Hi Nic
I have looked back at footage. We were aware that she came out of the HH box on 29 March. It looks like she has a drink and turns to go back into the house although I don’t catch her actually walking up the tunnel. There was also a very gorgeous HH that night but first caught about 5 hours later. There were a couple of nights we didn’t put the camera out but as it was cold I didn’t think she would come out.
We feed ARK (did try yummy wet cat food but she left it) and have made another food station and last night moved it closer to the other one but she showed no interest in it and as it is a smallish area we might have actually hindered her by having it on top of natural foraging.
We haven’t bought another house because of space but we are going to pick up some bricks later and build something that will fit the space with bricks and patio slabs as a roof. I saw someone do it on line. I just want her to stay in it for 1 night so we can thoroughly clean the one she loves so much. I assume if she stays in the new one she hasn’t got any young in the old one.
I must admit I am very worried about her having young in there. I can see she has ticks and I don’t think any young would survive if the ticks attached to them which I am sure they would. I think she needs deticking as well so she keeps her strength up.
It’s a double edged sword. If she doesn’t go in the new set up so we clean up the house I think her and any young will have major issues.
If we move her into our special box we use for vet visits and keep her in the dark but disturb young we have mucked up too.
I am surprised she hasn’t moved on. I was hoping it would be a natural instinct. She moves around fine and has gone off for 2 and 3 hours before going back to bed in the past and a couple of times since coming out of hibernation.
I’m trying to weigh up the pros and cons and not getting very far. I will give her a couple of days to see if the new abode holds any appeal.
Thanks for all your time and help with this.
After this season and if she ever leaves, I am tempted to remove the house as maybe it’s better to let them find places to nest naturally without too much human intervention
It’s a really hard situation.
