So pleased to see this little tinker

When the cat that has adopted us leaves any pouch food that contains fish I mix my usual gravy dog food into it and the hedgehog eats all the dog meat and leaves the fish so I can only assume the fish it leaves is of a variety that it doesn’t like so I end up throwing it away before the flies get to it

I was a bit worried Monday morning as the bowl of food hadn’t been touched and thought he/she might have got its self run over but was pleased to see the food has been eaten overnight and as a thank you it leaves me its poo to clean up off the garden path

 

I for one am thrilled for you @Sienna's Blossom, and maybe you will be able to provide for him/her. If the conditions are right, you will be able to watch out for the rest of the family. They are super friends for the gardener - if nothing else, a fresh bowl of water is a must!

 

Kandy, fish products and gravy will not be best for your hogs - they will eat anything they find especially in this kind of weather, but the wrong foods make them ill....maybe you could splash out for a bag of dried kibble ?
The best time to feed is in the evening between say 9 and 10, and then remove anything left over in case it encourages rats.

 

Hello Sienna I am pleased one turned up for you to see ...they always carry such sorrowful faces

 

We've got 4 hogs that visit most nights + Badger + Fox, we now have cctv to watch them

 

Jiffy I bet your pleased with your cctv mate...it's mainly fox's around here and in all the 10yrs we've been here only one hedgehog

 

A couple of hedgehogs here too......completes the garden for me.

 

Regarding feeding animals 'Pork'. I used to keep and breed ferrets. My local butcher used to keep me supplied with trays of frozen day old chickc (all cocks, as they are not wanted by modern day chicken farmers), sometimes stocks would run out, so he'd save various scraps for me. One day the lad helping him in the shop, included in the mince a couple of pigs ears. It was a horrible sight when I found all my ferrets dead. Picture how most animals curl up when sleeping. All my little friends were curled up, but backwards. Even thinking of it now, makes my eyes flood.

Thankfully times have changed regarding man and animals. So much more still needs to be done to educate us more. Just this week in a local newspaper. It had an article about a horse being found on waste ground with a broken leg. It was immediately put down.

Thanks to TV and the various animal welfare societies, more is coming to light. Stop and think.

 

I feel the same as Verdun. A wild animal visisting my garden truly means something. It helps me to understand that we can all live together within reason.

Valerie used to name every fox that came into our tiny garden. One in particular, she was a large vixen. When the kits arrived, they would proudly be brought along to say hello. One day a newcommer came in. He/she eagerly acceptd food and water and then curled up and went to sleep. I ventured out and managed to gently stroke it, no panic. A few hours later, I discovered the poor soul had died.

We hand read two baby squirrels once. A mate who was a tree surgeon was working on a poplar in the garden backing onto mine. He heard a sqeaking sound and found these two little mites on the ground. He cam in cupping them in his hands. Mike, Val. Can you do anything with these. Honestly, I haven't the heart to destroy them. We hand reared them. I constructed a latge cage in the garden with closed warm sleeping section. They were so different. One was so tame the other one would slash your hand off. My daughter Amand would care for them whilst we were away. One year we returned and only one, YES the angry one was still in the cage. How, why etc had the other one got out, I'll never know.

Time arrived for my council home to be rewired. A youngster took a dislike to me, he'd seen the cage in the garden. Not long after I had a visit from the RSPCA. Strange, but just a couple of hours previous, I had found the remaing toby dead and had bagged him up. I was read the usual gumph etc. I had learned as a trainee cop, the law relating to the protection of animals act. I was told that it's unlawful to catch a wild animal/bird etc. However I was allowed to care for an injured etc one. Now this strikes a chord. On TV you see wild critters released back into the wild. GREAT. However. Had I released these Toby's, I could have faced prosecution. WHY? Beacause sadly these litle critters are classified as VERMIN. So damned if you do and damned if you don't. I offered the RSPCA the bag saying. This little fellow has lived fourteen years with us. Is that a crime?

 

@Tetters I can’t rememebr where I read it but the article said that dog food in gravy was a good thing to feed the hedgehogs on so have been using it for a number of years and they all seem fine.When I have my trail cam set up the hedgehog comes even in the early hours as well as as soon as it gets dark so the food stays out until we get up in the morning.I tried using dried cat biscuits in with the meat but he ended up leaving the biscuits

Had a nice surprise when I opened the back door to put the food out at ten although this one isn’t the usual one as it doesn’t rattle with lung worm like the other one used to.Had to use the flash on the camera to get the bright shot The food has gone this morning so it must have had its fill and trundled off.

Lovey to see photos of everyone’s hogs plus love the badger shots

Interesting about being told that squirrels are vermin and need to be destroyed and not kept in cages until they die but the human vermin that kill fellow humans are allowed to live and kept in prison cells until they die.Doesnt make sense to me as I know what I would rather let live

 

Great shots Kandy and this fellow looks healthy enough...I think your over feeding

 

It didn't start of to good as duff machine, but now it's working tis good

 

What you mean mate it wouldn't set up right at first

 

Wouldn't work properly, so complained and got another one that works

 

Well it takes the shots good mate