Friends of West Midlands Hedgehog Rescue

Nearly 11pm. Have removed the big clumps of fly eggs from the hogs (probably) blind eyes and killed the rest of the eggs. Have also pumped some saline into her/him and given it antibiotics. Have now put it to bed on a heat pad with some top quality chicken cat food, cant do anymore.
As I said to Steph, if it dies in the night it will at least be warm and maggot free, whereas if we had listened to "that woman" it would have died cold and eaten to death by maggots and birds. Joan. Thank you again Steph.
Note that "the woman" could not get the hog to me, but had 2 BMW cars on the drive!!!

12-15am. Just been up to Hosprickal to check on new patient. It has moved off the heat pad into the eating area which shows it has gained some strengh. I put it back on to the heat pad. If it is alive in the morning, we stand a chance of saving it. Joan.

Hi guys, Steph here, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but unfortunately I have to report that the hedgehog I picked up last night has passed away. He was definately poisoned by slug pellets as confirmed by Craig the vet. He was comfortable, warm, had pain relief and died peacefully, which he wouldn't have been able to do had he been left in the garden, so at least we have that as a small comfort.
On a personal note, slug pellets are an enemy of wildlife and should never be used in our gardens. There are now good alternatives to slug pellets, the best of which are beer traps and slug tape, both of which are harmless to our wild friends. The same could be said of pesticides. Please educate as many people as you can to the alternatives, and if they want the best evidence of what slug pellets are capable of I will be happy to show them what I saw last night, it will make them sick.

Thank u to Michele from Hilderstone for saving a little hedgehog from being pecked by magpies in Stoke on Trent this afternoon.. He is on his way to Joan where he will have a chance of surviving his ordeal in her care. Diane x

Hi everyone, Steph here,
I want to say on behalf of Joan that today was phenomenal day. With your help we raised £809 for the hedgehogs we love so much. I met people today who re-establish my faith in humanity by their never ending desire to help those who do not have a voice. You are all amazing. It's people like you who make a difference by your hard work and dedication.
Thank you.

The Autumn Orphans are coming in now. Cold and wet after being out all night in the cold and rain. I was tending to one til 1am this morning but comforted myself with the thought that I would get a lie in. It was not to be, the phone went at 7-30am with yet another sad little infant. this one had great chunks cut out of its sides, Id say it was most certainly the resuly of a garden strimmer. (How I hate them!) I gave it pain relief then got it to my vet`s ASP but it was too far gone and Mark, who was on weekend duty at Straitons, put an end to its misery.
As I came out of the waiting room after Mark had put the little hog to sleep, a young lady was waiting for me with yet another Autumn baby and although the lady whose name was Teg, had put the baby on a hot water bottle, it was stone cold to the touch. I got it home and put it on a heat pad which seemed to revive it, all we can do now is wait. Joan

I was invited to an old people’s home today, they wanted me to take Cellie. It was a lovely place, much nicer than some that Ive seen. I was taken into the first ward and found that most of the people were fast asleep. They seemed to stir after a while then some of them started to take an interest in Cellie.
The word that I had brought Cellie spread and the staff were lining up to hold him and have their photo taken with him.
I was taken through the different wards and also the bedrooms with folks still in their beds.(3pm) I was then taken to another section of the home to where all of the Alzheimer patients lived. Some were in a more advanced stage of the condition than others. One man was walking around with his coat on asking where Central Station was. So very sad. Cellie was so good and most of the people in there reacted to him. We managed to get some of the patients to hold Cellie on their laps and he was golden, in fact he just went to sleep “Been there, done that, many a time” was his attitude. At least 6 of the ladies went into raptures over him, stroking and cuddling him in turn, their eyes sparkling with pure pleasure at holding a real live hedgehog, it took a lot of tactful persuasion to extricate him from their grip!
It was an eye opener folks. My admiration for the nursing staff is boundless. Some of the patients had to have a nurse sitting next to them constantly and yet their carers were always cheerful. These nurses are a special breed, because it’s a rare being who can do the job.
On leaving I was honoured when the staff invited me to their Christmas party and asked if I would take Cellie as well, my answer; “Of course I will”.

