has Huffy stopped huffing or is it a different hedgehog?

[Hedgie Lover]

well Huffy made a nest in my garden a couple of weeks ago, I have been able to distinguish him from the rest as he is always huffing.

However, there is a hedgehog in the nest he has made, but this hedgehog doesn’t huff – is it possible Huffy doesn’t want to huff anymore and is the same hedgehog – or has Huffy gone. I haven’t seen a huffing hedgehog in the last week.

I have a fox that visits the garden regularly, could the fox taken Huffy away?

There is some good news though, the straw in the entrance to my hedgehog home has been flattened last night, so someone has been in to investigate, but I don’t think they stayed the night.

I assume it was visited by the same hedgehog already nesting in my garden, as the hedgehog home is next to the nest made by Huffy.

I hope this hedgehog that is nesting, is Huffy and he has just decided to be quiet for a bit.

Do hedgehogs who huff, sometimes decide not to huff?

Are noisy hedgehogs always noisy and quiet hedgehogs always quiet?

[Kb70]

Hey good morning! I dont really know much about huffing hogs, but really enjoy reading your reports. I hope it is huffy, you do seem to get attached to certain ones.
I have just put a camera up to watch the hogss in my garden and am just beginning to recognise individuals. No takers to our hog house yet but it had an inspection last night!
Look forward to your updates.

[Nic]

Hi HedghieLover

It may be that Huffy had a slight respiratory infection and that is why he was huffing. It’s always a bit difficult to know, without knowing what the huffing sounded like! But if that was the case, he may have recovered from it and stopped huffing.

But, for instance if the huffing had become more of a wheeze or he sounded as if his breething was laboured, that would have been a time to think about getting him checked over in case he had lungworm or something like that.

I haven’t got time at the moment. But I’ll look out the link to tips for identifying hedgehogs, later. You may or may not already know, but my profile pic is a sort of template (or an idea of one) to draw the hog markings on, to make it easier to recognise them.

[Hedgie Lover]

thanks Nic, he was huffing all the time, whereas the other ones are quiet, so perhaps he had a breathing problem poor thing.

I really hope a fox hasn’t got him. I’ve just seen the hedgehog who is nesting in my garden five minutes ago, but so hard to tell them apart.

[Nic]

Hi Hedgie Lover

(sorry I mis-typed your name last time!) Yes, I hope a fox hasn’t got him, too. But there are all sorts of other reasons why he may be missing. If he really is. For instance, males have a bigger ranges than females, so he may have gone to visit the outer reaches. We do open ourselves up to much potential heartache loving hogs. They are a constant worry! Fingers crossed he returns.

[Hedgie Lover]

I saw him last night – it was weird because he ran into the feeding station, had a sniff then ran out without eating anything – it might be because I had only put dried food out, and perhaps he was wanting the dog food.

But at least he’s alive and active.

Someone has been investigating the hedgehog home I bought — I don’t think there is a hedgehog in there – but someone has definitely been in as the straw has been flattened. So maybe it won’t be long before it gets occupied.

With new homes, do they invesitgate it first before they move in?

[Dale]

Hi Hedgie Lover, a fox will not bother with hedgehogs. I have both visit my garden every night and have footage of foxes waiting for hogs to finish supper, before going in for some themselves. I’m not kidding there is an orderly queue. Very British!

Nor will foxes harm cats who similarly DO NOT hurt or even acknowledge hedhehogs. Only dogs will taunt a hedgehog out of the regular animals

[Hedgie Lover]

so happy to hear that Dale, I think I saw Huffy last night anyway – I’m sure it was him. Perhaps I have seen him more often, and perhaps he doesn’t always huff sometimes. I’ve witnessed him suddenly stop huffing, when he’s listening to a dog barking, or when he was scratching. Maybe he huffs when he sees food – it seems to be food related, as his huffs get loader when he’s running towards the feeding station, and quieter when he leaves.

His huffs got really loud once when he was biffing another hedgehog. Perhaps he has decided to not huff quiet so much for some reason.

Bless him

[Nic]

It isn’t correct that foxes won’t bother with hedgehogs. Some may not bother with them but others will kill them. So it is never safe to be feeding them side by side. Even those that appear not to bother with hedgehogs could change at any time. They are predators, after all.

So pleased to hear that Huffy has been back, Hedgie Lover. What a relief! Hogs do sometimes check boxes out before moving in – or even take short naps between snacking – especially at this time of year and in the Spring.

[Hedgie Lover]

I thought so, I’d imagine it all depends on the fox.

