I seem to have a tame hedgehog visiting

I've encountered this particular hedgehog for the past two nights as I was putting food out for them to eat. He (or she) doesn't run away or curl up into a ball, but seems quite happy for me to go about my business around him (or her). Last night I opened the feeding station up to find this hog (identifiable by the blonde "fringe" of spines above the face) already in there eating the previous night's scraps. The hog watched patiently as I filled up the bowl with Iams chicken-flavoured cat food and then started eating it straight away. I even had plenty of time to go back into the house and come out again with the camera for the above photo, before putting the lid gently back onto the feeding station.

However, numbers are severely down this last week. I'm hoping it's just the bad weather that is deterring them.

Bah! Rain again...

The weather has turned ghastly - in fact we've even had severe weather warnings - and the hedgehogs don't seem to like it much either, although one or two lone individuals made it out to visit the water and food bowls last night.

Baby #2 returns

There's been a lot of snuffling and burbling noises in the garden, today, and when I looked out - sure enough - there were lots of hogs. Furthermore, I was pleased to see Baby #2 make a reappearance.

Such a shame that this photo is blurred, because it's a lovely grouping.

More catching up

I've been quite busy going hither and thither recently and unfortunately haven't been able to update the blog, although - of course - the hedgehogs are still being fed each and every night as usual. Unfortunately, I've very cleverly mislaid the charger for the infrared camera, and so I am unable to use that at the moment. Here are a few pictures from last night and earlier tonight of some of my hedgehoggy visitors.

I thought at first that the hog in the foreground was actually Baby #2 - having grown a bit since we last saw him - but I have since seen Baby #2 for real and disproved this. Alas, I haven't seen Baby #1 (a.k.a. Itchy) for about 2 weeks now. If however, I was able to put the infrared camera out, perhaps we'd see him then. I hoping he's still about somewhere. Note the other two hedgehogs in the feeding station in this photograph. There was a lot of snuffling coming from that box!

The same juvenile again on Thursday night.

...and again, tonight.

Monday night's hedgehog movie

We've not had a hedgehog movie for a while, so here's some footage from last night showing at least six different individuals. It's interesting to watch how they interact, for example how a hog will approach a foodbowl with some trepidation where another hog is already eating.

One thing that has struck me recently, especially with the babies around, is how well behaved the hogs have been towards one another. However, we see a little piece of bad behaviour here at around the 7 minutes mark.

Note the hog in the 2nd and penultimate clips looks to be quite a fatty!

Some more cat flap photos of Baby #2

Hedgehogs big and small

Monday night didn't seem to be as busy as the previous night, but I'd put out the infrared camera and - as these stills show - there was quite a lot of activity from hedgehogs of all sizes. It's nice to get some shots of the two babies together.

Catching up again...

I've been away for the last week, although the hogs have been fed in my absense. Tonight every time I looked out the back door, there were hedgehogs everywhere. I wish I'd put out the infrared camera earlier. I did however take the above couple of snapshots through the cat flap of this pair of hedgehogs: an adult and Baby #2.

Earlier I saw Baby #1 (a.k.a. Itchy) outside and I brought him inside for a quick checkover. I'm pleased to report that all his spines have re-grown nicely and he has no bald patches on his back. His face still looks bald though. He also seems to be putting on weight - which is good news.