scampo
Steve Campsall
We found a beautiful and fairly young-looking hedgehog in our garage last weekend. It was the highlight of an otherwise pretty poor weekend mostly spent tending an ill father-in-law. Isn't it wonderful how wildlife can lift you and help you put worries into perspective?
Anyway, he (?) was sleeping in the vent tube that comes from our tumble drier and had managed to chew sufficient plastic away from beyond his chosen position to allow the warm air to escape and yet still leave him very comfy - warm air central heating? I did have a vision of switching it on and seeing a hedgehog fire out of the end, but no.
We put some cat food out and he delicately ate the lot; then we carefully removed the whole vent pipe along with hedgehog to a yard wide space at the rear of our garage (very sheltered but in the open) and put him under a weighted down upturned plastic crate along with some straw. We've fed him daily since by slipping a saucer under the crate. We've been using a mixture of dried and tinned cat food, along with food scraps and fat.
Can anyone advise if we are doing the right thing for him - for his health and longevity? The crate is propped up just sufficiently to allow a small enough gap for him to crawl under but it is, in itself, only a foot high and I was wondering if that allowed sufficient depth to keep him warm enough during his hibernation over the winter? The area is surrounded on three sides by the garage wall and two garden fences.
Anyway, he (?) was sleeping in the vent tube that comes from our tumble drier and had managed to chew sufficient plastic away from beyond his chosen position to allow the warm air to escape and yet still leave him very comfy - warm air central heating? I did have a vision of switching it on and seeing a hedgehog fire out of the end, but no.
We put some cat food out and he delicately ate the lot; then we carefully removed the whole vent pipe along with hedgehog to a yard wide space at the rear of our garage (very sheltered but in the open) and put him under a weighted down upturned plastic crate along with some straw. We've fed him daily since by slipping a saucer under the crate. We've been using a mixture of dried and tinned cat food, along with food scraps and fat.
Can anyone advise if we are doing the right thing for him - for his health and longevity? The crate is propped up just sufficiently to allow a small enough gap for him to crawl under but it is, in itself, only a foot high and I was wondering if that allowed sufficient depth to keep him warm enough during his hibernation over the winter? The area is surrounded on three sides by the garage wall and two garden fences.
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