In mid 2021, Sandra & Ian found a small hedgehog curled up on the step at their front door. They rang their local Veterinary Surgeons who advised them there was a Hedgehog rescue centre a few miles away.
Sandra & Ian were told that the hedgehog was curled up against their house as the hog was seeking warmth, the fact that it was out in daylight meant it was probably poorly. Sandra & Ian popped the little hoggy into a cardboard box and took it along to rescue centre, sadly the little hog passed away a few days later. They made Sandra aware that hedgehogs were in decline, due to various reasons, loss of habitat, etc.
Sandra was keen to try to help, so asked Ian if he could build a feeding station for the hedgehogs. Ian used some spare wood he had and made their first feeding station. At this point, Sandra decided she wanted to be able to keep an eye on the hedgehog, so we placed a small camera inside the feeding station. Some of the footage was of hedgehogs and some of it was how their neighbour’s cat managed to get itself inside to eat the kitten biscuits.
The layout of the feeding station above had to be changed. There ended up being 5 iterations before the neighbour’s cat could no longer gain entry, though the hoggies could still get their feed. All we can say is the neighbour’s cat must be hungry!
Below is with a camera mounted inside and with the opening to the hog house restricted even further, to prevent hungry cats from entering.
Below is the second hog house. This was to be used for hibernation and for hogs to sleep in.
The images above and below are of the second hoghouse, we waterproofed the lid by gluing some plastic sheet on. Within 2 days of putting this hog house outside with some straw and hay nearby, a hedgehog took up residency, there are videos of him carrying stuff into making a nest. We christened the Hedgehog that moved in “Hoova”, as pickup all sorts of things. The hedgehog disappeared from the end of December 2021 until the end of February 2022. We presume he went into hibernation.
