I hope everyone is warm and staying safe in this cold snap.
There are still reports of hedgehogs out and about, so please give them food and fresh water.
Many people think that hedgehogs will always hibernate in the winter, but with our fluctuating temperatures this is not the case.
Even when they do hibernate they will wake up and look for food and water for a night, then go back to sleep.
The hedgehogs I have overwintering here seem very reluctant to hibernate this year and those that have, are waking every few days.
So no rest from cleaning and feeding for me..
In fact, despite fewer admissions, it is still quite busy.
Hedgehogs that are over wintering and not hibernating, are at risk of becoming obese and need constant monitoring. They are eating well but not getting the exersize they would in the wild.
They also need the occasional
manacure, as they do not wear their claws down as they would scurrying around ,digging for food.
This is Ryan. He is still on medicatiin fke e.coli in his nostrils so cannot hibernate anyway. He is eating well and is over 1kg in weight. Fortunantly, he really enjoys a run around every day.
Four little ones in so far this week. Sadly two did not respond to treatment and passed away shortly after arrival.
The other two are doing well. Both had lungworm and other internal parasites.
One is a male called Rufus. The other is a female called Flora. She wasn't eating initially but after some hand feeds started to eat on her own.
Heres Flora taking her hand feed, she was a very hungry little girl. It is not milk but a special critical care solution.
Sorry about poor quality of video. Quite difficult hand feeding and filming at the same time..
I haven't had time to write a post this last week. It has been hectic.
An adult female arrived last Thursday. She had been seen out in the day for several days.
On arrival she was cold, underweight and trembling .
She clearly had neurological problems. I took her to Seren Vets where a very nice new vet at Seren called Lance sedated her to examine her and xrayed her.
The xray showed she had a lot of fluid in her abdomen. Some of this fluid was drawn off and did not have blood in it. The concern was she may have been hit by a vehicle and had suffered head trauma and possibly a ruptured bladder.
She received anti biotics and pain killers and I then kept her under observations over the weekend.
Late Sunday night I checked her and she was shacking violently. Fortunantly this decreased but she was still shacking. Despite all this she still was eating well but losing weight.
I was concerned these symptoms may, infact, be being caused due to her ingesting poison.I took her to Seren Vets again where she was seen by Kevin. She was given a steroid injection and is having some activated charcoal.
Hopefully as she has survived this long and continued eating she will start to recover although this may take some time.
A juvenile arrived having been seen out in the day. The finder put food out but he wasn't eating and was losing weight.
He does have some internal parasites and has only taken some hand feeds so far.
He is called Heath.
I collected a very small juvenile as the finder couldn't drive. Being so small I wanted to get him into rescue urgently. Unfortunantly when I collected him he was freezing cold and very weak. He had maggots in every orifice. I took him to the vets to be put to sleep but he passed away on route.
I have just collected a large male from Seren Vets. Found by a dog. He had lots of ticks on his face. Seren vets sedated him and removed a large number of ticks and checked him for injuries.
He will stay with me for observations as large numbers of ticks ar
I am still removing ticks from the little hedgehog, now called Norman, that arrived a couple of days ago. The count is now approaching 400 ticks and still quite a few nymphs to remove. Now Norman is stronger I have applied a hedgehog safe spot on that will hopefully kill the remaining ticks so as poor Norman does not have to endure any more being manually removed.( Please do not ever apply spot ons or sprays to a hedgehog. Many are very dangerous to our hedgehogs. The spot on I applied was under my vets advise and supervision.)
I collected a juvenile this morning from Seren Vets who they had looked after it overnight. Also with lots of ticks which the wonderful staff at Seren Vets had removed quite a few of.
It is really hard not to get attached to some of my prickly patients. Little Nutmeg has been tugging on my heart strings. She had almost passed away when she arrived but after many hours nursing her she made a full recovery. She seems to know, "or am I just being a silly hedgehog lady ", and appears to have developed a really close bond with me.
This has been a very busy week.
