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Does anyone in Chch have Hedgehogs


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I remember as kids we looked after the odd hedgehog when we found them.

Once had a baby/juvenile one that we fed on bread soaked in milk, grubs, worms etc

we always released them after a few months but they where good to watch getting around on the lawn sniffing out food :D

Very interesting critters.

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I have mixed feelings about hedgies. They are less cute when they are raiding my hens nests for eggs/babies. They seem to prefer partly incubated eggs. :evil: I trap them and take them for a drive, as I have discovered they can home for about a km (did a tagging experiment on one that I thought I recognised and sure enough he came back repeatedly). I put them in the local park where they can be of use eating snails.

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Around here there are sometimes young ones born late in the year and don't have enough condition to hibernate. They are sometimes wandering about all forlorn and full of mange. We found one last year and gave it to hedgy rescue but they usually don't make it we were told.

Yeah that's the trouble - we used to get them a lot when we lived in Taupo. Obviously the colder the climate the shorter time they have to get really fat before it gets too cold for them and they have to go & snuggle down for a few months (I wish I had that lifestyle!)

Also then those pesky humans start burning their stacks of firewood and cleaning up piles of leaves and branches, and the poor little hedgehogs have to go out in the cold and find a new home. Then they are all slow and groggy and dogs harass them, or they go onto the road where it's warm from the sun and they get run over! Poor little things!

The worst was when someone would have a bonfire in a pile of rubbish that had been sitting around for a few months and all the poor little animals had to run for their lives. We used to try to check through any pile before we had a bonfire but it's hard to find everyone tucked away all snug and asleep in the middle of the pile. :cry:

We were always told that any hedgehog that's out in the daytime is likely to be sick and carrying mange, ringworm, etc etc. So should be handled with care - wrap it in a cloth to pick it up, be careful not to put your hands near your face, and wash your hands thoroughly after you have handled it.

As for being friendly, a healthy wild hedgehog will curl up when you go near it - if it doesn't it might be a sign that it's sick. But once they get a bit more domesticated they will rarely curl up (unless they get a fright). On the other hand (so to speak) a scared hedgehog makes the best ever winter mittens! If you're holding one and it curls into a ball around your hand, its tummy is all soft and furry and warm and it holds on very tightly! :lol:

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haha nice, whats a baby turkey called? turklet? :D

don't be silly. A baby pig is a piglet, and a baby hog is a hotlet (actually, i think it's a piglet, but hoglet sounds better). Therefore, a baby hedgehog is a hedgehoglet. A baby duck is a duckling, so a baby turkey must be a turkling.

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