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I was joined by this guy tonight whilst testing kit...

StuartJPP

By StuartJPP
in The Astro Lounge

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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I love Hedgehogs and a sure sign of the astro season is hearing them munching on some tasty dried mealworms.

I was testing some Bahtinov masks tonight and heard this one, unfortunately he had a few ticks so I removed as many as I could (5 in total), but couldn't get to the one in front of his ear. I used a proper twisty tick remover as instructed by the Hedgehog lady, however removing a tick from a hog is not an easy task, removing 5 is even more tricky. Afterwards I placed him back in the dish and a few minutes later I could hear munching again...usually they scarper for a while. Since it is still a while to go before the cold season I didn't weigh him but I did mark him on his back so I can see if it is the same one visiting (a dollop of nail polish).

Other than the few ticks it looked quite healthy but will need to bulk up before Winter.

 

Notice the PIR/Movement sensor, it is used in Winter to see if there are any stray small/underweight Hedgehogs about (that will probably not survive).
IMG_2571b.thumb.jpg.27687aa3da88144783f02ca676359abd.jpg

 

Full defence mode:
IMG_2577b.thumb.jpg.9cfb97c036c265031322a6fc3949e867.jpg

 

Relaxing a bit:
IMG_2585b.thumb.jpg.be9dc3aa2282751848923e11603c7906.jpg

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Stub Mandrel

Stub Mandrel

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Good on you Stuart, hogs need all the help they can get. That chap wading in mealworms must think he's gone to Hedgehog Heaven!

I used to be with the Wildlife Trusts. 30 years ago we used to get hedgehog calls all the time, but they dropped off around the turn of the century. There was one lady who kept one in her bath, releasing it when it got fattened up was probably the hardest thing she did in her life!

I haven't seen a hedgehog for years, even a flat one, with the noble exception of this one on Skye:

Hedgehog (2).JPG

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kerrylewis

kerrylewis

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We have them in our garden - we have actually seen two together. Love to see them scurrying around especially if I'm out astronomising. However, they have steadfastly refused to occupy the special box that we put out to provide winter accommodation. They must already have a cosy spot somewhere 

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Robp

Robp

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When I first moved into my house (about four years ago) I was out doing some imaging and I heard a rustling sound in the grass and investigated it. I expected a rat but was surprised to find a hedgehog.

I wok up my partner who came down for a 5 minute viewing before heading back to bed. It stayed in the garden with me for a few hours whilst my imaging run was going on then it left and I haven't seen it since.

The only other time I have seen one it was walking down the street. Unsure what to do, I picked it up and released it into some undergrowth near by figuring that doing that would be better than leaving it to the mercy of traffic.

Keep up the good work!

 

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Beulah

Beulah

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You probably did the right thing...One of the reasons why hedgehogs like the road is that the tarmac retains the heat of the day...of course when they perceive danger (oncoming traffic), they think curling into a ball will protect them.. :-(

Fish-free cat food, broken cat/dog biscuits are also good for hedgehogs...even cheddar cheese (hedgehogs cannot digest lactose but cheese is OK). Fresh water supply if none naturally available...

 

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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Thanks for the comments everyone....

 

28 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

They are wonderful, lovely to see your visitor. Do you also put out hedgehog food? Mealworms are yummy but I has thought I had read somewhere not to gives them to often and always with water.

We do put some dried hedgehog food out under the bench inaccessible to cats but I prefer the mealworms as they get eaten by the hogs at night or demolished by the birds the next morning so there is nothing left about for days on end.

I always have a bowl of water available for them, which is recommended if you feed them dried food. I once watched a hog that must have come straight out of hibernation drink water for over 5 minutes straight...

 

59 minutes ago, kerrylewis said:

We have them in our garden - we have actually seen two together. Love to see them scurrying around especially if I'm out astronomising. However, they have steadfastly refused to occupy the special box that we put out to provide winter accommodation. They must already have a cosy spot somewhere 

We have had a few out on occasion and they aren't half noisy, they will sit in the bowl on top of the good to prevent the others getting at the food...

