General Chat

Better get to bed, I have made myself late by spending hours standing at the patio doors (opened lol) taking pics of my hedgehog(s) feeding their little faces. They seem to notice every move so they scoot off every now and then and I have to put out more titbits, like banana or cheese snippets, to tempt them back and of course they have tucked well into the peanuts and cat biscuits. It was raining hard earlier so they hid away for a while but came back once it stopped. I like to think I am helping it/them (hard to tell the difference now they are grown up) to stay fit to cope with winter time.
They are so funny tho - there is an old Fray Bentos steakpie tin with water in close to the food dish and one hedgehog had a drink then actually stood half in and half out of the water to eat rather than walk to the other side of the food dish, silly little thing. After he had finished eating, he walked back through the water dish, shook his little feet as he got out and scuttled off between the plant tubs only to reappear five minutes later for another feed, I am sure it was the same one as I photographed both visits as the markings look identical.
I have had so much pleasure from them since summer when I started feeding them but my feet are perished now, from standing by the open door.
Think I will go to bed and put them on o.h.. that will get him out of bed then (he doesn't have to go in till 8.30 today instead of 5.30 but I prefer the bed to myself lol)

Night all, have a good day

Lizxx

Brilliant Sis, looked out a while ago and one standing in the fooddish eating away lol Their table manners are atrocious lol
If it wasn't for the water being cold, I would have thought it's because the concrete paving slabs are cold to their little feet but icy water must be worse so can't be the reason for standing in drinking bowl or food dish.
They won't be back for a while, it's raining hard at the mo.

Lizx

Lol

This reminds me of when I first met you both on here a couple of years ago.

Liz was on the Patio and we were wondering what furtive deeds she was up to.

Hi Susan, yes that was around my 60th birthday I think Those were the days, so much fun on here then.
I tried to find that thread a while back but it had gone!

Just been watching the hedgehogs again - first one came and ate, and disappeared, then another, then two came together, not sure if they were the ones that had already called by and returned or two different ones, it's really hard to tell the difference now they are all so much bigger!

Off to bed now I think, night all, or should that be Good morning!

Lizxx

awe you got a hedgehog hotel there liz,
that sounds so cute,
they are lovely creatures arent they,

my dad had a book as a kid given him
the story of hotchie the hedgehog
he always remembered it with fondness, i think a teacher gave him it as gift,
he still treasures that book
its gotta be 65 year old, or more

The girl at the hedgehog rescue place said if they are sure there will be food for them, they won't bother to hibernate, they only do it cos food is scarce and they can conserve fat and energy but staying warm somewhere rather than scuttling around foraging. These don't have to forage lol, as you say Julie, it's like hedgehog hotel!
Just bought another 2kg bag of bird peanuts which are fine, £5 almost ! That way the birds can help themselves too, we have what I thought was a female robin but is a dunnock that comes and has a feed in the mornings of any leftovers hedgehogs have left and then I refill the dish for the hedgehogs later on, will do it in a mo. Catbiscuits are fine too, the chicken ones. They mustn't have fish oils.

Lizx

Had the two smallest ones here a little while ago, again one almost stands completely in the food dish while the other headbutts him to try and make him move, all it does is shoves the dish round with hedgehog in it lol Just like a couple of kids lol
So wish I could get a mini video of them doing it, but of course if I open the patio door to film them, the noise makes them scoot off. I put the dish about 18" away from the door so I can see them well.

Am a bit chilly now as I left the door open a bit in case they came back, just looked out and the larger one is wandering about and I think another hiding behind a plant pot.

Lizx

Bill Oddie could be in danger of loosing his job to you Liz xx

I must be crazy. There was one in my garden yesterday evening, inspecting the apples left out for the blackbirds.

It was blowing a gale and pouring with rain but I walked half a mile to the village shop and bought a can of cat food for it, having nothing else suitable in the house.

He/she was gone on my return but I put down some grub jast in case, and was rewarded to see it back , half an hour later, tucking in.

