a narky little hedgepig. She goes with our blessing and best wishes ! Thanks to Emma for the donation of hog-food.