Growth

[Sean Regan]

‘arry is putting on weight, we’re thinking of changing his name to “Porky.”

I tried posting this a few days ago but it seems to have got lost.

I checked his house a couple of weeks ago (while he was out to dinner) to see if he had enough bedding, but I noticed there was evidence of some previous damp in the corner of the roof. Probably from when there was all that heavy rain, but the interior was quite dry.

So I decided to build him a bigger new roof that would fit over the existing one out of stuff that I had in the garage.

He now has a canopy over his patio.
The paving slab slopes slightly forward so no rain will run in off the entrance, while the new roof slopes slightly back to let rain run off it.

He’s been moving the furniture about a bit, I guess to get ready for winter, I leave a small amounts of of straw on his doorstep now and again, he must be collecting some of it and dried euonymus leaves from behind the rockery.
The giant lily leaf was green when he put it in the corner, “everyone likes to decorate their home.”

I again took the photos when he was out at dinner, I guess he’s none the wiser that he has a new roof.

[Nic]

Hi SeanReagan

Glad that Harry is doing well and that you have provided such a lovely house for him.

I hope that you have now also given him his freedom by opening the ‘little door’ so that he can come and go from your garden as he chooses.
Reference from https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/forums/topic/arry-could-be-arabella-we-arent-sure/

[Sean Regan]

A hedgehog got run over in our road a few weeks ago, it’s not uncommon, fortunately, it wasn’t ‘arry as the door is firmly shut, my wife would have been heartbroken had it been him/her. So the door will remain shut until at least next year.

We used to have a 5ft deep koi pool which we closed down two years ago.
A hedghog fell in that and drowned about ten years ago.

I also found one drowned in our frog pond several years ago, despite the fact there were rocks in the corner of one end to let little frogs get out. Although hedgehogs are supposed to be able to swim, I guess they can panic if they fall in.

So a couple weeks ago I filled it in as a precautionary measure.

We know he’s all over the garden exploring every night as we put the trail camera in different places to check on him.

[stef]

If there really isn’t any way the hog can get out it will keep trying to make one. Once it has it’s unlikely to come back. However in my experience it’s unlikely you will manage to stop it getting out unless you dig boarding or wire down into all your borders.
I suspect that the hog that drowned actually had something else wrong with it as they are very good swimmers
Whether your hog is male or female you cannot keep it – it’s illegal – and very stressful for the hog
Your best bet would be to make ‘highways’ between all the neighbour’s gardens
Appreciated it’s coming up to winter and hopefully it will stay in your garden to hibernate, but be aware hogs usually have several hiberniculums and will move nest during hibernation

[Sean Regan]

Thanks for the opinions, but I won’t change my mind given the particular circumstanced of which no one else seems to fully understand.
No attempts at changing my mind are going to work and I’m tired of them, so I won’t be returning to this board.

[Nic]

Hi Sean Reagan

I’m sad that you feel like that. We always only have the best interests of the hogs at heart – which hopefully you will understand being so fond of Harry.

If it turns out that Harry stays in your garden over winter, which it seems likely he will, please take note of what Stef said about hibernation. i.e. that hogs move hibernacula during the hibernation period. Harry will need several potential hibernating sites – hog boxes, or bottoms of hedges, etc. Their preferred hibernating nest building material is medium sized leaves, long grasses, etc.- loads of them which are best left nearby to potential hibernation sites (and yes, they do also sometimes take in green plant material, as you discovered) . Most hogs prefer to make their own nests and are expert at doing so. Some will even empty a box of nesting material which a human has kindly put in there for them!

It’s a good idea to leave water available for the hogs all day every day, even in the winter – just in case a hog comes out of hibernation desperate for a drink. Wide but shallow plant saucers are ideal. Shallow enough that no hog (including hoglets) can get trapped in them.

Hibernation is always a worrying time, but I hope Harry manages o.k. Fingers crossed for him.

[Author]

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