After finding Baldric 'at home' on the day that I had Chance put to sleep I had been checking the hog boxes daily to keep tabs on him, and so far he'd been home for two nights. The way I check to see if anyone is in residence is simply to gently
heft the hog box. If there is a hoggie at home the box is heavy. Not
very scientific, but there ya go!
When I checked the boxes on May the 12th I found that both boxes were occupied, but the box Baldric had been using felt too light to be Baldric. Intrigued, I extracted the box from the fernery and popped it onto the benchseat before zooming into the house to grab the scales, some Advocate and some nail polish - as ya do! I then removed the lid of the box and quietly moved the hay away to peek at the occupant.
As I suspected, it wasn't Baldric. It was too small and there was no blue nail polish in sight so I picked the hoggie up - without much protest from said hoggie ... hmmm .... quite friendly really .... hmmm .... This was a slightly smaller hog, male and weighted 916gms. He seemed healthy but possibly had some very early mange on his skirt - though not enough to warrant being brought into care in my opinion, so I gave him a dose of Advocate and a 'paint job' with red nail polish. Oh! The indignity of it all! He tolerated all of my interference with extremely good grace, only getting squirmy and annoyed when the fumes of the nail polish were wafting around as it dried.
I had a good look at his face and noticed that he had quite a lot of white down his nose .... hmmmmm .... Didn't Tom Thumb have quite a white face? Not wanting to upset him more than necessary, I informed him that his name was now 'Red', popped him back into bed once his war paint was dry and returned his box to the garden.
Turning my attention to the other box I brought it out, opened it up and peeked in. Sure enough, it was Baldric the 'Blue'. I brought him out, weighed him, checked him over, gave him Advocate and reapplied his nail polish - he wasn't too impressed by that. He was in good condition, now weighed 1031gms and was mostly clean - apart from one poo smear which wasn't bad enough to warrant a bath thank goodness.
'Red' has since been back for another night or two which I'm pleased about as I was concerned I may have scared him off by interrupting his beauty sleep so thoroughly. When I finished with him I came inside and checked my Tom Thumb photos. There is quite a resemblance so I am letting myself believe my baby has come home to see me hehe.
A note about war paint and Advocate - because I release some of my foster hogs (the ones I deem are going to need a bit more support in their transition over to the wild side) into my garden and also have a wild population, the risk of mange contamination is potentially higher than it might otherwise be. Therefore I have made the decision to protect my 'gang' as best I can which is quite an expensive business, let me tell you! In order to do this I need to be able to identify who is who, keep track of their general condition and when they have had been treated with Advocate. It is ideal to give Advocate once a month if at all possible but obviously I can only check up on them and apply Advocate when they decide to have a sleep over. Hence giving them their 'war paint' and checking the boxes daily. Sometimes the nail polish doesn't last but I am starting to photograph their faces to help with identification and recording their weight helps as well.
When I checked the boxes on May the 12th I found that both boxes were occupied, but the box Baldric had been using felt too light to be Baldric. Intrigued, I extracted the box from the fernery and popped it onto the benchseat before zooming into the house to grab the scales, some Advocate and some nail polish - as ya do! I then removed the lid of the box and quietly moved the hay away to peek at the occupant.
As I suspected, it wasn't Baldric. It was too small and there was no blue nail polish in sight so I picked the hoggie up - without much protest from said hoggie ... hmmm .... quite friendly really .... hmmm .... This was a slightly smaller hog, male and weighted 916gms. He seemed healthy but possibly had some very early mange on his skirt - though not enough to warrant being brought into care in my opinion, so I gave him a dose of Advocate and a 'paint job' with red nail polish. Oh! The indignity of it all! He tolerated all of my interference with extremely good grace, only getting squirmy and annoyed when the fumes of the nail polish were wafting around as it dried.
I had a good look at his face and noticed that he had quite a lot of white down his nose .... hmmmmm .... Didn't Tom Thumb have quite a white face? Not wanting to upset him more than necessary, I informed him that his name was now 'Red', popped him back into bed once his war paint was dry and returned his box to the garden.
Turning my attention to the other box I brought it out, opened it up and peeked in. Sure enough, it was Baldric the 'Blue'. I brought him out, weighed him, checked him over, gave him Advocate and reapplied his nail polish - he wasn't too impressed by that. He was in good condition, now weighed 1031gms and was mostly clean - apart from one poo smear which wasn't bad enough to warrant a bath thank goodness.
'Red' has since been back for another night or two which I'm pleased about as I was concerned I may have scared him off by interrupting his beauty sleep so thoroughly. When I finished with him I came inside and checked my Tom Thumb photos. There is quite a resemblance so I am letting myself believe my baby has come home to see me hehe.
A note about war paint and Advocate - because I release some of my foster hogs (the ones I deem are going to need a bit more support in their transition over to the wild side) into my garden and also have a wild population, the risk of mange contamination is potentially higher than it might otherwise be. Therefore I have made the decision to protect my 'gang' as best I can which is quite an expensive business, let me tell you! In order to do this I need to be able to identify who is who, keep track of their general condition and when they have had been treated with Advocate. It is ideal to give Advocate once a month if at all possible but obviously I can only check up on them and apply Advocate when they decide to have a sleep over. Hence giving them their 'war paint' and checking the boxes daily. Sometimes the nail polish doesn't last but I am starting to photograph their faces to help with identification and recording their weight helps as well.
Glad Baldric and Red (maybe Tom Thumb!) Are doing well!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea doing photographs!
Hugs and Prayers!
Sharon