Late on the evening of February 6th I responded to an urgent message on the Hedgehog Rescue New Zealand FaceBook page. Someone had scooped a ting hoglet up from the middle of the road in central Hamilton. They had then driven home to Te Aroha, hoglet in tow and yelled for help!
The following morning I offered to go and collect the wee one look after it until it went into foster care. The rescuer had named the hog Heroic Henry, but we changed that to Henrietta as it looked like it was a girl initially.
Henrietta was 109gms that first day and was with us for a couple of days before going into care with Mambo's carer - this was before my doubts about Mambo's situation had surfaced. I provided all of the initial set up gear including an accommodation box and food.
Henrietta did really well in care, but I was suddenly asked to take her back on March the 7th as the fosterer had decided to go away for a few days. I'm not sure what happened to Mambo over those days - this was just before I got Mambo back, and was another reason I was desperate to get him out of there ...
On 'her' return I gave Henrietta the once over and discovered; to quote Lou Reed backwards, that She was a He! Opps! One must remember to wear ones glasses when determining the sex of little hedgehogs LOL! The renamed Henry weighed in at 440gms and I got him set up in an outside hutch - complete with a heat pad over night for a week, so that he was toasty warm as he got used to being an 'outside' boy.
Henry was a real cutie and a fantastic eater, gaining over 100gms per week and I discovered that he really loved Sunflower seeds. Nom, Nom!
I didn't feel he needed any time in a pre release pen as he had gotten his 'wild hog' hat firmly on and enjoyed having time out of his hutch on the grass, immediately snuffling around and looking for food.
On March the 31st Henry was deemed ready for release, weighting in at an impressive 820gms. I had arranged to release him in his fosterer's mother's garden, but they mucked me around and I got a wee bit fed up, so I called my Sista From Another Mother; Floss, and asked if I could release Henry (and Bobbi) on her life style block tonight please!! Floss was thrilled and so Bobbi and Henry; who had been waiting in their release boxes in my car for HOURS, were driven off into the setting sun by their chauffeur.
Once at Floss' night was falling and we got them placed into a shelter belt pronto, putting food and water out for them. They left as soon as it was dark but Henry did visit every night for about a week for a feed of his favourite treat - Sunflower seeds.
Have a wonderful life Henry.
The following morning I offered to go and collect the wee one look after it until it went into foster care. The rescuer had named the hog Heroic Henry, but we changed that to Henrietta as it looked like it was a girl initially.
Henrietta was 109gms that first day and was with us for a couple of days before going into care with Mambo's carer - this was before my doubts about Mambo's situation had surfaced. I provided all of the initial set up gear including an accommodation box and food.
Henrietta did really well in care, but I was suddenly asked to take her back on March the 7th as the fosterer had decided to go away for a few days. I'm not sure what happened to Mambo over those days - this was just before I got Mambo back, and was another reason I was desperate to get him out of there ...
I didn't feel he needed any time in a pre release pen as he had gotten his 'wild hog' hat firmly on and enjoyed having time out of his hutch on the grass, immediately snuffling around and looking for food.
On March the 31st Henry was deemed ready for release, weighting in at an impressive 820gms. I had arranged to release him in his fosterer's mother's garden, but they mucked me around and I got a wee bit fed up, so I called my Sista From Another Mother; Floss, and asked if I could release Henry (and Bobbi) on her life style block tonight please!! Floss was thrilled and so Bobbi and Henry; who had been waiting in their release boxes in my car for HOURS, were driven off into the setting sun by their chauffeur.
Once at Floss' night was falling and we got them placed into a shelter belt pronto, putting food and water out for them. They left as soon as it was dark but Henry did visit every night for about a week for a feed of his favourite treat - Sunflower seeds.
Have a wonderful life Henry.
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