I haven't seen any hedgehog babies this year, but yesterday this little fellow was out looking for food in the middle of the day: Since they are supposed to sleep during the day, I guess there's a little food shortage now due to the cold. He ate heartily from the cat food, and sat very still in my palm while my husband fetched food.
What a lovely photograph Droopy. I'd be a little worried about a hedgehog that young being out during daylight hours though. So glad you gave him a good feed as I'm sure it will help him fatten up for winter.
That's our thoughts excactly eileen! He's a bit on the small side. I check every hedgehog that comes by, to remove ticks and see if they're fattening up. This one seemed healthy enough, so hopefully a bit of extra food will help. They love having their ears scratched, by the way.
They also like having their tummies scratched!! I found a tiny baby hedgehog a few years ago trying to feed from its dead mother at the side of a road. I took it home, fed it kitten milk to start with (from an eye dropper- every two hours ) and then taught it what slugs and worms were all about. It grew up to be big, healthy adult and survived the winter well. It hibernated under our garden shed. I had put a small patch of food dye on its ears to identify it so knew it was the same animal. I'd like to think that the ones that visit our garden now are descendants of my 'Spike.' :-D Good luck with your little one. I'll keep my fingers crossed for him.
What a cute little guy! I only ever see Hedgehogs as pets here in Ontario. Sounds like they are very friendly little creatures Droopy.
Eileen - what a delightful story! We recognize one of the adults, but the rest are impossible to tell apart as long as we only see them once or twice per week. Netty - they are! Some are a bit timid to start with, but they get housewarm (gardenwarm) very quickly. Chitweed - never! They feed on slugs, frogs, worm and small, dead animals. Occasionally they make a mess out of leafdrifts or heaps of garden waste, but only to find slugs.
I would dearly love a friendly critter that eats slugs in my garden - you are so blessed! He's adorable, too.
DS used to have a hedgie that looked just like that. Got it from a friend who had tired of it, and we soon learned why, silly thing loved nothing better than to lather icky stuff all over itself. We moved it along to some folks who cared for a number of hedgies but I've often wished for one in my slug-plagued garden! O, here's a fun website, it's intended for teachers (I substitute as a para) but has alot of hedgie stuff, fun for homeschool kids or whatever: www.janbrett.com
CritterPainter - thank you for the link. I've bookmarked it for later use. We have grown-ups around too. They are used to my walking around them, and occasionally they stop and wait for a feed.
It has been so long since I saw a hedgehog up close and personal! Lovely story Elieen. Lovely hodgeheg!
