How do hedgehogs mate?

Bebop said:
I’d take any hog around here. We get none.
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Of all the years I've lived here, last year was the first time in many years that I'd actually seen any, be that road pizza or otherwise.
Don't give up hope, you never know :)
Have you tried leaving food out overnight?
Magpoos and stray moggies will eat it, so keep an eye on it if at all possible.
 
Cobra said:
Of all the years I've lived here, last year was the first time in many years that I'd actually seen any, be that road pizza or otherwise.
Don't give up hope, you never know :)
Have you tried leaving food out overnight?
Magpoos and stray moggies will eat it, so keep an eye on it if at all possible.
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I'm worried about rats. We definitely get badgers in the garden and I think foxes, though less often. I've only ever seen one squashed hedgehog on the IOW and no live ones in the 30 years I've lived here.

We've recently buried our 17 year old cat, and something has been trying to dig her up :( Badgers I suspect.

I used to put the leftover cat food out for my Crows. I'm afraid I shoo away the Magpies, Rooks and Jackdaws, but welcome the Jays and my family of Crows - weirdly they seem to have worked it out. Although the Crows and Jays are a little jumpy, they're fine to see me through the window.

Yesterday whilst driving, I saw a Crow behaving very strangely - almost hovering, and as I drove past I could see another one squashed on the road :( a mate I suspect.
 
Bebop said:
We definitely get badgers in the garden and I think foxes, though less often.
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Cool (y)

Bebop said:
I've only ever seen one squashed hedgehog on the IOW and no live ones in the 30 years I've lived here.
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That's a shame, I wonder if there is only a few HH's there, due to it being a little isolated from the rest of the main land?
Although I see you have a HH rescue & sanctuary there, so it must be worth their while.

Bebop said:
We've recently buried our 17 year old cat, and something has been trying to dig her up :( Badgers I suspect.
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:(

Bebop said:
I'm afraid I shoo away the Magpies, Rooks and Jackdaws, but welcome the Jays and my family of Crows
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Although they are very pretty birds, I guess you know that Jay's are as bad as magpies for nest robbing, and baby bird killing?

Bebop said:
Yesterday whilst driving, I saw a Crow behaving very strangely - almost hovering, and as I drove past I could see another one squashed on the road :( a mate I suspect.
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Or dinner ;)
 
Cobra said:
Although they are very pretty birds, I guess you know that Jay's are as bad as magpies for nest robbing, and baby bird killing?
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yes, and there was some pretty brutal footage of it stealing ALL of the wren chicks from the nest on Springwatch :( I’m hoping if I feed them, they don’t do that

I only ever get two at the most, and I assume they are a pair. The Rooks, Magpies and Jackdaws come in big hoodlum gangs and empty my feeders
This morning my OH was alerted to Magpies having a go at my Crows grr! How dare they!
 
Bebop said:
The Rooks, Magpies and Jackdaws come in big hoodlum gangs and empty my feeders
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The biggest problem I have here are feral & wood pigeons, they come in mob handed too, up to 30 at a time.
I have a caged ground feeder for the smaller errr ground feeding birds.
Some of the feral pigeons could squeeze through the bars, and empty the tray in 30 seconds flat!

I stopped that by adding a further horizontal bar, well wire, mid way all the way round.
Now they just sit under the hanging feeders, waiting for the sparrows to appear, that turf out anything they don't fancy.
Fussy buggers :LOL:
 
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It's the Goldies here who feed the pigeons. They seem to just nip the middle out of the sunflower hearts wee feed them and let the ends drop to the ground. Not quite so mad now we have more squirrel proof feeders with trays but the bu99ers still drop plenty down!

Used to get a couple of hedgies a few years back but not seen any in the garden for about 5 years. Got 6" holes in the bottom of the fences where they used to commute.
 
Nod said:
It's the Goldies here who feed the pigeons. They seem to just nip the middle out of the sunflower hearts wee feed them and let the ends drop to the ground. Not quite so mad now we have more squirrel proof feeders with trays but the bu99ers still drop plenty down!
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Glad it's not just ours that do that!
The Bluetits never waste a crumb but the Goldfinch make a hell of a mess!
 
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Nod said:
It's the Goldies here who feed the pigeons.
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I get a small flock of goldies from time to time, they swing by to drink and bathe in the pond, but never stop long enough for a meal.
 
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Being right on the edge of town, our pigeons are all woodies and we also get a few collared doves. As far as we've seen, no town pigeons can be bothered to make the trek up here!
 
