Little Cotton Rabbits

A quick hoglet update

Just a quickie to let you know how Herbie Hogwort is fairing. It was exactly a week ago today that he was found crying piteously, wet, cold and hungry near to a dead brother/sister. Then he weighed just 140gms but after a week of goats milk mixed with chicken flavour kitten food he now weighs in at a plump 195gms! He's doing really well and has tried some raisins, crushed nuts and kitten biscuits.

He's also having fun playing with an old flower pot, some pebbles and an empty snail shell which he likes to bite, shake and carry around.

Unfortunately he still has 2 of the 4 ticks that he was found with - I got 2 to drop off by painting them with olive oil and will now try vaseline to coat the remaining 2 which hopefully will block up their ability to breathe and make them drop off - hideous things!

Hopefully he carry on putting on lots of weight and be ready to release back into the wild before the weather gets too cold. Thanks to Jo who has been giving me some great advice about hedgehog raising via email.

Our new addition!

On Thursday we had a new addition to our family - meet Herbert (I wanted to call him Hogwort but Amy over-ruled me!)

He's a baby hedgehog (hoglet) approx 4 weeks old, 140gms and orphaned so will be staying with us until he's big enough to make it on his own. For now he's living in a crate in the garage with a snuggly bed made from an old towel, shredded newspaper and a little hay. He's chowing down on chicken kitten food mixed with a little goats milk and although he has 4 ticks is otherwise healthy and alert. I'm hand rearing him with support from an official carer of the British Hedgehog preservation society who have an excellent website packed full of information and hedgehoggy facts.

If you find an injured or sick hedgehog you should always contact them or the RSPCA and ask for advice before removing an animal from the wild. Since Herbert was found alone in broad daylight and calling near to another dead baby hodger it was clear he needed help and wasn't going to make it on his own. We're now trying to build his weight up to  around 600gms so that he'll be able to be released into the wild ready for his winter hibernation. Will keep you posted on his progress!