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Hedgehog Shelter

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  • Last night both juvenile and adult turned up together and munched through a fair amount of pellets.  

    Off to the GC now to get a further supply.

  • Mark56Mark56 Posts: 1,653

    image

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096

    Great

  • Last night two bowls of pellets and water provided.  9.40pm the baby turns up and eats for about 5 minutes, then leaves.

    10 minutes later a medium size hog turns up and starts munching and a few minutes later a similar size one runs at breakneck speed across some open plan gardens and tries to eat from the same bowl.  Then it starts snorting like a steam train and it looks like it's going to be a territorial argument but very quickly the two of them seem to perform a mating ritual.  This is on the front lawn with some shadowy light provided by the street lamp.  The male continues to "snort" or "puff" noisily throughout and keeps circling the female.

    A quick check on the net confirms that we are lucky to witness this ritual which can go on for a number of hours.  By 11.30pm the male didn't seem to be getting anywhere and I was getting tired so I called it a day but hopefully we might see some hoglets in time.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147

    Don't they make a lot of noise about it ... OH is a light sleeper and they regularly wake him up with all their huffing and puffing ... not to mention sliding the dish around on the terrace.  


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    Made a hog house this afternoon, using some random bits of timber I had lying around.  The roof is detachable for cleaning and has rockwool insulation inside to help keep the house warm in winter:

    image

    Plenty of dry grass was placed inside the house itself and I located it under a bush against a north-west facing fence in an area I know the hogs use:

    image

    The trailcam is set up to catch any signs of it being checked out.  Fingers crossed! image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • ShepsSheps Posts: 2,236

    That looks great, Bob...fingers crossed for a Hoggie resident sometime soon. 

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    Thanks sheps!  I just looked through the trailcam footage from last night and it's definitely in the right place:

    https://youtu.be/NjKSMu5ZtSw

    Just need the hog to turn left instead of right next time and have a look around!  Might try putting some treats on the ramp and just inside the house. image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904

    HeHe dopey HH. He'll soon catch on if there's grub.

  • AngieRAngieR Posts: 347

    that looks just the business!

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