I noticed that nobody has been in or out of the hog-house for a day or so.
I carefully lifted the lid and was slightly relieved that there was no one home.
That gave me a chance to clean the house (my other hog-houses were cleaned earlier when the hibernating hogs woke and went elsewhere).
In the bottom, beneath the bedding was a large tic (now deceased!)
Some boiling water to get rid of any parasite eggs completed the cleansing, and once dried the house went back with a handful of clean straw.
Meanwhile a nearby hog-house that wasn’t being used is now occupied so maybe the long skinny one has gone there.
