What a busy month. After releasing the Autumn Juveniles I was expecting to have a quiet few weeks....... think again. Mrs Bradley came in - the largest hedgehog I have ever seen - her feet were huge. Lady Bradley was a very good weight, but very unwell lying on her side unable to get up. She went straight onto a heat pad wrapped in a blanket, I began to inject fluids as she was very dehydrated, but she would not let me syringe feed. She just lay motionless on her side. I noticed her back was really hot and wondered whether she had injured it in some way. I put a large dose of Aloe Vera Gel onto her back and Purple Aloe Vera Spray. The next morning I was expecting the worse, but there she was slightly improved. Great news she was on the mend. She started to eat a little Hills AD then live meal worms and quail eggs. Yes our hogs are really spoilt. Lady Bradley was released 2 weeks after, back to perfect health and minus about 100 ticks.... she went back to Cashes Green to her same garden....we wish her the best of luck.
Then the real story of the 3 - legged Hog. I read Hogalogue very briskly and saw they were looking for a home for a 3 legged hedgehog near Hereford!! with a airport nearby. I knew where that was - an hours drive. I emailed back saying we had a perfect garden for our 3 legged Spikey Friend and we wern't too far away. Lynne phoned me "Yes please. A perfect home - how far are you?" Not far - I had really messed up - it was Hertfordshire not Hereford and it was Stansted not Staverton. Oh dear, but I had already said I would get the Hog. Luckily Lynne, another Hedgehog Rescuer came up with a briliant idea, why don't we meet at Paddington Station. So off I went with my Cat Carrier like you do. I waited for the 1715 train and off I went to the Big Apple. When I arrived I immediatley saw a lsdy also carrying a Cat Carrier. It was very comical, we found a quiet location to transfer our Spikey Load and then I said Goodbye and caught the 1910 back to Stroud with a change at Swindon. After a change at Swindon I was safely on my way back home. The ticket Inspector asked "What you got in there love?" "You don't want to know" "Yes I do" "Well it's a 3 legged hedgehog" The ticket Inspector said nothing and walked away!
Next one.......our Lovely Gandolf woke up from hibernation from his hibernaculum.....what a terrible state. He had lost so much weight, it was hard to recognise him, he had gone from 1.3kg to 590g. Bless him, I looked closely and his ears had gone hard and black. We made a trip to the vets - Gandolf had frost bitten ears, he had to have antibiotics, ear drops and a collar. Poor chap. Two weeks later he is back to a healthy 1kg and his ears are slowly recovering. I have spoken to the Hedgehog Preservation Society and this is very rare indeed. I wonder how many other wild hedgehogs have experienced the same problem it was such a cold winter. Gandolf is now released back to 1.3kg and back to his lovely garden and house made by Deano.....thank you. He will hopefully be breeding shortly so needed to get the weight back on quickly.
Please please put out water in your garden and food for our hedgehogs. They are waking up, starving to death as due to the hot dry spell there are no insects, earthworms or slugs for them. Please help, a regular source of food and water is a life saver. We have had a few losses, due to poisoning, insecticides and starvation.
Lilly is doing brilliantly. Paddy our 3 legged Hog has been released, she has now been renamed Lady Marmalade and is a whooping 840g. Thank you Dawn. Tasker is nearly free of ring worm and looking very beautiful again. Also Daisy has re-appeared in her garden and Dusk is living in her hedgehog box. A huge thanks must go to Elizabeth Campbell who is looking after them so well. Also a massive thank you to Pam and Ken from Berkely who are also doing an amazing job. Pam has 11 hogs visiting her garden, she feeds them every night, de ticks them, marks them and is producing a DVD for our website. Well done indeed.
