Overnight boarder and tics
- This topic has 2 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 9 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi-
We have an overnight stayer in our house. We were advised by our local wildlife rescue that if this happens and they have a lot of tics it would be good if we could remove them. We did take one to the vet a month or so ago and he had 12 removed (that could be got to) and the other half learnt how to do it . We have bought a special hook. Would you agree we should do this or just let him sleep.
ThanksHi simbo65
Sorry your question seems to have slipped through the net and slipped down the list – I don’t know where everyone is! I’m sure someone else could answered this particular question better than me, but I’ll do my best!
I think if your other half has learnt how to remove the ticks properly, you have the correct ‘tools’ and that is what you have been advised to do, then it is probably ok. My feeling is that it is normal for hogs to have a few ticks and I wouldn’t want to disturb a hog every time I saw a few ticks, but if there were a lot of them, that’s different. It’s really down to considering the number of ticks in relation to the size of hog, etc.
You may find that the experts make it look easy. It’s not always easy to keep a hedgehog unrolled long enough to remove ticks and can be quite stressful for them. Personally, I don’t agree with picking wild hogs up regularly and checking them for ticks, etc. It could lead to them becoming too habituated to humans and other predators and my view is that they are better off having a healthy respect for humans. Sadly not all of us are hedgehog lovers. But, if the ticks do need removing and you know how to do it properly, it would be less stressful for the hog for you to do it than for it to be kept in captivity for a day to take it elsewhere.
The other thing is, that if the hog has been staying in your box and he has vacated for a while (which they often do) it would probably be a good idea (if you are certain the box is empty) to clean it out with boiling water to kill any parasite eggs which are almost bound to be in there. Otherwise the cycle just starts up again and possibly with another hog.
Hope that helps.
Hi Nic-
We did have a quick look at him and decided not to go ahead. He had rolled into a ball so we didn’t want to stress him.
We seem to be having quite a few visitors but it is difficult to tell sizes on our camera. We saw 2 having a ferocious fight in the flesh and then saw another one coming towards the feeding station but he was timid and ran away.
Having not seen any females I think we had one visit last night. I am hoping that a couple of real cuties might be hoglets. I must try and upload some video.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
