Hedgehogs are indigenous and in decline due to climate change, a lack of food and habitate in our manicured gardens and due to the use of slug pellets.

Hogs need to be at least 600 grams to survive hibernation through the cold winter, so those that are too small have been kept by us over the winter and released in Spring.

We clean and fed them every day and monitor their progress. This is very time consuming and boy do they eat, each hog will eat a third of its body weight every day. We feed them chicken based dog food and water. Never feed a hedgehog milk or bread!

We also investigate and treat any health issues, by looking at their pooh and skin samples under a microscope, looking for parasites.

Many hogs come to us with lung worm, a parasite that they catch from eating slugs, this seems to be on the increase possibly due to our ever wetter climate. If left untreated this often leads to death.

Of the 9 hedgehogs we have had overwintering, 7 have survived and 6 were released today back to where they were rescued.

Unfortunately two did not recover from lung worm, the remaining 3 survivors will be released over the next few days.

These two are weaned off their mother but are too small for this time of year. They need to be above 500 grams to survive hibernation, otherwise they will perish. It is likely that these two will have to be kept with us until the spring when we will release them.

We always try to release hogs where they were found, wherever there are hedgehogs there is food.

 

If you want to encourage hedgehogs into your garden then here are a few simple things you can do:

A log pile will create a great damp area where a hedgehog will be able to find food like slugs and beetles. 

Lots of ground coverage and plants will also be a great haven for a hedgehog to snuffle round in and find food.

Feeding hedgehogs – tinned cat and dog meat or Spikes Hedgehog food.   DO NOT feed a hedgehog bread and milk and DO NOT feed a hedgehog gravy based dog/cat food.

Leave water out for your hedgehog.  When we haven’t had any rain for a while many hedgehogs come to us completely dehydrated. Remember to leave it in a heavy bowl as hedgehogs are very good at tipping up bowls in search of tasty treats underneath.

Provide an area that hedgehogs might be able to nest or hibernate.  Hedgehogs retreat during the day and make themselves obscure by making a nest. You could buy a specially designed hedgehog hibernator from a fabulous local company! http://www.worm.co.uk/default.asp?mode=viewTree&nodeId=79&divId=middlenode79

By encouraging other types of wildlife to your garden you will increase your chances of encouraging a hedgehog.  If you exterminate and poison other creatures in your garden then the chances are you will also poison a hedgehog. Most poisons like metaldehyde (found in slug pellets) and warfarin (in rat and mouse poison) will also kill a hedgehog slowly and callously.

Hedgehogs are charming little creatures to have around your garden and do no end of pest control for you the way nature intended. 

We are now hand rearing all three, this is very time consuming, feeding them every 3 hours and then mimicking all the natural motherly actions, like teaching them to go to the toilet after feeding.

Unfortunately a cat caught two babies and both parents, killing the mother. They were brought to us by the cats owner, we released the father back inot the wild and are now hand rearing the only surviving baby. The other baby died shortly after arrival, it was very cold and had puncture wounds from the cats teeth. Cats mouths are full of bacteria and often cause infections.

Hand rearing creatures of this size poses many challenges, particulary at feeding time. This mouse is being fed from our smallest syringe (1ml) and teat.

After eating puppy food and lapping up loads of rehydration fluid, the cub has made a great start to recovery.

Update - This little girl has now been moved on tho the Little Fox Project in Oxford. This organisation specialising in putting cubs of similar age together, preparing them for release back into the wild. A happy ending.

Spring time is very busy for us with many baby animals and birds coming in.  It is very time consuming and hard work not to mention sometimes heartbreaking to hand rear small animals.

This young man was rescued by Broxtowe Dog Warden, a member of the public called thinking he was a puppy.

We hand reared him on a puppy milk substitute and a small amount of puppy food, we have reared him without getting him too imprinted, as our aim is to always release wild animals back into the wild where they belong.

This photo was taken on 7 April when he first came to us.

This is the little mite as of 18 April, as you can now see he is looking more and more like a fox, and gosh his sharp teeth remind us that he is no pet, he is a wild animal.

We have now moved him onto a dedicated fox rescue charity in Oxford, who had another orphan cub in of the same age. This little guy is less likely to become imprinted if being hand reared with others.  He will undergo a soft release in the Autumn.

When we cleared out one of our stables to make way for 150 ex-battery hens,  we moved some bales of straw and disturbed a family of wild mice. Unfortunately the mother ran off and we could not find her. We had no choice, her babies were too young to defend for themselves so we hand reared them, four of the five have survived

These are now on solids and are being acclimatised ready for release back into the wild.

Click on image to enlarge

Today a baby wild rabbit around three weeks old, who had received injuries to a rear leg was brought to us from a farm in Mansfield. Following a trip to our vets for an X- ray, antibiotics and pain killers, she is making a great recovery. We are hand rearing her on a replacement milk formula and she is also nibbling on hay. Although she cannot use her leg properly yet, we believe that it is not broken, only time will tell if she can regain its use. Watch this space for further updates.