Nutmeg, the little girl who arrived a few days ago, completely unresponsive, took a lot of intensive care. After rehydrating, keeping her warm and hand feeding her around the clock for four days, she finally started to tuck into her food. She was possibly suffering from concussion, but is on the mend.
Another small juvenile arrived yesterday. Found in the middle of the road. His finders picked him up and brought him into rescue. On arrival I was very concerned. He was lay on his side,mouth open, his little body floppy and limp. He was clearly dying.
I warmed him, rehydrated him and gave him pain killers and anti biotics. He remained lifeless. His face was swollen on one side and his eye was bloodshot. He clearly had received an injury. At 2am this morning, however, he started to drag himself around slowly. I started to get a little oral hydration and glucose into him, which he started to take very slowly. I did this every hour and each time he was a bit stronger. By this morning he was walking around his cage, digging up his bed, very lively. However, the swelling on his face had gone down a bit, which revealed his little nose to be bent to the left slightly and his lower jaw did not look right.
I took him into Seren Vets where, as usual, they were really helpful and Xrayed this little ones face.
It wasn't good news. His eye socket was fractured and his lower jaw badly broken. He was pts.
So, after working really hard to save his life I had to have him pts. Heartbreaking.
I am still hand feeding my little orphan Ziggy who, I am very glad to say is starting to lap a little milk all by himself, so hopefully, I will be able to reduce his hand feeds soon.
I still have several Hedgehogs in intensive care on daily medications.
Rescueing these little hedgehogs is rewarding at times but also heart breaking, as it was today with the little one being pts.
It has been a hard few weeks, hand rearing, constant nursing very poorly prickly patie
Sadly one of the tiny hoglets that arrived after a dog found their nest has died. The other two, which includes the one that had several visable wounds, are doing very well.
A large 900g male hedgehog was brought in having been seen on the road with cars driving over it . Thank you to the finder who stopped and picked him up.
He is not a well hedgehog. He has a swollen throat area, sneezing and refusing to eat. He has an appointment at Seren Vets later today.
This little one is starting to adjust to being fed every two hours instead of suckling lots of small amounts from mum.
This is a special lactose free milk formula for hedgehogs. Please do not attempt to hand rear orphan hedgehogs yourself. It is extremely difficult and time consuming. They have a very high mortality rate even in experienced hands.
Remember the little badger cub that I took in after it had been found at the side of the road, unable to walk . Well he recovered well under Vet Kevin's care.
Having taken advise from Secret world wildlife rescue it was decided he was well enough and big enough to be returned to were he was found.
He was released last night.
He clearly recognised where he was and set off at speed back to his family set.
Thank you to everyone who had offered to transport him to secret world.
Here he is ...home.
I collected an adult male hedgehog yesterday that had been handed into Seren Vets. He was very wobbly due to being very dehydrated, cold and extremely thin. The staff at Seren did a excellent job of caring for him until I collected him.
He is a bit of a mystery as I cannot find any reason why he should be in such a sorry state. A sample of his feaces does not show a high worm count .
I did wonder if he had been shut in somewhere or trapped in a drain but he was found in a very quite rural location.
Probably never know, but he is eating and drinking really well and has gained 91g overnight. He has also eaten a big breakfast.
He has been called Byron.
Here he is devouring his breakfast. He is ravenous.
Many thanks to Carol Bailey who has been keeping an eye on my baby rabbits at Dinefwr Park.
They are enjoying exploring their new home and have been seen playing with some of the resident rabbits.
Guess how I just spent the last hour?
Yet another update on my little bunny kits for those of you following their progress.
I am astounded how quickly they grow and change.
They are starting to nibble some hay now.
Not my the best video I have made but they are speedy little ones.
Here's a short video of my six little adorable rabbit kits.
They are doing well and growing extremely fast.
I just wanted to reassure everyone who donates for the hedgehogs that your donations are used for the hedgehogs.
I am funding the fostering of the rabbit orphans with a donation made by the finder and from my own personal finances.
