Today was a big day for 2 little foxes we have hand reared.  One of the foxes came in with awful mange and had ongoing treatment for 9 weeks!  We have really struggled to find a suitable site for these foxes be released at.  Other sanctuaries are also having difficulty finding suitable sites.  Thanks to a very kind couple we have set up a temporary pen in their garden where they will be fed for a few nights before eventually being allowed to go as they please.  This form of release is called ‘soft release’ and means that the animals will be fed and have continuous access to food until they can fend for themselves.  There are plenty of sources of food at the site and an amazing nature reserve for them to spend the rest of their lives.

If you know of a potential release site for future foxes then please get in touch as we have had such difficulty trying to find somewhere for this beautiful pair.  It is very sad that some people choose to kill these amazing animals in the name of sport and thanks to this country’s slack laws, continue to do so illegally!  Foxes are such stunning creatures and it has been so rewarding to have known these two.

This poor guy had fallen down a 10cm open pipe and in his struggle to get out, had become completely trapped between two water pipes and the outer pipe section.

When we arrived, we could touch the hog, we could see he was still alive but he was completely stuck, we couldn’t get him out as he was without hurting him, which we had to avoid. Over the next three hours we slowly cut away the pipe and dug down around it, to give him more space and free him off.

In the end, we called the fire brigade to see if they could help. Thankfully after a bit of persuasion they sent a team that had small hacksaws and a dedication, they were as keen as we were to rescue the poor chap.

Finally after over three hours, he was free and Broxtowe Borough Council had turned up to fill the hole and make it safe. We took the guy back and put him in an incubator to warm up.

He is now doing well, he has eaten thankfully and looking much happier than he did, he is still very mucky though and needs treating for ringworm. He has gone through such an ordeal, we hope he will survive, so far so good.

Lots of people tell us that they want to learn to care for hedgehogs but are unaware of how smelly and time consuming they are to care for.  It amazes us how much mess a hedgehog can make in 1 night!  Caring for baby hedgehogs (hoglets) means often getting up in the night and feeding regularly throughout the day.  Many peoples day to day commitments mean that caring and rehabilitating hedgehogs is out of the question.  However, if you think you have what it takes then get yourself on this invaluable course.  Janet Peto who has organised the course encouraged us in the early days and has been an invaluable source of information.  She has been caring for hedgehogs for 38 years.

Hedgehogs are in huge decline in this country and the more people that become aware and care for our little spikey friends, the better.

The course is £20.00 and will run from 10am til 4.30pm 13th August at FOSTON VILLAGE HALL, LINCOLNSHIRE (4 miles North of Grantham).

The days agenda will include:

Marion Horscroft Nutrition and feeding, wild hedgehogs and in care

Chris Kozarzewski Veterinary Surgeon – What we should and should not be doing in care and what to leave to the professionalsWorking with your Veterinary Surgeon, a two way partnership

Janet Peto Health and Safety – You and the hedgehog Raising Hoglets New born to release General Information (useful information acquired in 28 years of hedgehog care)

Dr Nigel Reeve Hedgehogs in the Wild – Then we know if it is normal behaviour or not when they are in care.

We would like to thank the British Hedgehog Preservation Society for sponsorship toward the cost of this event.

If you are interested in attending the course can you please email janet.peto@btineternet.com and Janet will put you on the list of interested parties – Thank you  (Lunch will cater for all dietary needs)

This condition is the symptom of something more serious, such as respiratory tract damage or a gas build up from a gangrenous wound. The balloon condition is caused by gas building up under the skin.

The first and foremost treatment we have applied is to release the gas, hedgehogs have been know to literally explode from a gas build up. We have achieved this by venting out the gas via a hypodermic syringe, we have now had to do this four times. The last venting was at midnight last night, this morning there has been no further build up and so we can move on to bring him back to health. As we do not know what the cause is, it is now antibiotics, anti-inflammatory painkillers and a waiting game.

This photograph was taken at midnight last night, just before we vented him for the last time. You can see the extent of the expansion of his body, the darker skin should actually be his  underside, here you can clearly see how expanded he is, so much that he could not roll up into a ball.

He is probably around four weeks old so still being fed on milk, our task will be to keep him warm and bottle feed on milk replacement.  Fox cubs do require a lot of attention, they are quite noisy particularly at night!

Slowly he can been weaned off milk onto puppy food. We always minimise our handling so that he will not get too imprinted and easier to release back into the wild.

Today he was released back into the wild where he belongs.

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.