North Devon Hedgehog Rescue

The Olympian


The fastest drinker in the West!

Freedom!

This video is one of our female hedgehogs enjoying her first night of freedom after a period of care and rehabilitation

Two of my hogs have been asleep for three days now...was going to release them tonight...don't understand whats going on, I've never had this problem before with hogs in and out of hibernation at this time of year !!!!

Seriously hoping today is going to improve !! A very poorly little hog brought in yesterday afternoon, not much change this morning, up several times in the night to check on her. Poor little sparrow hit the window inside my porch at such a rate he broke his neck, so upset. Some MINDLESS, BRAIN DEAD PIECE OF S**T, super-glued my daughters locks on her store room...FOR THE SECOND TIME !! Friggin idiot.. Very sad phone call from Angela early this morning to say her poor little hog had died, she is understandably gutted.. got off the phone to Ang, and my dog had an epileptic fit, and two hours later is still wandering around and confused. Well that's it, rant over. XXX

The little hog brought in from Shebbear on Thursday afternoon, I didn't honestly think she would survive the night, but two days later she is slowly improving and eating and drinking by herself. :-)

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Three hogs bathed, marked and checked and at long last ready for release tonight .
One hog has been with me since last October and the other two came here last November, all three were under 300g and all very poorly, the one with the pink mark is 'Geraldine' many, many times I thought she wasn't going to see this day... I hope and pray they will all stay safe and well. XXX

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Little Shebbear hog, now much better after her treatment for lungworm...not too impressed with me at the moment as I've just given her the final levacide injection!!! "Its for your own good sweetheart !!! "

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Very poorly hog brought in late last night with a very large and old wound on the side of his face, eye missing, and totally covered in fly eggs, worked for ages trying to remove fly eggs and multiple ticks, he was taken to the vets early this morning and gassed down to see if he could be saved...sadly not, he had badly rotting teeth and it was decided to put him to sleep. "RIP little man, you no longer will suffer " :-( xxx..very sad.

oh RIP. poor hoggie

I am so sorry love, you are having a rotten time generally. Thank you for updating us on your liittle ones and the pics are lovely. I am in Cornwall, where in North Devon are you and do you allow visitors please? I have been to Prickly Ball and that is gorgeous.

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Well, after a miserable start to the day...a little ray of sunshine in the form of a tiny hoglet (my fist baby hog of the year) little fella weighs 78g, eyes are still closed, very cold on arrival but slowly warmed and then fed, very cosy in the new incubator with some teddies to snuggle up to.

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Little hogs first feed by himself...

Waiting, waiting, waiting for 2 very small hoglets to come in, apparently attacked by crows !! never heard of this before, one other baby has already been killed, will update after they arrive.

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Hoglets have arrived and one taken straight to vets with several small puncture wounds, being kept in for now and given pain relief, fluids and AB. Poor little dead hogs back legs and side of face is missing, so upsetting to see as it had not long died... 3rd little fella very distressed and 'bucking and hissing' for England ! so after being checked for injuries, has been put on a heat pad in the dark and will see to him later when he has calmed down.

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Look whats just arrived..this mum and babies were disturbed by a gardener..who was told by the lady who brought them to me this morning, to put the nest back and leave well alone, he didn't listen and cleared the whole area leaving mum and babies out in the open !!...STUPID IDIOT...

Mum and baby hogs all settled into their new home in my shed after their nest was destroyed this morning.

Had a fantastic time yesterday with the lovely ladies from Halwill Junction WI, we were made so welcome, Graeme was brill, he is so at ease talking to people, I couldn't have done it without him 'Thank you Graeme XXX'. The quiz went very well, and the ladies did learn a few things they didn't know before !. We have been asked to speak at a Gardeners Club next year !! so now that this event went so well, will probably accept invites to do talks in the future instead of turning them all down ! A 'Big Thank You' to Trish, Frank, and Desne for making me do this. XXX

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At long last the little 'Shebbear Hog' is ready for release tonight, she came to me at the end of May, (weighing 376g) and very poorly indeed, after a course of levacide, anti-biotics, fluids and lots of warmth and tlc ... she also a skin problem which further delayed her release... today she is a 'massive' 984g and looking fantastic . Thank you to Jane and Marcus for coming to collect her for release, I hope and pray she has a good and safe life, she so deserves it.

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6 hoglets picked up this morning by Angela from Torridge Hedgehog Rescue, and brought over to me as they were covered in fly eggs, Angela and I worked for ages removing the eggs before we were able to get them into the incubator. I've just finished weighing, marking, feeding and toileting and I'm STILL removing fly eggs !! weights range between 56g to 89g, not sure how many will survive out of this litter, the little 56g is giving me the biggest cause for concern.

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The 6 hoglets have all survived the night ! I'm shocked, as I was sure 2 that aren't very good, would have died overnight, still not sure the 56g hoglet is going to make it, the rest are all feeding by themselves with a bit of 'topping up', still toileting them though. Managed to get the mum hog that came in the other day, weighed last night and was able to have a peek in the nest box, she has 4 beautiful babies, such a relief, they all look great.

Very sad today as one of the 6 hoglets died last night, he was the smallest one in the litter only 56g. When I got up to check them during the night, not only had 'runty' died but another of the hoglets was having, what I thought was a fit, I separated him from the other hogs and gave him pain killer. This morning I rang Jules Bishop at Prickles Hedgehog Rescue for advise as I have never seen this sort of thing before, whilst we were talking on the phone I noticed a maggot on the towel...and there's my answer, maggots in the ears...so, I have spent almost the entire morning flushing out tiny ears and removing maggots from all the hoglets, lessons to be learnt here, Any hedgehog brought in with fly strike...remove eggs and flush the ears out. Thank you Jules, its such a relief to know you are there. xxx

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Mum and her 4 hoglets, she was brought in two weeks ago with her new born babies after their nest was destroyed, weights vary between 33g to 58g, will keep my eye on the 33g one as he is much smaller than the other 3

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Caught on camera..3 of the 4 tiny hoglets out of the nest box, eyes are still closed at the moment, but having a good sniff 'round and 'self anointing' bless.

Any one interested in helping me out for a couple of hours a day or even a week ?? You need to be able to bend and kneel down !! as a lot of the hutches are near to the floor, job would be cleaning out hutches and washing bowls, there is not any 'hands on' with the hogs I'm afraid. If you are interested, Please ring, Braunton 01271 816989. Sorry No Under 16s.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU' to Glyn Dean and Angela Hodge for helping me out yesterday by taking 6 baby hogs to look after as I am overrun with hoglets at the moment, Angela took the 2 smallest babies who came in yesterday afternoon, these need hand feeding, and I know Angela will give them the best care she can, and Glen, bless her, traveled all the way from Liskeard to collect 4 other hoglets .. a 3 hour round trip !! That is dedication for you !! Bless you both. XXX