Back to the hoggies.
I'm not sure if this is the same one that has been visiting the last few nights, or not.
It looks larger, came close to the house, and didn't do mach 3 down the garden when I turned on the outside lights.
After it had cleared the offerings, it came down to the house, near the planters.
I dropped it a few mealworms to see if it would fully uncurl, but not this time…

IMG_8382.jpg
 
A hedgehog appeared in our garden last night for the first time since last autumn. I thought we had lost them as, I think, in previous years they have returned from hibernation earlier than this.

The dog found it and was, as always, interested and confused in equal measure.

Dave
 
Gav. said:
Glad it's not just ours that do that!
The Bluetits never waste a crumb but the Goldfinch make a hell of a mess!
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Yes. The finches, all of them, are messy feeders - sit there chomping away and dropping bits everywhere, unlike the very tidy tit family who grab and go.

Not that I would want to lose the finches, The goldfinches are a delight to see.

Dave
 
Last nights raid.
After it finished it normal meal, it moved on to the baked potato skins I'd thrown out for the birds in the morning,
You can just about make it out, under its left paw.
And yes it did eat them all.

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Nod said:
Don't blame it - the skins are the best bit!
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Or maybe because I rolled them in salt before putting them in the oven :D
Yeah I know, I've probably given it a heart attack now, but as reported elsewhere the sparrows are still eating the salt slug barriers I have in a couple of places.
 
Cobra said:
Or maybe because I rolled them in salt before putting them in the oven :D
Yeah I know, I've probably given it a heart attack now, but as reported elsewhere the sparrows are still eating the salt slug barriers I have in a couple of places.
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I can't understand why they're left over - I'm with @Nod - the best bit! :D
 
Bebop said:
I can't understand why they're left over - I'm with @Nod - the best bit! :D
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Sometimes I eat them, sometimes I don't, its like marmite, I'm ambivalent about that too :D
 
He seems a regular now. (around midnight under halogen floodlights, no flash)
And he has quite a varied appetite too. ( I try different things)
Last night's offerings, mealworms, sunflower seeds, peanuts, cooked chicken, and even a little stale cake.
All soaked in water for a few minutes, and on checking about an hour later, he'd eaten the lot!

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After reading back a bit, I've started to wonder if it's not only me whom ( now there's a 20if century word) is hated by hodge hegs

I think I feel better now.not utterly sure but genuinely thiink this thread has helped me mental state

Well we can all dream can't we :LOL:
 
Stuart Philpott said:
I think I feel better now.not utterly sure but genuinely thiink this thread has helped me mental state
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I'm glad to have helped even if in some small way Stu.
Oh FYI, hoggy is out there right now, stuffing his face on a personally prepared ala carte meal :D
 
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Cobra said:
I'm glad to have helped even if in some small way Stu.
Oh FYI, hoggy is out there right now, stuffing his face on a personally prepared ala carte meal :D
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Well I have your attention( I was gonna send ya a PM) I'd also like to thank ya for the other stuff to help me buddy out chris bless ya THAN K YOU

Back to topic and horrible hegs.......... we are now down to one regular which scoffs grub along with 3 adult foxes and five cubs........it's been quite amazing to witness Chris Seemiingly no conflict bar over exhuberance with a young kidlet fox which had us both in stitches cub went vertically a few feet maybe a spike to the nose.

I have a cool fun pic to share of resident hog but other matters have prevented me editing it as yet

Oh an don't talk to me about ala carte beastie menues oh mate just don't.......shaz is now convinced the GWS kida are about to arrive, so she's had 2 items of pottery nicked by the foxes and her concoction now lives up a tree..so photo ops ahve also gone saff

I'm stubborn but as I age coming to the viewpoint one shouldn't get involved with wild beasties :runaway: :ROFLMAO:
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Well I have your attention( I was gonna send ya a PM) I'd also like to thank ya for the other stuff to help me buddy out chris bless ya THAN K YOU
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As above Stu you are most welcome :)

A spine to the snout will make even the strongest leap out of the way, I'm convinced of that :D

Stuart Philpott said:
I'm stubborn but as I age coming to the viewpoint one shouldn't get involved with wild beasties :runaway: :ROFLMAO:
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:LOL: Being retired I have plenty of time to waste on helping out wildlife.

Quite a turn around for me ;)
 
As I've suspected for a few days now, I'm feeding at least 2 hedgehogs.
They were both facing off over last night's offerings at the top table in The Cobra Cantina.
It's obvious when I saw them face to face, there is a definite size difference.

