The poor little hedgehog got itself into a bit of a pickle last night. First of all it managed to drag the corner of its blanket into the water bowl and the water soaked into the blanket and into the newspaper beneath. In these pictures we see the little hog tucked up inside a shoebox while I clean the pet carrier out and refresh the newspaper. Not having a second blanket to hand, I ended up getting a pair of scissors and cutting off the wet corner of blanket.
When I put the hedgehog back into the pet carrier I fashioned a sleeping area out of the shoebox, cutting away a portion so it could get in and out easily. I left part of the fold-down lid on it so as to enclose the bedding and make it more snug for the hog. The idea was that this arrangement would stop the bedding being accidentally dragged into the water.However, the little hog continued to get into a pickle and I later found it on top of the shoebox, partially wedged in at the side. It was trying to sleep like that, poor thing. I took the hog out and cut away and removed the lid of the shoe box. A little later on, it still managed to get itself wedged behind the cardboard, not getting any benefit from the blanket, so I ended up removing the now totally carved-up shoebox altogether. It wasn't such a good idea, it seems.
In this next picture we see Elsa trying to get involved whilst I was cleaning out the pet carrier. "Really," I told her, "you are not helping!"
Despite all these trials and tribulations, the little hog seems to be alright this morning, and there are signs that it has been eating. I have phoned Tiggywinkles. The receptionist wasn't too sure what to say at first when I told her the hedgehog weighed 470g because she said it was a borderline weight. She had to go and consult someone but soon came back with a very definite, "Yes, you need to bring him in to us." So, it looks like that is what we are going to do.Here is some video footage of the little one, captured earlier in the evening by the motion sensor camera shortly before I found him outside the back door:
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I have to say that we quickly gave up on towels / blankets for Harry. Shredded newspaper wasn't much better. Straw seems to be a better compromise, although they still manage to get a load into their water bowls most days.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they'd drink from a water bottle, like you'd have for hamsters, gerbils and mice.
ReplyDeleteThat had crossed my mind before, but I didn't want to risk them not drinking at all. Since we have tried to be as much as possible "hands off" with them, it would have been difficult to try to teach them to use a bottle.
ReplyDeleteYes, but you don't have to train hamsters and mice to drink from a bottle. I'm not recommending taking the waterbowl away, I was just wondering.
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