Hi folks, Steph again. I thought I would come on and tell you about my last rescue. Fairly late on Sunday night, I had settled down in bed for an early night with a book when the phone rang. It was a lady who I had collected a hog from before and she had found another juvenile who had been rolled around by her dog.
I dressed and headed out, on arriving at the house the hedgehog had escaped from its box so myself and the ladies husband had to search the bushes to find him. As I plunged my hands into the bush to pick up the hog, the man notified me that the dog had in fact been rolling the hedgehog in dog poop! The poor hog smelled ungodly as did my gloves! I took the hedgehog back to my boyfriends and then proceeded to use cotton buds to retrieve as much poop from the hog as possible on the bathroom floor. After a clean up I wrapped him in an old towel and sat down with him on my lap stroking him through the towel to calm him down a bit after his ordeal. During an ad break I look down to check on him to find the hog happily watching the TV with me! He seems fine now and is obviously a fan of the gogglebox!

I was invited to give a talk at the Derrington Food Festival last Saturday the 21st. It was a fair distance and I did`nt have a clue where it was but luckily for me Diane lived nearby and offered to show me the way.
We were welcomed with a cuppa and offers of help, they were really very nice people. I set the projector and laptop up, whilst Diane set up her stall, then got Cellie out.That was it, the people are attracted to him like bees to jam and he was stroked ,cuddled and the cameras clicked.
When it was my turn to give the talk, the crowds flocked into the room where it was to be held. There were so many of them that people had to stand, including the Mayor.Cellie was passed around, he took the attitude of “Booooring” and almost fell asleep.
The audience were really interested, even queuing up at the end to ask questions and I have to admit that it one of the nicest places, people and events I have attended.
Whilst I was there I had a call from Willehall from a lady who had found a baby hedgehog so I travelled there to pick the little one up.By now I was tired.I had a heavy cold and standing up for hours on top of being up since 5-30am had taken its tole.
When I arrived and picked up the hog I found it had the most horrific facial injury with maggots present, so it was back to Penkridge to the vets to put the poor baby out of its misery.Even Nick, the vet said several times, “Oh the poor little thing”.
I arrived home and within half an hour, the phone went, another sick hedgehog was on its way.Looks like being another late night! Being a hedgehog carer is not all glamour. Joan

Evening all, Steph here, I had to share todays story with you, I hope you enjoy it.
I have spent the whole day with Joan catching up and doing some computer work. This evening as I was about to leave (typical), a call came in to collect a hog from Streetly. Off I went. The hog had become trapped in football goal nets and the kind people had managed to get him untangled without causing him any more damage. Luckily for the hog, the netting hadn't broken the skin, but that wasn't all that had occured. Looking down onto the curled up hog I could see one of his legs sticking out awkwardly. I turned him over to see an odd sight. He was completely curled up but one of his back legs was just lying on top of his tummy like a chicken thigh and cold to the touch. Well, I thought it was curtains and texted Joan to tell her the little guys leg looked broken.
I popped him into a carrier in the passenger seat of my car and started back to Joans. As some of you know, I hum to the hedgehogs I rescue as for some bizarre reason they seem to like it, this time the hog just stayed in his ball. I started singing quietly some phantom of the opera tunes and heard a shuffling. I looked down and he was walking around! I couldn't believe my eyes! How his leg had been bent out of shape I have no clue how he was walking like nothing had happened! He seems okay, a little twisted up after trying to escape but apart from that he seems very well.
It's a mini miracle in my opinion and for future reference Hedgehogs enjoy show tunes!

wow what a story, nice to hear a good ending .

Things are really hotting up now. Along with the Autumn Orphans and sick hedgehogs that I have in at the moment,and 5 that I collected yesterday,I also have the 2 mums in with the 8 babies as I said before, but today I had another AO come in in the morning, then another at 5pm. Whilst I was waiting for the one from Rugely to arrive, Steph collected what turned out to be a rather sick looking hog ,then travelled on to Wolverhampton to pick up what the gentleman who rang me described as "A big hog and 2 babies".
When poor Steph finally arrived with the rescues, it turned out to be a sick hedgehog and a mum with FIVE babies!!!
If they keep on coming in at this rate, Im going to be pushed for room as dont forget, when the babies get bigger, they will need a pen each. Oh well, Ill cross that bridge when I come to it!
Thank you once again Steph! Joan x

