Courting Hedgehogs.....

Went to shut the lounge curtains last evening and spotted a hedgehog on my lawn in the street light so got my camera and opened the front door to see and hear a male hedgehog grunting and pushing a female round and round but once she got wind that I was there she ran off.Sorry some of the photos are a bit dark....

We still have four to pick up from the rescue centre very soon as I rang them up last week and it is supposed to be either next week or the week after depending on how the weather goes so we shall have to stock up on even more cat food and mealworms

 

They must have to be soooo careful

 

Awwww, nice to see them tucking into their food . Are you excited about getting the other four?

There are many other foods you can offer too for extra variety. I use Purina Proplan Kitten ( this has the highest percentage of protein, even higher than Royal Canin, which is popular with a lot of hedgehog carer's ). I also give them sunflower hearts, granulated peanuts, raisins, mealies, chopped cooked chicken or turkey, blueberries, bird seeds and an occasional treat ot crumbled digestives or shortcake biscuits. Hedgehogs can be quite fussy about their food preferences, what one will eat another will not. And they are known to have tantrums when one food is substituted for another - I give my babies and poorlies a special mix of my own recipe and when I later wean them onto the biscuits there is almost always a battle of wills over it . Which is actually quite endearing . Mealworms are best fed sparingly if their are little ones around as they do not contain any nutritional value for a growing hoglet. Good for adding hibernation weight though.

Have you got hedgehog houses Kandy?

 

I shall have to have a peak next time they are out there @Zigs

@luciusmaximus we often sprinkle cat biscuits on top but have to be carful of attracting the local cats so just stick to mealworms sprinkled on top of the cat food.I tried Peanuts on top but they didn't want to know so just stick to what they are used to at the moment

No we don't have any hedgehog homes as we usually only have the one,the four I rescued last November were the most we have ever seen here and I forgot the mother would have gone into hibernation leaving the babies to their own devices,hence me finding them spread over a month.I think the mother nests under our shed as there are gaps under the bottom of the shed where it stands on the same wooden type base that is put down for decking.

I am looking forward to getting them back as hopefully by the middle of next week I should get the go ahead to start going outside for the first time in a month

When I phoned up p the rescue centre last week the lady on the end of he phone asked me if we had the numbers we were given when we handed them in last November but Mr Kandy could only find three numbers on his phone despite me telling him three times what the last two numbers were.I mentioned that we had written out forms for them all and each hoglet had its own number but the lady said the forms get filed away and they go by the corresponding number written on the pen.She did say that if they have one spare hoglet when all the others have been handed back to the rescuers they will let us have it...Thanks

We don't expect the hedgehogs to stay with us as they can get under the back gate and there is a hole in the fence at the bottom of the garden so they are free to wander about round the village

 

Setting up a feeding station will prevent cats from eating the hogs food . They are super easy to make from a plastic storage box and a few bricks. I'll post pics of mine tomorrow.
The hogs are already using your garden so a house or two may be appreciated . My houses are used regularly. Hogs like to take a nap after a meal and mine often use the houses for that. You may even have a pregnant hog choose one to have her babies in. The houses are expensive, but a one off purchase as last for years if looked after. You can also make a house out of a plastic storage box, although it must be said that these boxes are NOT suitable for use in winter/ autumn as plastic attracts condensation from low temperatures and from the hog's breath, which will naturally make any bedding wet. You would need to be careful about placement of these boxes too as a plastic box is not as secure as a wooden house. I guess you could build a predator baffle out of bricks the same as on my feeding stations. I personally have not used these boxes - I have the Ark Wildlife Eco houses - but some hedgehog carers say they are popular with their hogs.

I do sometimes use wet food, although I use Pedigree Loaf as it contains less cereals than the cheaper brands.

Zigs - mating can only take place if the female is compliant and flattens her spines. If she is not willing the male has no chance with her

 

We still have a pair of hogs visiting each night so all is not lost if we don't get the others back They have this bowl out the front and then there is another bowl round the back for afters.We can't put the front porch light on as they don't like the bright lights so I have to rely on the street light and camer flash