Looks like I’ll have to intervene!
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Hello lovely hog lovers
Hetty and Cutie continue to eat well, despite the torrential rain here!
The camera wasn’t set up last night, as the hogs tend to speed up their actions in the rain and the video clips are too short, plus I’m getting a bit fed up of trailing through videos of mainly just rain drops landing on the water bowls Lol !
Anyway I decided to just stand out in the rain for a while last night in the hope of getting a close up sighting of Cutie. And I was quite shocked to see a very wee hoglet run across the patio and then disappeared! I know it’s not Cutie because it’s smaller than Cutie was weeks ago when I weighed her.
However the problem I’ve got is finding it again! I was out again tonight in the rain and I put the video camera on !
But despite searching the garden I couldn’t find it! I still have lots of vegetation in the borders and lots of big pots on the patio which doesn’t make the task easy in the dark, even with a torch – I’m hoping the little thing will keep returning for food and hope that if I persevere I will eventually catch it for weighing before the weather turns really cold – it’s really tiny and I’m sure it won’t survive unless I intervene- so I’m all ready and keeping everything crossed !Hi Hettihog
Yes, sounds like that little one will need weighing. I would have everything ready, in case – i.e. scales, gloves a box to put it in if necessary. Then sit/stand outside very quietly as you did last night and hope that it turns up early for some food again. It can sometimes be a bit tricky, they can be very speedy and good at getting underneath things where you can’t reach them when they’re very small! If you can’t catch it, at least there is a ready supply of food, so it might put on weight quite quickly. So don’t worry too much, you might have other chances to check the little one.
Good luck.
Out again last night but no sign of the wee one! Think it’s time to accept I can’t experience success every time!
Last night I put some new straw near the big shed where I know Cutie is nesting and it’s gone this morning- just a little of it visible from the end of the shed, Really odd, as the cam footage shows the straw under cover of the garden table and the hogs investigating it and then it’s gone, but nothing on the video cam of the straw actually being moved? Just goes to prove the video cam doesn’t pick everything up!
Also saw two of the hogs having a bit of an altercation on this mornings video footage – would that indicate I have two females? or do the males and females squabble ! Or could it be a territorial thing!
Hetty remains nesting under the small shed on one side of the garden, there is another nesting in the hog box ( not sure if that’s Big Bruiser or new visitor ) and then Cutie has taken up residence under the big shed on the other side of the garden.
Don’t think the scrap was about food as I have five different locations for the feeding stations – it’s a mystery to me !
Best Wishes to you all and happy hog watching! xHey Hettihog,
Sounds as if it’s all going very well with your hoggies.
Sad about your tiny one. We can only do our best. I think only one hoglet out of 5 survived here this year and that one had to be taken to the vet and then to rehab. Cyclopsina disappeared and the three legged release we had in the garden has only appeared twice very early on and hasn’t been seen since.
I get so upset about it but am now having to be more stoic and tell myself that at least we are giving them all a chance and not every one, sadly, will be a success story.
The other release- a monster of a boy is eating me out of house and home and a regularish big boy also visiting. Just the 2 at the moment.
Keep us posted with all of yours
Good luckHey simbo 65
Good to hear your news. You seem to have had a few releases and it’s sounds like your a wiz at rescue.
I agree it is very sad when the hogs fail to survive, or disappear and leave you wondering about their outcome.
But like you say we can only do our best and as a relative newbie to this hog caring business, I know I have learnt such a lot this year and I will be even more pro-active next year.
It is wonderful to have resident hogs! I only discovered Hetty at the beginning of the year and I was so thrilled to realise she had chosen to nest in my garden and if all goes well I will end the year with three healthy hogs all well fed and fit enough to hibernate.
I feel blessed and think I must be doing something right!
Since joining the forum I have found the advice and support invaluable. And it’s so good to chat to like minded people who understand the hog obsession! Yes I’m under no illusion, I know that I’m obsessed ! My husband reminds me every day!😂
Best wishes and thank you for the support! xHello everyone, so good to read all your posts and situations. I am first year devotee and am learning all the time. There are so many questions that I have and nowhere to turn. I thought I had a very pregnant female in September but my local rescue centre told me it was a male! I worry that such a large protruberance may have been something nasty. I have two houses and two feeder stations. One hog has hibernated in one house but the other, a male, is still foraging and pottering but does go into the other house. Being in Cornwall maybe the hogs do not hibernate as early as those further up country. My houses have plenty of dry straw in them but I wonder if it helps to clad the houses on the outside during very cold winter time.
It is an obsession – they are so adorable and I feel so privileged to have them in my garden. I did read that some hog foods sold are not always good for them and they like apples and vegetables too. Would one cut them up into little pieces? Such a learning curve and I love it. My friends refer to me as Mrs Tiggywinkle and they, too, love to see the videos. Safe winter little hedgegogs.Hi hogdevotee
I am curious about the large protruberance that the hedgehog had that was confused with a pregnant female. Did the local rescue actually see the hog?
You are right the hogs may be hibernating later in Cornwall than in some places, but it isn’t always only to do with the temperature and some, if not all, hogs there may be hibernating already.
Theoretically the hogs should build hibernation nests inside your hog houses, which should be insulated to their satisfaction. That’s one of the reasons why it’s best to leave nesting material outside the box and let the hog build it’s own nest. They are much better at it than we would be. But it probably wouldn’t harm to put extra insulation around the house outside, as long as you don’t disturb any hogs in the process. It’s probably best to do it before they move in.
There are all sorts of things which people claim that hedgehogs like. Not all of them are good for them. I would give vegetables and fruit a miss and stick to cat/dog/hog food. There used to be a myth that hogs liked apples, but it’s now realised that they are most likely to be attracted to the insects which fallen apples may attract.
Good luck with the hogs there. I hope hibernation works out well for them.
Hi all, just catching up on the forum as had no data and read Hettihogs post. On looking through our cctv about 3 weeks ago I saw a tiny hedgehog running around like a thing possessed. I was filled with dread for this little one and immediately put out my hereto unused trail camera. As said on another post, it’s quite good and when I checked it, had 1,008 pictures on it. All of cats! No sign of this little charging bundle of prickles on either the trail camera or the cctv since. It was on its own when I saw it on film, no mum around. I will continue to check but don’t hold out much hope of seeing it again. It didn’t entre the feeding station, just went for a drink from a floor bird bath, then shot off again. It was like watching a fast forward film! Best wishes.
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