Prickles Hedgehog Rescue Blog

We are receiving enquiries from members of the public who have mums and baby hedgehogs, hoglets, living in their gardens! Please do not disturb them, as tempting as it is to have a look please leave well alone! Te best thing you can do to help is to feed mum, poultry flavour cat biscuits with a bowl of water! These babies are likely to be second or even third litters.

A hoglet on its way in but sadly it sounds v poorly! Fingers crossed, our driver is going to try and locate the nest!

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This little hoglet became tangled in netting! Please remove any netting at ground level it is lethal! You maybe able to see blue netting stuck in the wound we are fighting to stabilise this little chap before he can have a operation to remove it! Poor baby!

One of the big males went to the vets yesterday to have a tooth out as he had a abscess! He had three teeth out and a scale and polish! He came home and tucked into some duck and rice recovery cat pâté!!!!

Bramble the hoglet has just enjoyed his breakfast, animal formula via a teat!

Sadly the female we admitted last night with what we thought was deep wound was put to sleep this morning after the discovery of four mammary tumors poor thing!

Bramble as you can see has just been introduced to soaked babycat and esbilac formula, he enjoyed paddling in it! We are concerned about him as he has a swollen abdomen possibly linked to him being strangled by netting but we are monitoring him. He is growing and doing everything he should be.

A little juvenile in this morning! He is going through the worming treatment and gas been enjoying baby cat biscuits today!

Suddenly it gets busy! Three admitted today, another one on its way in now, very tiny and two have been picked up a hour ago wheezing, they are coming in tomorrow! Six in a day must be heading towards autumn juvenile season, except three are hoglets!?

Five admissions today! One with lungworm who is wheezing, another with fly strike who had been kept for two days by the finder outside in a box! Then well done Mark for finding mum with two babies, one of the hoglets has bite marks to the back of the head, we think caused by a dog! The hoglets are older 300+ grams so they won't be with mum long!

We are receiving enquiries from members of the public who are finding juvenile hedgehogs! These little ones are vulnerable now that the nighttime temperatures are dropping, they are more vulnerable when they are out during the day! Please call us for advice on 07806744772 should you come across a juvenile! Miranda I have received your email, your little one needs to come in for us to check it over!

Good news with Bramble our little hoglet! The swelling to his abdomen has gone down! We now need to work on his back legs which go in all directions! The swelling has prevented him from using his legs properly! He is such a character and loves his food!

Good news our hoglets are almost weaned. However, we have two tiny hoglets on there way into us with a adult who our driver thinks maybe a male!!!! A shed was taken down this morning and there was possibly two adults and babies. I really hope we have mum and babies, will keep you posted! Mum and two babies came in at the beginning of the week, they are thriving These are second possibly third litters. Our new volunteer had a shock this morning, he found three hoglets in the crate of a female we admitted three weeks ago, sadly they were all dead. We think something may have been wrong with them, one of the difficulties in working with hedgehogs is there are no clues they may be pregnant. We are currently pricing up an ultra sound scanner so we can determine whether or not they are at a earlier stage. The assessment room is turning into the maternity suite, again!

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Mum and two hoglets just arrived, eyes still closed!

A poorly female admitted late afternoon! Think she may have been knocked by a car! Poor thing!

Little male juvie in earlier with a couple of nasty wounds from a predator attack! He was traumatised when he came in but he is now relaxed and let me clean his wound!

Another hog admitted with a heavy infestation of ticks! We will get these off and assess and treat the hog before releasing him back to the finder!

A juvenile admitted to Prickles yesterday and today! An adult was admitted this evening after getting trapped in a garage! Been a busy week!!

A little juvie admitted this morning after he was picked up in the early hours from Axbridge, 277 grams, he has a lot of growing to do for a successful hibernation!?

A good day at Prickles today and as promised an update on the admissions throughout the week. Juvenile season is slow this year, we are still admitting litters of hoglets and three arrived after being found together in a garden. They are all well, we are seeing an increase in adults who have been the victims road traffic accidents and this week there have been four. Sadly one was put to sleep as the injuries were severe. The hog that was found running in circles has calmed down since he was put in a box of hay. There is concern over his ability to see, he remains under assessment. Another one was admitted last night she has a limp but there doesn't appear to be any fractures. She is a little bruised today and we think she may be pregnant. Another poorly female was admitted with a severe lungworm infestation, she is under treatment and is receiving fluid therapy. The little juvenile that was admitted last weekend is thriving. The remaining hogs are all doing well and are gaining weight daily, we are planning to get these hogs out before the end of the autumn, one has gone tonight! Bramble the little hoglet who became tangled in netting appears to be responding to his physiotherapy of swimming a couple of times a day, there is definitely improvement. The volunteers were brilliant and it enabled us to have a much needed break! Thank you.

A adult female admitted today with lungworm and some blood on her possibly from a dog attack but she isn't injured! She may be pregnant so she has gone into a nesting box and has started treatment for lungworm. We are dealing with a rescue in Tiverton of a poorly hog that is trapped in a garden and the owners aren't at home. I will keep you posted.

The little hedgehog trapped in a garden in Tiverton is on its way into Prickles with one of our drivers! Fluids have been given on site and the little hog is currently wrapped in a fleece on a hot water bottle. All of the Prickles response drivers are trained to administer fluids and most of the hedgehogs that are rescued are given fluids before they reach Prickles. This reduces shock but more importantly it is the start of the re-hydration process.

The little hog that came in from Tiverton is a 200 gram boy who was very cold after being out for a couple of days. He was covered in fly eggs an maggots but after spending a hour at the vets he is now clear of these. He has a couple of wounds but these should respond to anti biotic. Poor little thing! A Prickles driver is on route to another hog after it was found wobbling in a garden early afternoon.

The Yeovil boy has arrived and is poorly, it is one of our releases from earlier in the year and he has lungworm! Just got out of Prickles from 12.30pm a busy day, hopefully they will all be OK as treatment is underway and fluid therapy has been administered. While I was admitting the Yeovil one sadly a male that came in a few days ago died, he came in wheezing and has been battling a severe lungworm infestation. Emily if you are reading time for a Katy. T!!!!!!

Sadly we lost the hogs that came in yesterday from Tiverton and Yeovil! They were both very poorly and sometimes they are too poorly to save!

A new admission this morning after the hog was attacked by a dog, no obvious injuries the hog is in good condition! Our plan is a quick turn around on this one and to send him back out!