Hedgehogs

[eeyoresmum]

On Twitter (no X nonsense for me) I follow a UK-based lady who established a hedgehog sanctuary, where she treats these beasties when brought in sick.
Her posts are very informative; I have learned a lot about what these creatures need, and what they definitely do NOT need, such as attaching tags to their spines for pseudo-scientific reasons FFS.
In her latest post she urgently asks her followers to RT that post on as many SM platforms as possible, to prevent further abuse.
Where I live now there are no hedgehogs, but some of you may see them in your gardens, preferably after sunset - as they are nocturnal after all.
A hedgehog during daytime is 99 out of 100 times in dire need of help. 
I will now copy the link to that post, and hope you will read it, and spread the word.  Even better is clicking on her Twitter account, and read through her posts; you will learn about housing, feed, and where to go when you see a hog in dire straits.
There's a list of dedicated hedgehog shelters in the UK.
Thanks!


x.com/HedgehogCabin/status/1815848367353913403

[amanda]

Similar things are said of Australian possums seen out after dawn, they are likewise nocturnal and a few times it's been a young one not long out of mum's care, who has left it too late to get back home and trying to sleep somewhere safe. This happened at a school I worked at and the kids saw it. If it looks healthy otherwise and goes at dusk, then it is likely ok.

Other times it's often an older/ill one that will need help and we have several individuals here registered as wildlife carers who might take it in.

[alexanderhoward]

I read that adult hedgehogs cannot digest milk and so you should not put bread and milk out for them. My mother used to leave milk out for the cat, and it attracted hedgehogs. She then put bowls of milk and bread out and as the evening came they would converge from all directions and climb into the bowls in their enthusiasm.

I am also told now that adult cats cannot digest milk, but our so you wonder why she used to lap up so eagerly any milk or cream - including the cream on top of a trifle were were about to put on the table for guests.

[Dix]

Because milk tastes delicious to cats and they don't make the connection to the liquid stinking poo 8 hours or so later.
Weidly, cream seems to be less trouble than milk. You can get away with small amounts of cream.

There is a tiny minority of cats that can tolerate milk. Lucky bastards. The simplest way to find out is to see what's in the litter tray (or around the litter tray if you're unlucky). For outdoor and feral cats you'll probably never find out.

The best thing to give to hedgehogs and cats is cat food. And water.

[jenny]

No hedgehogs here, but we do have a groundhog in our garden.

[tetsabb]

Jul 24, 2024 23:41:02 GMT jenny said:

No hedgehogs here, but we do have a groundhog in our garden.

Does every day feel like the one before?

😉

[RLDavies]

Colin was almost completely deaf, and he was woken up once in the middle of the night by hedgehogs screaming beneath his window.

[jenny]

Jul 25, 2024 11:31:46 GMT tetsabb said:

Jul 24, 2024 23:41:02 GMT jenny said:

No hedgehogs here, but we do have a groundhog in our garden.

Does every day feel like the one before?

😉

Didn't you say that yesterday?

[Sadurian Mike]

Jul 25, 2024 13:38:46 GMT RLDavies said:

Colin was almost completely deaf, and he was woken up once in the middle of the night by hedgehogs screaming beneath his window.

Ah the sweet serenading that celebrates the love between a man and a hedgehog.

[Sadurian Mike]

We used to have hedgehopgs but they seem to have deserted us.

I'm wanting to replace our concrete gravel boards with some of those with built-in access archways. I'll get a couple extra for the neighbouring gardens as well. We also have a decent twig-pile and a pond, so hopefully the hoggies will return in time.

[eeyoresmum]

I now remember the shed you were building in the garden. How did that turn out, Mike?

[Sadurian Mike]

Jul 25, 2024 20:01:30 GMT eeyoresmum said:

I now remember the shed you were building in the garden. How did that turn out, Mike?

Hah. I'd love to say that it is build, decorated and being used.

Only two of those are true.

It is built and is being used at the moment as overspill storage from the house. The wiring - many power sockets - and lighting are done (thanks JanetH), plasterboard frames are up, the dual fuel iron fire in installed and chimneyed up, and I have some of the wood panelling (old church pews). I have insulated and plasterboarded a small section but the rest is still waiting my attentions. My energy levels aren't great at present, but I'll get around to it.

