HH doesn’t leave box
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Hi Everyone,
I’m new to Hedgehog Street and really excited by our recent discovery that we have a resident HH in the box we built last year after we discovered a HH mooching round our garden.
I’ve recently bought a wildlife trail camera and have set it up each night to record between 2000-0900 but we haven’t seen any movement from the box?
Its now been 5 days and no sighting outside the box. Is this usual or would it suggest that perhaps there is a female HH inside and getting ready to give birth?
The trail camera has picked up some fox and cat movement so could this be scaring the HH to not come out?
Would really appreciate any thoughts and suggestions if anyone has experienced this before.
Thank youHi dudeUK
Welcome to the Forum!
It is unusual for a hog not to come out of the box for that long. However, it’s possible that the camera is just missing entries and exits. Some hogs seem to be very clever at evading being caught on camera – stories of hog invisibility cloaks are numerous! The cameras usually have a slight delay before something is detected and the camera actually triggers, and also there is usually a gap (often variable dependng on the settings you have) in time between images, when hogs can easily come or go. But that does also mean that the hog may no longer be in the box at all – i.e. may have left in time gaps between clips, and not returned. You might want to try the old trick of putting a twig, rolled up piece of paper or flower in the doorway to see whether it’s moved.
Cats wouldn’t worry hogs at all and I doubt whether a fox would stop one coming out for that long. But, if you’re feeding the hogs and there are foxes around, it’s best to create a foxproof feeding area – if you don’t already have one.
It’s possible that a female could be giving birth, although it’s a bit early. Peak hoglet birth time is normally June and July. But I wouldn’t have thought the female would have stayed in permanently for that long and not nipped out for a bite to eat and a drink. Don’t be tempted to open the box at this stage, just in case, because females can be quite touchy about being disturbed when they have very young ones.
In general cameras are just not as reliable as we sometimes give them credit for. Make sure your batteries are well charged, i.e. at least 2 bars showing on the power level symbol at the beginning of the night. Sometimes if the batteries are low, the cameras will pick up larger things, i.e. cats and foxes, but not smaller ones.
Good luck. Hope you manage to solve the mystery soon and are able to do some hog watching.
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