pet hedgehog

[lulubella]

Hi all

Just a little up date: it seems that not only were we feeding the hoggies, we WERE] feeding the rats - on the night when we had snow I put some food out for the hogs near where their nest are and saw a white shape slink past me - and then the same thing happened one night lasst week. there was a very small hole under the fence that divides that part of the garden from the rest so I blocked it up with leaves and grass. The next day I saw some leaves with white wiry fur attached and yes - the hole had been opened up again. We have now stopped putting any food out for the hogs, even though it has been milder and they may come out, and the rat bait in the compost bin has all but disappeared. The forecast is for it to be colder again tonight so no need to put food out. It is very much a case of learning by trial and error, aint it!It is a bind though, because we cannot put bird food out and leave it out all day for the ground feeders, and I dont always think or am not arund to put more out later in the day.

Sue

[hedgehog whisperer]

Sorry to hear that the rats are still with you. I am sure that hoggies will be Hibinateing by now, so don't feel bad aboout not putting food down.

[lulubella]

Well, a belated Happy New Year to one and all!

So, now that the gardening season is upon us again (well, almost, but I heard that there could be some snow over the weekend!) I am afraid that I need to pick the hedgehog experts brains again, please....... is it now time to clean out the two hoggie houses that we bought last year - we do not know if they have been used, at least, not by hedgehogs, - the rat man says that as we now have mice we will no longer have rats, as the rats predate the mice, although we saw them as little as four weeks ago. Howeve,r there is no sign of hoggie activity in the garden, not many snails and not much sign of slugs, though now that the hostas are coming through, i don't suppose that they will be far behind.

So, could someone advise me please - should we now dismantle where we pt the hog houses and clean them out. If we put them out again for the hoggies to have babies, do we have to put them in the same place, or can we move them to a different part of the garden?

We did have several tunnels coming under the fence from the bit of wild woodland at the side of the house, but those seem to be getting overgrown now.

Can anyone help, please?

Lulu

[Cazzie]

Hi lulubella

Yep, there's no reason why you can't clean out your boxes now, however, you obviously do need to know that they are in fact empty!!!

As far as re-siting them... well I don't see why not and the hedgehogs will inevitably find them again, but I tend to put mine back where they were as to my mind it's as if they know where they are lol! Wether that's actually true or not, I have no idea tbh

Hope your hoggies return soon - keep an eye out for their poops lol!

[lulubella]

Hi there Cassie

Many thanks for your last reply - because of the bad weather we have only just cleaned out the houses. You may remember that I was concerned in case they had become rat houses? Thought I would give you the up to date info - one of them had obviously been used by a hoggie, as it was clean and dry but had a defnite body shape in the straw, but the other stank to high heaven, was full of droppings and urine - we have tried washing it down with the power hose, but think that we will probably have to burn it, unless anyone out there can give us any other advice. We have also thought about standing it in a weak solution of bleach? The little blighters had used the hoggie house as their home (there was the remains of rat poison in there) and had made a nice little tunnel from the entrance of the house, round the back and under it, and then under the fence - they must have thought that all their Christmasses had come at once - a lovely home, bone dry and food just outside the door! No wonder they didn't want to leave - but this has made us wonder - where have all the dead rats gone? Perhaps there is a dead rat graveyard somewhere, like it is with elephants(lol). The hoggie seems to have gone walkabouts,but I wish it would come back as the slugs are beginning to get active again.

If anyone can give us some advice on the best way with the rat house, I would be grateful.

[nicola]

I would get rid of that one personally, hogs have great sense of smell, bleach would really put them off. Plus the fact there has been posion in there I would not take the risk...get rid is my opinion

[Cazzie]

Totally agree with Nicola!

There's really not much point trying to clean it as no doubt the rat urine will have penetrated the wood too far to get it out tbh, let alone the rat poison as Nicola has already pointed out. Chuck it and make/get another house would be my advice

For anyone else reading this... I have cleaned my boxes out with a well diluted solution of Jeyes Fluid and let it throughly dry out for a few days. The smell does in fact dispell and my hoggies certainly aren't bothered by any trace left as they've been used afterwards!

[Jez]

Thanks for the tip Cazzie! All being well I will get around at some point to making a couple of boxes this year, just got to finish the other projects I have going atm. Will get the cleaning fluid on your recommendation!