Doing my best for the Hedgehogs (1 Viewer)

[Tanny]

I have been watching and feeding the Hedgehogs in my garden for the past four years and have perfected the best food to attract them. When I manage to catch them I would first record their weight then mark them with a white acrelic, none toxic paint so that I can recognize each individual when they visit. Now that the total has reached ten I have stopped marking them and am just satisfied to see them feeding each night. I also set up two night wildlife cameras over the special cake I make and over the months have recorded various antics and mating's of the different individuals. The markings also tell me who are the males and females without me trying to sex them by hand.
The cake is actualy made for the birds but the Hedgehogs also found they enjoyed it. I use Porridge Oats, rice, spaghetti, sultanas, sunflower hearts, suet old flour and dry meal-worms. I then add water and Microwave till it all forms into a cake. When putting out on the lawn I now and again smear peanut paste around the plate and cover the whole with hand-full's of Meal-worms. Any cake not consumed by the Hedgehogs are then finished off by the Blackbirds, Robin, Dunnock, Magpies and Jackdaws. Just recently a Herring Gull and a Lesser black-back Gull have found it and soon clear away what is left.

 

[Tanny]

Tonight I have placed the cake next to a mirror, I am hoping to see some interesting actions.
These pictures I am downloading show the rough mating of Hedgehogs. The male will chase the female around, regularly bunting her and she will curl up to avoid his attention, but eventualy he wins in the end.

 

[Tanny]

Continued with the pictures. The first one above is when the male starts pushing, next is when the female rolls up and the third is when she starts unrolling. the next two is the male showing off.
These last pictures show the mating.

 

[Tanny]

Well, that was a bit of a flop, the Hedgehogs paid no attention of their reflections in the mirror.
I forgot to mention last night, the Males phallus is situated in the middle of his body.

 

[andm]

hi tanny some interesting footage there, I have recently been feeding hedgehogs in my garden, started with one , then four , but normally get three, one is much larger than the other two , but they seem to be not to bothered with each other, maybe all the same sex ,

 

[Tanny]

Hi Andm, glad to have someone interested in my Hedgehog story. As you see I have photographed six of my hogs, in all I have ten of them visiting the garden. Hedgehogs can travel over two and a half miles in the night so if one comes from the south and another from the north then it's about five miles radius from my house, and seeing I live in the suburb of the village I think most of them live in the neighbours gardens.
I will be downloading many pictures in the future, telling the story of my years of Hedgehog study.
I notice the smaller Hedgehogs are the males and the big ones the females.
Keep your eyes peeled for the youngsters coming to feed this month, and later in the year a second or late breeding produces youngsters who will find it difficult to survive the winter.

 

[Corvus cornix]

Interesting pics and information.

Thanks for posting them.

Cheers

 

[andm]

Hi Andm, glad to have someone interested in my Hedgehog story. As you see I have photographed six of my hogs, in all I have ten of them visiting the garden. Hedgehogs can travel over two and a half miles in the night so if one comes from the south and another from the north then it's about five miles radius from my house, and seeing I live in the suburb of the village I think most of them live in the neighbours gardens.
I will be downloading many pictures in the future, telling the story of my years of Hedgehog study.
I notice the smaller Hedgehogs are the males and the big ones the females.
Keep your eyes peeled for the youngsters coming to feed this month, and later in the year a second or late breeding produces youngsters who will find it difficult to survive the winter.

i wasn't to sure about there breeding , thanks for the tip , i was hoping to see some young hogs, i will keep feeding now, when do they hibernate is it late October?

 

[Tanny]

Late October is the normal time for the Hedgehogs to hibernate but there are many reports of them being seen even in December. With this "Global Warming" many thing are changing in the natural world. Any Hedgehog found during the day is one that is not well and should be taken to a specialist Hedgehog carer or any other wildlife organisation.

 

[Peewit]

Great to see your Hedgehog photos, read your report about them and their antics, Tanny

Hope you are well :gh:

 

[SteveTS]

Late October is the normal time for the Hedgehogs to hibernate but there are many reports of them being seen even in December. With this "Global Warming" many thing are changing in the natural world. Any Hedgehog found during the day is one that is not well and should be taken to a specialist Hedgehog carer or any other wildlife organisation.

With the continuing mild weather you may still be able to see hedgehogs out and about in the south and east.

A wildlife 'rescue & welfare' charity in Norfolk currently claims to be caring for 150+ young hedgehogs with new admissions daily. No wonder they are scarce in some parts!

Despite the depredations of relentless roadkill and the lunacy of slug pellet use in gardens would it not be more realistic to let nature take it's course?

 

[keith]

With the continuing mild weather you may still be able to see hedgehogs out and about in the south and east.

A wildlife 'rescue & welfare' charity in Norfolk currently claims to be caring for 150+ young hedgehogs with new admissions daily. No wonder they are scarce in some parts!

Despite the depredations of relentless roadkill and the lunacy of slug pellet use in gardens would it not be more realistic to let nature take it's course?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by letting nature taking it's course?, doing nothing to help them?.

 

[SteveTS]

The challenge is to grasp the fact that young hedgehogs are frequently active during the day. They are not strictly nocturnal.

If you encounter a young hedgehog going about its business during the day it is highly likely that there is nothing at all wrong with it and is best left alone.

It is a fallacy that they need rescuing.



Best wishes,

 

[keith]

The challenge is to grasp the fact that young hedgehogs are frequently active during the day. They are not strictly noctu
If you encounter a young hedgehog going about its business during the day it is highly likely that there is nothing at all wrong with it and is best left alone.

It is a fallacy that they need rescuing.



Best wishes,

A lot of young hedgehogs are underweight at this time of year and unlikely to survive hibernation. It doesn't do any harm to have them weighed to find out.