case studies
tinker
Tinker was one of a litter of three hedgehogs that I hand fed from about one week old. Tinker was female, and the other two were male. Their mother had been disturbed and had abandoned them.
From the start Tinker was the most difficult to rear. She always struggled whilst being fed and toileted. She was quite a handful. As she grew older she had to be separated from her brothers to stop her from bullying them.
She was quite aggressive in the cage, and would sometimes come out to try to bite, or to escape whilst being fed or cleaned out. One of her tricks was to hang from the mesh on the cage door by her teeth and front paws, and then push off with her back paws to try to bounce the door open to get out. I decided that she needed to be released quickly.
The local Police Community Support Officer, Jackie, volunteered. When she came to see Tinker, the "trick" of hanging from the cage door was repeated. Jackie`s response was to tickle Tinkers tummy through the bars. Forgetting she was hanging by her teeth, Tinker hissed and tried to bite the finger. She bounced off the cage door (she was still swinging from the front paws) and ended up as embarrassed heap at the bottom of the cage.
Tinker was released into Jackie`s garden. I think that Tinker remembered her experience. Jackie said that when she put food down on the patio and turned to go into her home, Tinker would rush out from where she was hiding and nip at Jackie`s leg. This sounds hard to believe, but other carers have told me similar tales, so I believe it is true!
mum and babies
In the last two years I have seen three nursing mothers with litters of babies. In each case the nest had been disturbed; once by someone moving a shed and twice by people in their gardens going about their normal business..
If it is possible, the nest should be re-covered and left undisturbed. It is very awkward moving a nest like this, because the mother could turn on her babies to kill and eat them. This is particularly true during the first few days of the babies life.
In each case I have seen, the people who found them moved the whole nest. You have to take great care not to get human scent on the babies and to limit the stress on the mother. The nest should be covered up and left alone in a quiet spot. Do not be tempted to show the babies to children, neighbours, etc. This will only increase the risk of the mother killing the babies or abandoning them.
Call a carer as soon as possible. Use Joan's mobile number to maximise the chance of getting through.
I take great care with all of the litters we have seen. I keep mother and babies together in an isolation cage. Contact is severely limited, so that all I do is provide food and water for the first four weeks.
lucky
Lucky came to me as a very tiny baby. He was found in a driveway snuggled up to his dead mother. He was very cold and for some time things were touch and go. He was kept indoors in the warmth and was fed regularly by syringe. Gradually he put on weight.
Because he was hand reared from a very early age, Lucky became quite tame. He was used to being handled, and was not afraid of daylight. This, and his relative lack of fear around people, made Lucky the hedgehog we chose to take out fundraising.
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society organised a hedgehog awareness week. As part of this I arranged to go to our local 'Pets at Home' pet supermarket.I took Lucky with me and a small display of information. Many people came to see Lucky who had never seen a hedgehog before. I was able to tell people about hedgehogs and the perils they face from us humans. People became aware of the dangers of slug pellets, food wrappings, strimmers and bonfires. I also raised some much needed funds to help us expand.
The image of Lucky curled up in a ball is one of my favourites. I still use it to help in fund raising. no longer have Lucky, because he was released back into the wild, as most of my success stories are.
Blondie
Blondie came to me at the end of July 2008. He was part of a litter found in a garden in Wednesbury by a regular contact of mine At that time, I was very busy. I was hand feeding seventeen hoglets every two hours. Blondie was just one of them who seemed to be a little bit lighter than the rest.
By the time hoglets reach three or four weeks old their characters become more defined and their colouring settles down. Most hedgehogs are a shade of Grey or dark brown. In contrast, Blondie was a rich golden brown colour.I knew he was special, but I did not know quite how special he was.....
The blond colour is a recessive gene. Both of the parents must be carrying the genes, and the right combination must occur to produce a blond. Then the hog has to survive the perils of growing up in the wild. A blond hedgehog stands out against the background and is far more vulnerable to predators as it is growing up.
A little research told me that most blond hedgehogs come from Alderney in the Channel Isles. It is not clear how there first came to be there, but now around 1 in 5 Alderney hedgehogs are blonds. On the mainland it seems that there have only been 2 - 3 seen in the wild in thirty years.
I decided that Blondie could not be released safely in Staffordshire. I contacted the Guernsey Hedgehog Rescue Centre - Alderney is in the Bailiwick of Guernsey - and they agreed to rehabilitate Blondie. Thanks to the kind offices of Dawn in Guernsey, Blondie was flown to the Channel Isles first class and free of charge by FLYBE airline.
Blondie has settled into quarantine in Guernsey. From there I hope he will be released back into the wild on Alderney in due course.