I think Huffy visited tonight, but it could be just another hedgehog who also huffs all the time, but I’m pretty sure it’s Huffy. And also, Huffy usually enters through the school iron bars (I’m next to a school), whereas the others enters in from the back garden, and this huffing hedgehog entered in the same way as Huffy did.

He huffs more when he enters in the feeding station, and sometimes stops huffing when he eats, but then he’ll do little huffs inbetween eating, do you think it could be a noise of pleasure? or do you think he might have a breathing problem? To me, it doesn’t sound like a breathing issue, I hope it isn’t. Anyway, even if he’s ill, he’s very active and runs off very quickly, he’s got a nice glossy shine to his spines (that’s the reason why I thought he had a mark on him, as when the light hits his spines, it lightens them, but it’s not it’s just a glossy coat), and he eats a lot and drinks a lot. So I think he’s okay.

Do you think I should ring the hedgehog hospital and ask them tommorrow just to see if almost constant huffing is something to be worried about?

I don’t really want to be in the position where I’ll end up stressing him out by picking him up and transporting him to the hospital especially if there is nothing wrong with him, so instead I might just ring them and see what they say.

[Nic]

Hi Hedgie Lover

It wouldn’t do any harm to ring the hedgehog hospital, if nothing else to set your mind at rest. But you can explain it more precisely to them and they can ask the appropriate questions, etc. If they think he needs to go in to be checked over, he will probably get over it soon enough.

Hogs might not show themselves to be very grateful, but they do seem quite forgiving if you are trying to help them. The little hog here who was strimmed and spent months in the wildlife hospital, recovering, is back to visiting every night – such a relief. It’s always a worry as to what is best to do, although in this hog’s case, she simply wouldn’t have survived, so there was no debate.

Fingers crossed for Huffy.

[Hedgie Lover]

Thanks Nic, I just really really hope he is huffing out of happiness, it would be a comfort to me to think that he might be content eating his food – it would be a shame if it’s due to breathing problems.

But I’ll ring them tomorrow, see what they say.

Have you had huffing hedgehogs that constantly huff? or are all yours fairly quiet?

[Hedgie Lover]

I’ve just seen Huffy again, for the 3rd time tonight!

And he was already in the feeding station, and wasn’t making any noise – so I didn’t realise it was him. I sat on my porch quietly, when he came out, he stopped in his tracks, started huffing and scuttled off huffing away.

Now I’m thinking perhaps these cute noises he makes, itsn’t contentment, maybe is contempt for me sitting on my porch.

I do sit on my porch each night and watch them, and they just go about their business, so I didn’t think they realised I’m there. Do you think they have known all along that I am there? The feeding station is on the grass in view of the porch so I can watch them. Whereas the hedgehog home is in a sheltered bit and I can’t see it from my porch.

[Sam1404]

Hi Hedgie Lover
I have sat on my patio watching my regular (a female I have called ‘Patches’) and I have no doubt she knows I’m there – I think we humans are probably quite smelly to them! When she comes close she gives a sideways glance and a sniff but just goes about her business. I sit very still and quiet which means she sometimes passes within a few inches of me. It is such a wonderful wildlife experience!
I have spotted 9 different hogs in the garden, but Patches seems to be the only one that seems to have got used to me observing on the patio, as she has been around the longest. Give it time and maybe Huffy will get used to your presence too?
Happy hog watching.
Sam

[Hedgie Lover]

I saw him a few times tonight as well, and I realise now he doesn’t huff all the time – so perhaps when he went missing for a couple of weeks, he actually hadn’t gone missing – and I probably saw him a few times without realising.

He’s my most frequent visitor, he comes quite a lot during the night – so I usually see him about 3 times each night – and he was one of my first visitors that came when I first started feeding them.

He made a nest 2 weeks ago in my garden, and tonight I think he spent some time in it, as he went in that direction, but next time I looked outside, he had bought a lady friend with him to the feeding station, so he’s probably on date night tonight.

I’ve noticed that the nest isn’t being used during the day – I can tell as the entrance to it is very open and I can see directly inside from a distance – I just think it’s a ‘in-between snacking nest’.

I really don’t know how many visitors I am getting – however, 3 at the absolute minimum, as quite often there has been 3 in the feeding station at one time. They just tend to ignore each other and carry on eating, sometimes there is a bit of gentle biffing going on, so I wonder if most of them are female?

I think Huffy is male, as a month ago, he really went for a biffing session on this poor hedgehog, but I haven’t seen him do it since. That’s why I think the other hedgehog in the feeding station tonight was his female friend, as no biffing, she ate some food, and the left within half a minute apart and ran in the same direction.

Usually one of them would curl into a ball, and make a run for it, when it gets the chance, or stay balled up until the biffer has disappeared, they certainly don’t leave together.

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