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Paul M

Paul M

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We had a hedgehog snorting round in the shrubbery in our back garden on a number of nights a few weeks ago. Never saw it and didn't go poking round. It seemed happy to riffle through the chipped bark for hours on end.

Not heard it since we got back from holiday at the weekend. Unfortunately its future is bleak. It can't get very far in any direction before meeting a road.

Not so long ago we saw them quite often in our garden :(

I hate sterile, well kept gardens. The MD likes sterile, well kept gardens.

 

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Paul M

Paul M

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5 hours ago, StuartJPP said:

Luckily my OH loves hedgehogs so the garden is kept untidy (but neat)....if that makes sense...

I did cut a hole in one of the slats at the bottom of the wooden fence in our cul-de-sac to allow them easy access....

Well to clarify, the MD likes hedgehogs too! I guess some people's idea of untidy is my idea of sterile :)

My idea of gardening is to do nothing except cut the grass once a month and lop down the tall branches that obscure my limited N horizon!

We used to have a wild corner in our small garden which I called "hedgehog corner". It was unkempt and thick with shrubbery. The MD cleared it a few years ago for a project that never really took off :(

I'm slowly getting it back but it will take a while.

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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9 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Apparently hedgehogs are lactose intolerance. So no bowls of milk.

Yes...correct. That is why I hate the advert on TV for the lactose free "milk" that uses hedgehogs as it's cast because it only takes someone to miss the crux of the advert (that it is lactose free) to be putting proper milk out for them....totally irresponsible.

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Paul M

Paul M

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We haven't heard our resident hedgehog since getting back from holiday over a week ago. This morning the MD found a lethargic adult hedgehog on our drive. She took it in and gave it some water and cat food. When I got home from work it didn't look too good. So did more research and attempted to feed it with a syringe. No luck but I noticed it had a wound behind its right ear with a number of ticks in the vicinity. I wasn't sure but it looked like there were maggots in the wound too. Very grim outlook and we were out of our  depth.

We made a few calls and I ended up taking it to a chap in Preston, 18 miles away at 9pm! He only gives it a 5% chance. It's the 5th one in that condition he's taken in today and two of them have already died.

Well, we did our best...

 

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JOC

JOC

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I live on a 10 acre wildflower meadow smallholding with many types of unusual wildlife (bats, foxes, barn owls, grass snakes, lizards etc.), but in 30 years we've only ever seen one hedgehog - that long ago I don't remember when.  It's always struck as rather odd that we don't have them, we have some managed garden, loads of slugs and snails, habitat and I would expect it to be idea hedgehog territory, but they are regrettably absent.  I am also rather surprised that we don't have badgers as well, but they are more disturb-able and perhaps we don't have the space, but the hedgehogs are def. a missing oddity IMO.  Well done on looking after yours.  I took a tick of my dogs eyelid on Sunday with a proper tick remover - nasty, nasty things - yuk!

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JOC

JOC

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Hedgehog rescue centres raise baby hedgehogs on goat's milk colostrum because it is rich and low in lactose (as is all goats milk).  When I milked, once the kids had consumed what they wanted I just to milk the girls and freeze it - the hedgehog rescuers picked it up on a regular basis.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Saw my 1st HH tonight in a long time. I let my dog out the front about an hour ago and she went into her "whats this?,i dont like this" mode of barking. I went out and sure enough it was a HH. I distracted my dogs attention and got her back inside. Im sure the HH went on its merry way.

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Stub Mandrel

Stub Mandrel

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1 hour ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Saw my 1st HH tonight in a long time. I let my dog out the front about an hour ago and she went into her "whats this?,i dont like this" mode of barking. I went out and sure enough it was a HH. I distracted my dogs attention and got her back inside. Im sure the HH went on its merry way.

Amazing, an astronomy dog that barks at nebulas!

 

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