Baby hedgehogs😍

[Lonelycrab]

Well on and off I’ve had a hedgehog randomly appearing in my garden for a few months now. Last year a small tree came down and I put some of the wood in a little pile in the corner hoping it might attract something to set up home. Seems it’s worked. But yesterday evening I could hardly believe my eyes- tiny little hoglets scampering about on the lawn. Can’t think of anything more adorable than these guys!

Hedgehogs are the cutest creatures - it’s amazing you have a little family in your garden - a positive and wonderful thing amidst the Corona crap! 💜🙏🦔🦔🦔

You are so lucky to have hedgehogs! Please could you consider putting out water for them? In warm weather the babies can get easily dehydrated.

This website hedgehogcabin.info/ has lots of great information about hedgehogs, making a house, feeding them (Tesco own dry kitten food is best apparently - who knew?)

Oh they’re beautiful, you’re so lucky.

Oh my god! ❤️
What time was that? How many are there? Tell us more

I only have one (as far as I know) but he only comes out when it's pitch dark/ after midnight.
I'd love to see them in daylight.

@MusicianTom I’ve been doing that for a few weeks anyway, I use a mini paint tray (for gloss paint) and top it up every so often.

Will be getting some food today for them, thanks for the recommendation. I wasn’t going to bother with feeding the adult but these two have melted my heart!

@AlwaysOnAbloodyDiet it was about 630pm yesterday which seems very early/light. The adult would normally be seen at dusk, so around 9 pm. Not seen him/her for a couple weeks now.

I live on an 80s estate tucked in the end of a cup de sac, hopefully as the nearest proper road is about 100m away they have a good chance. Last year I did see one waddling down the road right in the middle- I had to stop the car and wait for him to go his way, and he didn’t seem in too much of a hurry.

Another picture, they were sort of cuddling together for this one!

Aw! I'm so envious, you are so lucky to have such a hog-friendly garden!

That’s so cute. We have been leaving food for a few weeks since spotting a hedgehog in our front garden - love watching them so much !

Awwww. Lovely. Thanks for sharing, very cheering.

Oh how lovely! We have quite a few hedgies around here - our back garden is completely enclosed by a brick wall so they don't come in, but there are plenty mooching around the neighbourhood. If we head out early in the morning we get to see them trundling around.

Unfortunately, something out there has been on a killing spree of late, and in the last 2 weeks I have seen no fewer than FOUR small hedgehogs dead in the open playing field where they forage for slugs and snails at night. It's macabre but fascinating as they have so few real predators - whatever is killing them knows exactly where to strike though, and their spines and limbs are untouched. But the last few seem to have only been attacked and killed, not actually, erm, consumed. An owl would take it away to eat wouldn't it?

I removed another one from the front lawn yesterday where it had been discarded, it was only young.

Sorry, don't mean to bring the thread down. Just a bit sad about it and wondering what animal would kill a hedgie just because.

As you were!

@BlutopiaYou should report that, that doesn't sound like animal behaviour
I know that badgers here are considered to be their only predator really. I think foxes (strangely enough) ignore them. But like you said, I can't imagine any animal killing and not consuming. So it might be human

Thanks for sharing, OP. I can't wait for the nights to get darker.

Well I guess most things have a predator or two to watch out for. There’s this cheeky magpie near me that would no doubt see these two as a nice little snack. At least there’s quite a bit of cover round the border of my garden. It’s well fenced too so hopefully not too many invaders at night....

We have a couple in our garden and last week the big daddy of the family came inside for a visit. he scared the crap out of our cat!

@Yubaba

I have them in my garden. Spent a fortune on feeding stations, nice bowls and food for them. They seem to appreciate it. We even made a wildlife pond so they'd have a natural drinking spot :)

I'm jealous! I want hedgehogs. I'm off to google how I can entice them into my garden 🦔

Ok well I’ve left a little pile of smashed up cat biscuits (didn’t fancy wet food as it won’t last long and I hate the smell) just where I took the photos. Hopefully they’ll be back later

Lovely. They often get injured or poisoned - strimmers, slug pellets, rat poison etc. So please be careful.

I'm sure they will. Keep us posted.
I can't believe that they come out so early, you're so lucky.
I'll put out food a little earlier tonight 🤞

Bit of a mixed update I’m afraid.

Again, yesterday evening about 7 one of the little fellas was out on the grass, seemed to be doing well, foraging for bugs etc and generally had a spring in its step. It was drinking from one of the jam jar lids I’d placed in the garden and scampered if into the corner with the log pile after a while.

Not such a good day for the other one though. It was mid afternoon and quite hot here yesterday when I saw him/her looking sluggish, also had flies around it. Offered up some water and food right under its snout which it tried a little bit but seemed really not in a good way.

Got on the phone straight away and it became clear this one needed help. All the places nearby were full so had a bit of a journey, but managed to get it taken in at a refuge about an hour later. Poor thing had succumbed to fly strike which I knew nothing about, they only have hours to live once this happens. I’ll call the place tmro (she said not before as they’re so busy) so I’m crossing my fingers for this one.

I’ll be watching my back garden very closely today in case the other little one shows signs of struggling.

Awh, poor little guy. Fingers crossed

Oh, fly strike is gross.

Poor wee thing. Thanks for taking him for help.

😍😍😍😍

Another good news bad news update.

Yesterday afternoon the other hoglet was out on my little back lawn also looking a lot weaker even though he looked sprightly the evening before. Got on the phone again and described what was going on and once again I had to make the trip back to the rescue place. It didn’t look as bad as it’s sibling so my hopes were a bit higher.

Sadly this one had to be put to sleep- it had a broken femur.

The first one has made a recovery though! It’s been discharged from the hospital to a refuge and the vet said this normally means they are in an ok condition and need a few weeks to gain weight and strength. So I’ll call in a few weeks, hopefully the first one will be coming back to be released here.

Only just seen your thread. DD works on a Hedgehog Hospital and rescue centre, she’s been there about two months now. I was astounded by the numbers of hedgehogs bought in for various different reasons and it will get more busy over the autumn and winter months when it becomes apparent how many haven’t been able to hibernate for one reason or another. A real eye opener. We’ll be taking some home soon for a ‘soft’ release in to our garden. Hope yours comes back to you!