Hedgehog Droppings

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by honeybee

maybe it's a giant hedgeypig?

well all i can say is that its the strangest hedgeypig poo i have seen.. and my dog loves to roll in it and she ignores this stuff...... giant hedgeypigs huh... what you drinking gal.. i want some!!

jaki

[Susie]

Originally Posted by Garden Carpet

ooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!WW that is soooo bad... lol

I asked my good friend who feeds hodgehegs and she said it was too big for them.. and my Pa.. he said nope.. not hodge.... not black enough and not stinky enough and none of them can believe I took a pic of it!!!! I have been seeing this over the last five years and it has always been this colour.
Jaki (knee high in whatever)

Have you been seeing it looking exactly like this for the last five years or only at this time of year, Jaki?

I agree that hedgepig poo is normally black, stinky and pretty gooey (and it generally has a trailing edge too - ewwwww) but I think that it depends on what they eat. There isn't much roughage in a slug!

I still think it is Hedgehog poo. Anyway, I am happy to be proved wrong - I am as curious as you as to what this could be.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by Garden Carpet

well all i can say is that its the strangest hedgeypig poo i have seen.. and my dog loves to roll in it and she ignores this stuff...... giant hedgeypigs huh... what you drinking gal.. i want some!!

jaki

haha... erm sadly horlicks.

[Susie]

Originally Posted by Garden Carpet

This is a pic of an unidentified dropping found on the drive. There are about 6 such droppings, about 2.5cm long and .5cm diam. they are soft and reddish brown. Any ideas please. Thanks
Jaki

This is an image of a Hedgehog poo I found online. Usually their droppings appear squidgier than this. Now just imagine that the little critter had been feasting on berries (and they love fruit - I used to have one who loved nectarines) and it is not to far a stretch of the imagination to make the connection.

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Susie

Have you been seeing it looking exactly like this for the last five years or only at this time of year, Jaki?

At all sorts of times over the five years.. to be honest I couldnt say there was a time I particularly noticed it, or not noticed it. I have never seen it in the back garden but have seen it at various points over the front.. and sometimes in the lane. (I live at the end of an unmade track... lucky me .. )it is reeeeeealy puzzling... and from the number of views the thread has had there are a great many others who have no idea either.... I will put some in a jar and take it to the vet and see what he can make of it....(he is rather nice to look at so it wont even be a waste of time if he doesnt know either ) if not..I will try some of the old codgers in the village... who will laugh and say dont you know what that is mate.... and then say the dont know either lol... ho hum... I needed something to do tonight anyway.... btw.. my american correspondent is shocked that we would spend time and effort finding out what a bit of poo was!!

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Earth Hart

Jaki, squirrel droppings are small little pellets the size of a pea, smaller than Rabbit droppings.

thanks EH... am going all squirelly tonight .... with a brain the size of squirrel pellets

Hope you are recovering after your hospital visit.

[Garden Carpet]

Suzie.. thats the sort of hodgeheg poo I recognise.


I have been trying to think where it might get berries... or cat food...or even dog food... and I cant think that the other two people along here would feed it.. and the only fruit is cooking apples... what is the range of a HH? Do they have a large range?.. no soft fruit around.. it must spend some time in here as there are at least six droppings just in one small area... I havnt looked further than that. Tomorrow I am going on a poo hunt

[Wild-Woman]

Ant rowan trees nearby. Perhaps they eat berries from that.

[Susie]

I expect there are lots of bushes on with berries nearby. Rowan is a good one and I expect there are blackberries around somewhere local too. It certainly looks like something with lots of little pips .... ewwww.

[Paul mabbott]

... several bits of beetle in there - good roughage ....

Originally Posted by Susie

This is an image of a Hedgehog poo I found online. Usually their droppings appear squidgier than this. Now just imagine that the little critter had been feasting on berries (and they love fruit - I used to have one who loved nectarines) and it is not to far a stretch of the imagination to make the connection.

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

... several bits of beetle in there - good roughage ....

yes, and the ones at my place have no roughage at all they are smoooooooth smooth inside.. no seeds.. no nothing.. so.. have I got a frutarian HH
jaki

[Wild-Woman]

Can I suggest something that you could do (if you have the stomach, that is). Soak the dropping in a shallow white tray overnight in water so that it's component parts loosen and come away. If there are berry seeds and wing cases of beetles and other invertebrates they would be better seen. Sounds revolting I know but we'd have a clearer idea of what said creature is consuming.