Len, glad you got your reward for the walk to the shop, hope you didn't get fishy type catfood as that sort isn't good for them but chickeny stuff is fine. As a temporary measure, granary bread is good as long as it's moistened first as with birds, so it doesn't swell up inside them later when they drink.
Or they like bananas, small pieces of cheese, sultanas, or dry catbiscuits, again not ones with fish oil in.

It's when you see a hedgehog during the daytime and not looking very alert that they need help from specialist hedgehog people or vets.

Lizx

No, Liz, I have a book on our prickly friends and read that they are carnivores and meat-based cat food is suitable. Bread and milk (as so often offered) will harm them.

Incidently, the book warned that if, after October, they looked on the small side, take them in and weigh them as they need to be a certain weight to survive the winter. If undersized they should be boxed and taken to a sanctuary.

I have provided a hedgehog box for them in the undergrowth at the end of my garden and guess my visitor emerged from there although I was unaware that anyone was in residence.

Hi Len, that's exactly right, the info in your book. They do like bread tho, it's the dairy part of bread and milk that isn't suitable, and preferable that the bread is the seeded type, not fluffy cotton wool bread lol

If the small ones are under 650 g they need to be helped overwinter in a sanctuary, they won't have enough fat preserves to survive the cold. I am glad you seem to have a lodger in your hedgehog house Len.

I have a problem now, we did have a couple of little mice that stole a few peanuts and I finally told o.h. but he didn't seem fussed. Now tho we seem to have a rat about, saw it at the food dish a few minutes ago. Now if I tell o.h. he will stop me putting food out for the hedehogs, but if I don't tell him and we have lots of rats later on I will be the one getting shot! I did keep quiet about a smallish ratty a few years back and finally admitted I had seen it in daylight taking bread that had fallen off the bird table, but only told him when he said he had seen holes going under the shed etc Eventually had to put poison in the rattrap the council left with us when we had a lot of holes around the garden, altho we never knew if it took the bait - it was around for a long time and we used to find grass in the trap as if something else was making a nest in there lol

What do I do now?

Lizx

n

Joan, as I said we have had one before so it's not a surprise. I can't just stop feeding the hedgehogs - will have to do it gradually so they get used to finding more food elsewhere around the garden. Will see if there are some holes appearing as that will be the sign it's found a way to make a run through from other gardens.

It's only one rat as we had before, and as we have a field only yards from the house it is likely we will have more than just a rat, there are and always have been mice around, found nests in things in the garage before now. O.h. is fairly tolerant of them as long as they don't cause damage and while there is food they are unlikely to gnaw at other things.

If it makes the mistake of going next door there are two springer spaniels who will try and get it or scare it off.
Lizx

Liz. having had my interest in hedgehogs renewed, last night I dug into my book again (haven't read it for a year or two) and stand corrected. They are not carnivores but omnivores and indeed will eat most things including fruit and what drops off a birdtable.
The book is called "The Hedgehog" by Maurice Burton and is packed with interesting stuff - for instance, a hedgehog seems to be immune to many poisons, some of which would kill a man although strychnine and morphia are deadly to them them. Do you have any of that around your garden?
Normally they have no fear of rats though it has been recorded that a hedgehog killed a rat and a rat has killed a hedgehog, both rare instances.

Hi Len, glad your interest is renewed, they are such cute little creatures and amuse me no end!

I haven't seen Ratty anymore altho that doesn't mean a lot, I don't spend every minute watching and he can whip across the garden and back in the blink of an eye! There is no poison outside that I know of, we don't use anything except that rat poison and that's stored away on a shelf in the shed, high up, and the trap is tucked away with a very small entrance hole. I know hedgehogs can get into small spaces but none as small as the entrance to the trap.

If it's just the one odd rat as before it isn't too bad so will carry on with the food for the while and see what happens. As I said, while I am helping feed Ratty he won't want to be chewing on wires or anything to cause damage.

If you see your hedgehog again Len you could get a cheap packet of dried cat biscuits, 75p in my local shop as they are good for them, just make sure they have access to water too, mine like a little drink after the peanut chewing and sometimes one of them likes to wash his feet too, he walks straight through the bowl instead of round it daft thing!

Lizx