Wednesday 2 September 2009

Three hedgehogs on a windy Tuesday night

I've returned the camera to the tried and tested position against the back wall of the house and facing the hedgehog feeding station. I seem to get the best results there.

You'll recognise Scratchy in these video clips. She's the one with markings on her back and is also the hog that keeps scratching. I briefly examined her earlier in the evening and was pleased to see that the ticks I treated with olive oil had fallen off. However, later on I noticed another tick that I must have missed lower down on her back. I didn't want to haul her inside again - it doesn't seem fair to the hedghog to keep messing about with it like that - so I'm going to try to attend to it another time.

I wish I could examine her underside where she keeps scratching with that rear right foot, but it's difficult when they curl up into a ball.

3 comments:

  1. Lovely video again. The hedgehogs really do seem to be more tolerant of each other at the moment. It is nice to see them all feeding together.

    Olive oil does seem to be very effective on tics. I know there a special tools to remove them, but the oil method seems to reduce the risks of injury. We found a couple of fully-loaded tics in the bedding when we cleaned out one of the nest boxes and they are horrible things.

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  2. Great to hear the Olive Oil treatment worked.

    I am puzzled by whatever it is that appears to be sicking out near the back of the Hedgehog (2 to 2:30 mins in the video) I assume that is Scratchy. Maybe it was just a leaf that had got caught up. Hard to tell in IR lighting.

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  3. Hi John - Yes, that's Scratchy in the foreground in the latter part of the video. The thing sticking out is her tail. She's holding it in a funny position - something to do with this itch she's always got, perhaps?

    Hi Twosie - thanks for the comments. Unfortunately there was a little bit of bad behaviour at the very end of that video. I missed it the first time I watched it back because I was focussing on Scratchy in the foreground.

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