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A hedgehog scratching is a common sight, but not for the reason most think. Despite the myth, hedgehogs do not have fleas. Well, no more than any other animal. In fact, it's quite rare for a hedgehog to have fleas, and when they do, the fleas are species-specific, so...

12,919 views • 2 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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This is the pen of Leah, the morning after her first night's sleep here. Every black dot you see is a tick. They are black because they're full of her blood, and growing. (This is one of the reasons why I have only white bedding and floor coverings. If she was in newspaper you'd never see this). Poor little Leah is absolutely smothered in hundreds of ticks, and has fleas, too. Despite the old wives' tale, it's very rare for a hedgehog to have fleas. So rare in fact, that a professor of entomology who studies these sorts of things pays me £20 a go when I send him fleas. Additionally, hedgehog fleas are species-specific, so they can't infest or live on any other animal. A hedgehog has to be seriously ill or incredibly weak to attract ectoparasites such as ticks and fleas. And poor Leah is that weak - she is suffering from starvation, AND she has just given birth. A couple clearing out their shed found poor little Leah huddled with her babies in a pile of blankets, where she'd given birth. They live in army barracks, and their garden is tiny, with no suitable hedgehog habitat. Everywhere is kept 'neat'. Despite this, somehow Leah survived. With a shed substituting for a hedgerow and army blankets instead of leaves and moss, Leah managed to make a maternity nest and have her precious babies. But with no food, she was unable to produce enough milk to feed them, and one by one, the babies died. By the time she was found, out of the 7 babies she had given birth to, only 3 were still alive. I saw the bodies so could tell how many days they had survived. The lovely finders had no idea that things were so desperate for our hedgehogs, and that the dramatic decline in insects, due to the way we are 'tidying' our gardens, meant that they are now suffering starvation. Hedgehogs don't eat slugs and snails, they eat beetles and catapillars. Caterpillars make up almost half a hedgehog's diet, and their emergence is perfectly timed with peak baby season, the time of most need. We're in June, peak butterfly time, but how many have you seen lately? Like most people, the finders were completely unaware of how our bad destructive habits are impacting our precious wildlife, until seeing it with their own eyes. They are now committed to improving not just their garden, but the whole Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, and went home armed with leaflets and kitten biscuits and determination. Meanwhile poor tick infested Leah and her 3 surviving babies are safe and warm here, and she's getting good nourishment and care. It's so important these tiny 5 day old babies don't fall victim to the ticks, as they would not survive. I can't use drugs or chemicals as Leah is far too weak and her babies far too vulnerable. So it's just a matter of cleaning her out every day - the very last thing to be subjecting a new mum to. Despite all her hardship, and me meddling, she's a wonderful mum and doing her best to nurture her sweet babies. Last night, her first night here, she ate an entire dish of special Mother and Baby food - enough normally for 2 or 3 hedgehogs. The sight of that empty dish absolutely broke me. It's too early for a prognosis on Leah and the babies, but already, because of them, her little part of the world is going to become more hedgehog-friendly.

Hedgehog Cabin

81,560 views • 2 years ago

This post is mainly to help other rescues, but I know a lot of you will be interested as well. This sweet boy is Merlin. Merlin self admitted, but aside from his scabby nose from a bit of ringworm, he appeared fine. But I knew by his behaviour that he was sick. Healthy hedgehogs don't self admit to a hospital pen. Especially boys at this time of year - they are out chasing girls.🥰 I tested his poo in the lodge, where he booked himself into an open pen, and it was clear. I admitted him into hospital where he stayed overnight and left me 6 lovely poo samples. Every single one was clear. And yet his behaviour, his aggitation, the way he dug the corners of the pen, even his smell, told me through years of experience that he was sick. So I started treatment anyway. And as his condition improved, as he became hydrated and nourished, and the first antiparasitic administered, just like magic the confirmation appeared! A diagnosis needs to be made on observed behaviour and history (either your own or of the finders); the poo sample is *confirmation of the diagnosis*. So a hedgehog making unhealthy breathing sounds but producing clear poo samples is still unhealthy. You can't always rely on a sick hedgehog to produce parasite larvae or eggs in their poo sample, for several reasons, but the main reason is: Parasites, like all living organisms, have to preserve energy in order to stay alive and thrive. So when they find themselves in a hostile environment - a host who has become starving and dehydrated - they reduce their energy expenditure by temporarily shutting down systems that are not neccessary for life, like reproduction. They stop laying eggs and go into a sort of stasis, until conditions become welcoming again. Also of course, parasites don't constantly churn out eggs. They have a reproduction cycle. So not every sample will contain eggs. It's so frustrating when people contact me saying they have been sent home with a hedgehog who is clearly in audible respiratory distress, because the poo sample the rescue took was clear. As for sweet Merlin - at first it was a trickle; his poo showed just a few parasites, so microscope samples had to be very carefully scrutinised. But very quickly it became apparent that this poor boy was in fact full of deadly fluke, lungworm, and roundworm. He's only on day 3 of his treatment, so is still very sick, but clever Merlin got himself the help he needed just in time.

Hedgehog Cabin

27,235 views • 2 months ago