Hedgehogs?

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Hedgehogs?
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StrawberryJamrozy

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1189
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 10:24 am Post subject: Hedgehogs?
I just read a post on Facebook, a lady looking for old bedding to make bedding for baby hedgehogs. Can they be kept as pets?! I thought they were wild..!

Jo S

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 5174
Location: Somerset

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 10:27 am Post subject:
She's probably taken them in as a rescue case because they've lost their ma. I hope. Cute as they may be, they're wild animals, for crying out loud!

StrawberryJamrozy

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1189
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 10:34 am Post subject:
I didn't ask. Hedgehogs have always creeped me out a little bit

Jo S

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 5174
Location: Somerset

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 10:37 am Post subject:
They're fantastic. My midnight visitor hasn't been back

StrawberryJamrozy

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1189
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 10:43 am Post subject:
I don't know what it is about them that scares me, I'm the same with foxes. As soon as I see one, I'll run the other way. We had quite a large 'hog in our back garden last year, I didn't go outside, I was scared I'd scare him!

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 11:04 am Post subject:

I rescue them in the autumn quite often

this is Derek

He stayed with us over winter a few years back as he was too small to hibernate. They are utterly adorable, but stink to high heaven!!!

Any babies under 600g from October onwards (autumn juveniles) need to be housed over winter, or they will die. Not enough fat on them to survive hibernation. Derek was 190g when I found him, and was released the following spring, a nice fat 750g

StrawberryJamrozy

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1189
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 11:27 am Post subject:
Wow, Penny that is really inspiring. That's such a wonderful thing you do. How do you care for them, though? How do you find them? Do you go out of your way to find them, or do they just wander into your garden/path? Do you just release them back into woodlands, meadows, etc?

Bodrighy

Joined: 15 Aug 2008
Posts: 2157
Location: Near Devizes

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 11:30 am Post subject:
I haven't seen one for years, don't know if they are rare down here or just more secretive. Pete

StrawberryJamrozy

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1189
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 11:40 am Post subject:
I must admit that I haven't seen any, since we moved into this house last December. The last one I saw was the one I mentioned earlier, in our old house. If I weren't so scared of them, I'd love to do something like Penny does.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 11:49 am Post subject:

Bodrighy wrote:

I haven't seen one for years, don't know if they are rare down here or just more secretive.

Pete

My theory is where you have a high badger population you will have a low hedgehog population.
Rolling up in a ball is a fine defence against cats, dogs & foxes but IMHO a complete waste of time against a badgers front claws.
Saying that we have a high badger population here & I haven't seen a hedgehog in nearly thirty years, but last year a sow gave birth in my next door neighbours shed & now they are about a lot but I don't know how the ones that venture farther afield have done.

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 11:54 am Post subject:

H87Jamrozy wrote:

How do you care for them, though?
How do you find them? Do you go out of your way to find them, or do they just wander into your garden/path?
Do you just release them back into woodlands, meadows, etc?

They just wonder around where we are, the dog usually sniffs them out. I just release them back as near to where I find them as I can. Unless of course it happens to be one I've given to one of my poor long suffering friends. I have a habit of ...um .. offloading them

Quite a few people on here do it, it's nothing very special

ETA - they probably do wonder what on earth is happening to them

but I meant wander!

Last edited by Penny Outskirts on Thu Aug 26, 10 11:58 am; edited 1 time in total

StrawberryJamrozy

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1189
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 11:56 am Post subject:

Penny wrote:

Quite a few people on here do it, it's nothing very special

I think it's simply marvellous! Such a kind, loving thing to do.

Last edited by StrawberryJamrozy on Thu Aug 26, 10 12:54 pm; edited 1 time in total

Duckhead

Joined: 24 Oct 2009
Posts: 2069
Location: Up the hill, Italy

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 12:32 pm Post subject:
Or you could also keep them in and around the veggies. Fence off the veg plot, create lots of hedge and places to hide and live along the fence. Hey presto, a smelly, spikey, bundle of fun, eating all the slugs and suchlike.

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 12:53 pm Post subject:
I think their really sweet but I haven't seen one since we moved up here. There is a guy here who breeds the pet ones, see him sometimes in the pet shop in Cleethorpes. Cute but expensive

StrawberryJamrozy

Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1189
Location: Hampshire

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 10 12:56 pm Post subject:
I know, I was looking on the net after I read the post, £150 for one!! I don't see how something not much bigger than a guinea pig could cost nearly 5 times the price. People are money grabbers

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