At the start of winter last year we took in a baby hedgehog. Found on the road in the day by a friend of a friend who was out running. We asked if they would like us to overwinter the baby in our home and to try and reintroduce her to the wild once spring arrived and she was a good weight to survive.
That was 4-5 months ago and since then 'Sonic' (named by my husband, but then we found out she was a girl and so changed to Sonique) has put on a ton of weight. She has stayed well and as a nocturnal animal, only came out at night to enjoy her rspca guideline amount of meaty catfood and mealworms. We've just left her be, apart from cleaning out the large cage we housed her in and changing her water dish daily. Weighing her was kept as a quick and efficient affair - usually over in a couple of minutes, but always filled with plenty of ouches and other choice language. FYI - hedgehog prickles are sharp - even through thick gardeners gloves!
So now we've hit the start of spring. Those months have flown by. And last weekend my husband (a gardener by trade) took Sonique to a nearby friend's garden where he has seen hedgehogs before when helping them tend to their lawn and shrubbery.
I took the opportunity the day before she left, while I was changing her bedding and water, to quickly snap a few images of her. Like I said, up to now, she's been left well alone to stay as wild as possible. So one day I'll be able to say, "Hey kids, remember that year we rescued a hedgehog?" And we'll have the images to look back on too.
Thanks for reading peeps.
x Fleur x
(PS - the trick to seeing better quality versions of the images is to click on them... Cheers loves!)
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