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These little hoglets went to see Craig the vet today, bit of blood in one of the poop needs investigation.
Update later (Emma)

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and here they are with their Mum x

***URGENT APPEAL - MORE HEDGEHOG FOSTERERS NEEDED***

Hi folks, Joan has asked me to pop an appeal on here for people who are interested in over-wintering some autunm juvenilles. These little guys need taking in over the winter months because they are too small to hibernate.
They will need keeping indoors with food and water until spring. If you or someone you know is interested in doing this vital job, please let any of us know.
Joan really needs your help with this because she is already having a surge of orphans and needs to start making more room in the Hosprickle.
You will need a rabbit hutch or similar and a spare room indoors.

Many thanks, Diane x

P.S. A common concern is fleas, but can i reassure you that Joan WILL NOT give you a hedgehog to foster which has fleas or ticks etc

Got a call last night from a gentleman in Cannock to say that he had saved a young hedgehog from a dog which had already killed one hog. We arranged for him to bring the hog to me this morning at 9am. When he arrived, his name is Bob, he seemed to be interested in my lawn. I apologised for the state of the edge of it, my excuse was that it was a conservation area. Bob said; "Im a gardener, Ill strim it for you". I explained that I did`nt like strimmers because of the awful damage that they did to hedgehogs, and also, I had a frog in my garden and I did`nt want it harmed. Bob said that he would be very careful and whilst he was setting about strimming the lawn, I took care of the juvenile hog that he had brought me. He did call to me once to say that he had found "my frog" and had picked it up and moved it out of harms way.
When he had finished he asked if I liked cooking apples and when I said yes, he went to his van and came back with a load of apples. As he went through the door with me thanking him, he handed me a £10 note saying "this is to buy food for the young un" (meaning the hedgehog he had brought me").
There are good people out there, yes, there really are! Joan

Hi folks, Steph again. Firstly I just want to say a huge thank you for all of the offers we have had for foster homes, it's wonderful that so many of you care so much. Thing is it is getting rather complicated to keep track of you all! With this in mind we have devised a way of sorting this all out fairly. If you or someone you know wishes to foster a hedgehog for us, please send me an email to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] where i shall send you a questionnaire which needs to be filled in and returned to us. This means that we can have a good look and not lose you in the wave of fosterer wannabies!

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Hello everyone! First of all, thank you Michelle for the tick hooks, now I wont have to keep running up and down the garden to collect mine, I can have one in the house and one in the Hosprickal.
I have weaned 13 babies off their mums to make room for the many orphans coming in. Im amazed at just how quickly these babies grow when they are brought indoors and mum has the extra food that obviously boosts her milk resources. Steph, Diane and myself are now trying to find foster homes for these babies.
The requests are coming in at a rate of knots for me to give the hoggy talks. I think that Cellie is the main attraction, children and adults alike love him. He is so laid back that he often falls asleep whilst someone is holding him.He made everyone laugh last week at one of these evenings when he even started snoring! Some smart Alec (you always get one!) said she thought that I was stressing Cellie out, I said to her, "Does he look stressed out, has he curled up in a ball, has he put his spines up?" Lesson One;Be sure to know what you are talking about before you open your mouth! I repeat, Cellie is a one off, there has never been another one like him and I doubt if there ever will be. Steph will tell you how he follows me around the house, waiting at the doorway when I go in the bathroom for me to come out, he actually seeks human company, and pesters to be picked up, he is one very rare hedgehog!!! Joan.

After the fun of the "Grabs" tonight, we need to get down to some more serious stuff now - JOAN HAS ASKED ME TO APPEAL AGAIN FOR MORE HEDGEHOG FOSTERERS. The hosprickle needs to make room for new arrivals (3 more arrived this afternoon alone) and some of the earlier arrivals are now doing well and can safely move to foster homes. So,,,,,,,if you have a quiet and peaceful spare room inside your house and you have a rabbit hutch or similar ready to overwinter a baby hedgehog indoors until next spring, then please get in touch with Joan on 01922 409533. Thanks folks, Diane xx