However, there seems to be no hard and fast rules regarding sexual dimorphism, both age and general condition seems to play a large part.

So without picking them up and shaking them to see if one or both rattle,
I can just hope they are a pair, and will hang around.
 
Cobra said:
As I've suspected for a few days now, I'm feeding at least 2 hedgehogs.
They were both facing off over last night's offerings at the top table in The Cobra Cantina.
It's obvious when I saw them face to face, there is a definite size difference.

However, there seems to be no hard and fast rules regarding sexual dimorphism, both age and general condition seems to play a large part.

So without picking them up and shaking them to see if one or both rattle,
I can just hope they are a pair, and will hang around.
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Sexing hodge hegs is easy Chris ya just have to wait for the flea bags to scratch an ear.............................hmm easy..........well I could qualify that with an image ,naturally I can't get near to posting for trying to help me mate through his ordeal....................and far far too much work

But you have loadsa time.( read extra-ordinary levels of jealous/y/ ness....... envy ETC ETC)...so just wait for an ear scratch.

:ROFLMAO: (y)
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Chris ya just have to wait for the flea bags to scratch an ear..
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:LOL:
Mine don't have fleas, we get a better class of Erinaceinae down here, don't ya know?
:D
 
Does their Hoggery know no bounds?.
The usual food was left out last night, along with a couple of chopped strawberries.
Like the well-trained house guests, they are, main first, dessert later.
 
Very envious I saw one in my road about 4 years ago at night - I am beginning to think that I should start looking last thing at night just in case there are any.
 
davholla said:
Very envious I saw one in my road about 4 years ago at night - I am beginning to think that I should start looking last thing at night just in case there are any.
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Mine turn up anywhere between the last few mins of daylight or about 2 am.
Try leaving food out, and see what happens.

Meal worms are tasty, very tasty ( :D) but you need to supplement it with something like dog food, as dried mealworms aren't really that nutritious.
The first sign here was a couple of years ago, when one climbed over the 6 foot fence ( ! ) at dusk, late summer.
I was sitting outside late one night and heard a thud. Just in time to see it bounce and roll!

I ended up feeding 5. They all turned up mob handed occasionally.
But that was the first sighting here in many many years. either live or road pizza
 
Cobra said:
:LOL:
Mine don't have fleas, we get a better class of Erinaceinae down here, don't ya know?
:D
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OUCH :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :LOL::LOL::LOL:

TBF.............................The forum does need some humble lower class members Chris.............we.sorry I :headbang::ROFLMAO: fullfill a role which makes the overs feel upper to middle class guess I tend to make images of lower class subjects too...same mental age probably

init.:banana:

Did anyone else think of the 2 Ronnies AFTER reading above reply........

I'd get my coat but

tis 2 hot

Thankyou bud I cherish everything that makes me smile right now(y)
 
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The word is out, the Cobra Cantina is the place to eat in MK.

I briefly flicked the lights on, around midnight, to see if the guests had eaten, and left. There was a much smaller one getting stuck in. ( thats #3)
I think it was too big to be a 2023 hog, ( and probably a bit early too) , but it was difficult to tell, as the lights were only on for a couple of seconds.
They went off as soon as I saw it, as it turned to face me.
 
Cobra said:
Absolutely Gav, absolutely

But then they are called hedge pigs in some area's :D
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Prickly Pigs in Greece (well, on Crete, anyway!) One of the first bits of Cretan wildlife we learned the local name for - Skanjohiros (in as close to the English phonetic spelling as I can get.)

Sadly, they're more common flattened than trundling over there too but they seem more plentiful this year, judging by the number of flat ones we saw.
 
Nod said:
Prickly Pigs in Greece (well, on Crete, anyway!) One of the first bits of Cretan wildlife we learned the local name for - Skanjohiros (in as close to the English phonetic spelling as I can get.)

Sadly, they're more common flattened than trundling over there too but they seem more plentiful this year, judging by the number of flat ones we saw.
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You can't help but hope that the number of flattened ones and the number living are correlated. I've only ever seen one squashed one on the Isle of Wight in 30 years. That was the other side of the island to me, so maybe they are all over that side. Too many badgers and foxes around here perhaps.
 
This week I was overjoyed to see my first live hedgehog on the Isle of Wight. I had to stop my car to let it cross - thankfully no traffic around at 2 a.m. This was then tempered by seeing one dead in the middle of the road about 50metres on :(
I hope you don't mind me sharing my hedgehog news on your thread @Cobra It's only taken me 30 years to spot one here.
 
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