'arry 2022

[DeborahJane]

I thought you might appreciate my very pretty "hedgehog".

 

[Sean Regan]

I thought you might appreciate my very pretty "hedgehog".

Excellent.

Our daughter bought the youngest granddaugher this one.

She still hasn't eaten it.

 

[Sean Regan]

'arry made us smile when I checked the recordings from last night. It was raining, so at 9.30 pm he made a quick 360 degree trip around his feed station before diving in for his dinner. He was probably checking for cats.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

You are right about the weight going on, I'm wondering if he can still roll up?

 

[Sean Regan]

You are right about the weight going on, I'm wondering if he can still roll up?

I would think so, it's their only defence mechanism and as they put extra weight on before hibernation, nature would make sure it's possible.
I put him in this box on 30th of August whilst I was sorting out his winter house and he managed it fine then. He wasn't completely curled up as he wanted to know what was going on.

But when I picked him up to put him in his house, his face disappeared.
He's got a lot of fluffy fur below his spikes so he's not as fat as he looks.

This was how he looked on 10th September last year, just before he went into hibernation, it's the last time we saw him for over six months.

 

[Sean Regan]

'arry is still easting his chicken dinners and pellets. But the camera didn't pick him up at all last night, just the pesky cat and Marcel the mouse.
So has he become "The invisible Hedgehog?"
The evidence of his visits to his feeding station is clear as he still uses it as a toilet and when I looked through the French windows last night around 9.30 p.m. I could see him in it chomping away.

My theory is that he now has a thick layer of fat and fur under his prickles. This will be "nature's way" of preventing heat loss during hibernation, so the camera is not picking him up all the time. The last time was three nights ago.
He'd been hibernating for a week by now last year, but I guess "as the restaurant is still open....."

 

[Sean Regan]

He's not eating so much, he could be getting ready to hibernate. It's over two weeks later now than when he hibernated last year.
He's scratching a bit. I didn't see any fleas or ticks on him when I swopped over his houses a few weeks ago. Mind you he didn't let me see much. I've ordered some hedgehog suitable flea spray. I may give him a spray once he stays in his house.

The most annoying of the two cats hasn't been around for a couple of days, maybe it's getting too cold to stay out all night.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The most annoying of the two cats hasn't been around for a couple of days, maybe it's getting too cold to stay out all night.

Maybe it annoyed the wrong person.

 

[Sean Regan]

Maybe it annoyed the wrong person.

'arry usually ignores them, but their paths do not often cross.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I hadn't thought of 'Arry. Do you think that might be why he's off his food, he hasn't finished the cat yet ?

 

[Sean Regan]

He didn't appear at all last night, his food was untouched and there were no footprints on the floor of his feed station.
"So he may have called it a day."

I'll continue to put his food out for a few days, as he may change his mind and he'd expect to find some as usual.

But it is decidedly colder.

 

[Sean Regan]

Surprise! Surprise!

Look who the trail camera picked up last night! He was raiding the birds' ground feeder. There were suet pellets and bits of fat balls in it, as well as seed.

We hadn't seen him since the end of September, when he abandoned his house and probably had decided he'd get more rest under the tea-house, his first home last year, before we bought him a house.


This was because every night there were two cats around his feed station and home. I guess it was too much.
But we've not seen the grey cat for three weeks, "perhaps he's moved." The black and white cat was less bothered, he wasn't trying to get at 'arry's food, he was more interested in looking for mice. He has a collar with a bell on it, so is well cared for, the other might have been a feral cat.
The continued warm weather may also have decided him to break his hibernation. I'd left food out for several days after he disappeared at the end of September, but it wasn't touched.

Anyway, I've checked and 'arry is back in his house. I'll get his feeding station out for tonight and leave him some cat food.

"He could have let us know."