Baby hedgehogs latest news

 

 

 

It’s like having a baby!   Or rather five of them all at once.   The baby hedgehogs need feeding every two hours at this stage but it is getting easier.   At first they were so frightened it took a while to get them to relax and uncurl so we could try to feed them.   Now it’s a lot better.   They are getting used to being handled and will stay uncurled – they like to have their tummies tickled too!

These little hoglets are the sweetest of creatures, it’s sad that too often their habitat is disturbed by humans.   Please don’t put slug pellets down as they sometimes eat slugs (although these are not usually their main food).   If they eat a poisoned slug they will die.   Numbers of hedgehogs are in decline.

Our baby hedgehogs have very different characteristics and it’s easy, when you know them, to tell them apart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When they are all curled up together, uncurling them is quite a knack.    There is such a difference in size between them that I am beginning to wonder if they are from different litters.

Biggie is a strong chap and uncurls fairly easily, when he’s snoozing he will stretch out and let me stroke him.   Once he gets the taste of the goat’s milk he sucks strongly – but only for a short time – then he falls asleep, he’s had enough.

Huffie is the second biggest but he’s much more difficult to handle – this is because he is still frightened.   He curls up more and it’s tricky to get the teat in his mouth to get him started.   When he does get going he suckles well though.

Woody is medium sized and usually uncurls easily and takes his milk well after it’s been trickled across his mouth and he realizes again what it is.   It must be very alarming to have to feed from a plastic teat when all they want is their mother.  I wonder where she is and what happened to her.

Pearl is one of the small ones, her velvety fur is a lovely champagne colour.   She is easy to pick up and doesn’t curl up and takes her feed well.  She’s so tiny though that it has to be a little and often.

And then there’s Minnie, who is tiny but has the will to live – she does not curl up and is easy to pick up and stroke, she seems to like to be handled and sucks well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biggie is starting to move round more and last night he opened his eyes for the first time.   He gave me a long look and then closed them again and went back to sleep!