Linked to this; last November I had 15 25kg sheets of plasterboard propped up against the wall. Whilst trying to shift a groundsheet underneath the boards, they toppled. Oddly enough, I felt unable to catch over a third of a tonne of plasterboard so started to pull away from it. Being slow, I didn't pull my leg out of the way in time. The front falling edge caught me just below the knee and scraped down the inner shinbone to the ankle. It caused an 'internal degloving' by scraping all the soft issue under the skin away.

Aside from being incredibly painful at the time, I've been left with no working nerves and a 15cm 'black pudding' of internal haematoma that is decidedly unfriendly to being touched. I generally wear shorts now to avoid aggravating it, and my mobility is stick dependent. Needless to say, after eight months (and two major infections due to it) I'm still waiting for the surgery to remove the haematoma and do any restorative plastics work.

[jenny]

Oh boy that sounds really nasty Mike! I hope you get an appointment soon for the surgery.

[Sadurian Mike]

Jul 25, 2024 21:09:29 GMT jenny said:

Oh boy that sounds really nasty Mike! I hope you get an appointment soon for the surgery.

I cynically suspect they are waiting for it to be reabsorbed naturally.

Meh.

Anyhow, back to hedgehogs.

[eeyoresmum]

Jeez, Mike - Murphy has a very prolonged field day at your expense. Fingers crossed that op happens sooner rather than later.

Nerve endings... I remember the first time I thought to shave my legs. Used an oldfashioned proper 1-bladed shaver (the days before those thin throw-away things). I didn't know that there was a correct angle to be observed, and attacked the legs with gusto, stripping the upper dermis right off the shin. I didn't feel a thing with the first leg and did the other one similar. Only then did tiny red dots appear, quickly changing into rivulets of blood. I used masses of toiletpaper and sellotaped them to my legs, and hopped to my GP.
He was astounded, had never seen such self-inflicted mess. Thankfully, he did have a novelty bandage: it looked like stuffed silver foil, that would stop the bleeding and (most importantly) not stick to the large wounds. It hurt like buggery for quite a while.

[eeyoresmum]

Was this the first doffcock?

[alexanderhoward]

Next door's cat started sniffing eagerly at a patch of our garden, alert for prey. At that point a hedgehog jumped out of the bushes and headed straight past the cat to new cover. The cat, it seems, is not daft and let the hedgehog go by unmolested. It was all too quick and too far for a photograph.

We recently bought a "hedgehog house", after the first wee beast was spotted, and it appeared to be heading straight for it.

[jenny]

I would love to post a photo I have on my computer of the groundhog that lives in my garden, but it's 3mb and I don't know how to compress it down to 1mb. 

[jenny]

Hooray - I worked it out I think! Let's see if this works... according to RLD it saves here as a thumbnail and if you click on it that opens in a separate window.

Attachments:

[crissdee]

Works for me! What an industrious little chap he seems to be....

[jenny]

We don't really have a proper garden as yet, with actual plants and growing things - waiting to have a patio built before that happens. So Portland Phil is free to eat as much grass as he likes. However, the only time I tried to grown some tomatoes and courgettes in pots, the furry little bastard ate the lot, and when we actually do have something worth preserving he's going to find his cubbyhole under the garage blocked up, which with any luck will send him to live in somebody else's garden.

[barbados]

We don’t have groundhogs in the garden, nor do we have hedgehogs.
We do however have regular returning seagulls, big old buggers as well. I’m not sure why but they have been bloody noisy of late. And of course, they are all named Steven.

We did have a hedgehog in the last house, he was discovered by the dog when we first moved in. He thought it was a ball, but it bit him back. We were there just shy of ten years with the dog, so it may have been a different hedgehog at the end, his name was sonic, obviously.

[crissdee]

I haven't seen one since I saw the first one, but I used to have slow worms in my garden.

[Bondee]

The worms in my garden go like frozen shit off a greasy shovel!

[alexanderhoward]

No sign of the hedgehog for a couple of weeks now. They are nocturnal and prefer to hide amongst the trees and bushes. You would think the number of slugs on the patio would have them snuffling down to the house.

[crissdee]

They should come to my garden, they could feast for days on the little buggers!.....