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Can I suggest something that you could do (if you have the stomach, that is). Soak the dropping in a shallow white tray overnight in water so that it's component parts loosen and come away. If there are berry seeds and wing cases of beetles and other invertebrates they would be better seen. Sounds revolting I know but we'd have a clearer idea of what said creature is consuming.

consider it done WW. it is a good idea. As it is now dark I will collect one in the morning.... shall I post it to you or send it by courier?
Jaki

[Wild-Woman]

Dry out the bits in an oven and send them to Paul. He's da beetle man te he!

What fun we're all having with one little dropping! ONLY POSSIBLE ON WAB!

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Dry out the bits in an oven and send them to Paul. He's da beetle man te he!

What fun we're all having with one little dropping! ONLY POSSIBLE ON WAB!

Oh yes... still cant convince my american it isnt some weird brit joke

[Garden Carpet]

Well I went out with the torch last night and brought the dropping in.. and placed it in water on a white dish .. and I have just gone to look at the results.. and there is nothing I can identify.. nothing that says seeds... or beetle.... or insect of any sort.... it is just a jumble of tiny little pieces of nothing special to my eye... all light or reddish in colour... There must be someone on WAB who knows summat about this poop!
Jaki

[henrya]

I'll stick my head above the parapet and say Pheasant on a fruit diet.

Do they smell of anything? I remember being brought some Bdager droppings where the Badgers had been feeding on windfall apples - the droppings smelt of cider!

henrya

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by henrya

I'll stick my head above the parapet and say Pheasant on a fruit diet.

Do they smell of anything? I remember being brought some Bdager droppings where the Badgers had been feeding on windfall apples - the droppings smelt of cider!

henrya

Hi Henrya... no particular smell.. there are plenty of pheasant around here. So it could be in the running... but what fruit... I live next to a huge field down a dirt track and cant think of any fruit other than my plums.. which are long gone..Thanks for the idea.. another thread to investigate.
Jaki

[henrya]

Jaki,

No wild apples in the hedges? Any acorns? I've just learnt that they eat those.

henrya

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by Garden Carpet

Well I went out with the torch last night and brought the dropping in.. and placed it in water on a white dish .. and I have just gone to look at the results.. and there is nothing I can identify.. nothing that says seeds... or beetle.... or insect of any sort.... it is just a jumble of tiny little pieces of nothing special to my eye... all light or reddish in colour... There must be someone on WAB who knows summat about this poop!
Jaki

OK. Plan B.

If we can't find out what this blighter is by it's doings, we'll try another way Jaki, if you're up for it.
Get hold of a good size tray and fill it about an inch deep with loosely packed damp sand. Tamp down the surface with something smooth and place in the approximate position where the droppings appear. With any luck, the beastie may leave you a nice footprint or two as it crosses it. Check out in the morning and if you can get a shot, great, if not describe it to us. After that, I'll flippin well come up and sit there all night to see the little pooper!

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

OK. Plan B.

If we can't find out what this blighter is by it's doings, we'll try another way Jaki, if you're up for it.
Get hold of a good size tray and fill it about an inch deep with loosely packed damp sand. Tamp down the surface with something smooth and place in the approximate position where the droppings appear. With any luck, the beastie may leave you a nice footprint or two as it crosses it. Check out in the morning and if you can get a shot, great, if not describe it to us. After that, I'll flippin well come up and sit there all night to see the little pooper!

rofl... ok Julie.. i will do that.. first find my tray.. then nick some sand from neighbour... oohhh and make up spare bed... then capture evidence of the creature.... how exciting..

[Owl-Light]

I'd laugh if it turned out to be some rare, zoo escapee and not a Hedgehog at all
It's obviously doing alright living around your garden and thats the main thing.

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Owl-Light

I'd laugh if it turned out to be some rare, zoo escapee and not a Hedgehog at all
It's obviously doing alright living around your garden and thats the main thing.

The nearest 'zoo' to me has snakes.... oh my goodness... havnt seen gizmo this morning lol. I wonder Sheryl.... futher investigations required.
Jaki.. and giz

[Oscar2006]

Are you sure it isn't a Squirrel dropping?
we had Rentokil in at work a couple of years back to identify these strange droppings, and they said that is what they were.

Oscar