No, I did not name her!
She used to be called Spiky until we were told by a vet that sticky out parts aren't necessarily boy parts.
My seven year old daughter found her on Saturday. She finds a lot of hedgehogs. They usually turn out to be teazels or thistles. I thought this one was dead and I told her to leave it alone. Then it moved.
I know a little about hedgehogs. If they are out in daylight it's not good. If they are out in daylight and are babies it's really not good.
So I picked her up and said we were taking her home. My husband said I was bonkers.
She was very weak and wobbly. I fed her some lactose free milk that we bought on the way home and some cat food and she lapped it up. I spent the afternoon reading all about baby hedgehogs and picking fleas off her with tweezers.
Since then she's been doing okay. She's gaining weight and has perked up no end. But mostly she sleeps. She likes hot water bottles, walking in her food and sleeping in a woolly hat. It turns out she has 4 little wounds which are puncture wounds so it looks like she was taken from her nest by a dog or a fox. Her wounds have become infected and she's on a course of antibiotics. The vet isn't charging me which is very kind.
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| This was when we found her. Now she is much more frisky! |
We also have a local hedgehog hospital and they have provided us with special milk and colostrum to add to the cat food. If she survives and gets fat enough to hibernate I'm sure they can find a good place to release her. (I can't do it here because of the road outside.) If she doesn't reach the right weight then they will keep her awake over winter and release her in the spring. They had 80 babies last winter who were too small to release as they were born too late in the year. But until then, she's staying with us for some TLC. She's a lovely little thing. Even if she has a name like a stripper. (Lucky me! My grand children are to be called Twilight, Sequin, Sparkle and Star! I am so not taking those girls to the park. At least, I hope they're girls with names like that!)
The hedgehog lady said I don't need to feed her through the night which is the best news. Because after two nights of that, I was knackered! Yes, they are nocturnal, but at this stage her mother would be out foraging at night so she wouldn't be fed.
Bad Bobby is rather worried by her, but we think it's the cat carrier that's freaking him out. It reminds him of many stressful trips to the vets.
Fat Freddy wants to eat her and turns into a silent stalker when he sees her. Don't worry, she's living in a cat carrier for her own protection. I took her out for a little walk in the garden today. She walked around me and headed back to her woolly hat bed. Far too chilly.
She's gained 49g in five days which is great. But, I've not been able to carry on with my waxed finish stripping as it's been too wet to do it outside and I don't want to poison poor little Twilight with white spirit fumes.
The other new addition to the family is this:
We have joined the modern world and bought our first car. The seats all collapse for furniture transportation purposes and I look forward to finding out how much I can carry in it!
