Accomodations at Palais Belgravia

I was talking to a lovely friend in Canada a few weeks and ago she asked me what on earth the accommodation set up for the hoggies was and then she confessed that in her head she imagined my back yard to be something like the set from the Teleubbies TV show. This put a huge smile on my face as I replied that although that would be amazing - with little hoggies running around everywhere, in reality it unfortunately wasn't the case.
So here is the post (finally) that I promised to write for her, which describes how I accommodate the hoggies in my care. 

Hoggie Hospital 'Bedroom'

When a hog first comes in it is popped into one of my hospital boxes. I have two sizes - a 64L box which babies and very sick hogs go into and a 115L box which the hogs graduate to once they are well enough and/or are bigger. Although it may seem cruel to confine a hog to a small 'hospital room' to begin with, the reason for this is that we need the hog to be putting its energy into getting well and gaining weight. If they go into something that is too large too soon, they will spend their nights racing around and burning off precious calories. Think of it like being in a hospital bed on enforced rest!

Outdoor hutches with their 'raincoats' in place

The next step, once the hoggie has finished intensive treatment; including their medications which have helped them overcome their health issues, is well on the way to recovery and has gained enough weight - around 600gms in summer or 800gms in winter, they graduate to a large hutch outside. If I feel they need it I will provide heat support for the first week with a heatpad to assist their transition, especially in the cooler weather.

Miss Effie 'helping' me on Hutch Sterilsation Day

The next step depends on the individual hog. If they are pretty much ready to go then they'll spend 2-3 weeks weeks in the hutch until they are the desired release weight and will then be released. However if they need to go into pre release to help them get their 'wild hog' on, they will spend a few weeks in the hutch acclimatising to the outside world and then I will move them into a pre release pen for a minimum of a few weeks so that they become familiar with the grass and can get used to hunting - I use meal worms to help with this.

I currently have two pre release pens. One - on the left, is a rabbit hutch extension run. It measures 900mm x 1800mm x 400mm and is a handy size. The top hinges open to provide easy access and I have plastic mesh on the base to prevent the hoggie digging out. The beauty of this particular pen is that one end opens up so it is very useful when I have a hoggie that needs what I call supported or soft release. This is often the case with hoggies that have been tiny orphans when they came into care and haven't had the benefit of learning to forage with their mama. After ther spell in the hutch, they'll spend 2-3 weeks int he pen and then I'll open the end. The hoggie will usually spend at least a week slowly expanding their horizons, returning to their nest box in the pen each night. Then they will start to spend the odd night away, eventually moving out for good - sometimes straight into one of the bedroom boxes in my garden as was the case with Baldric!

The other pen is a converted puppy play pen and measures 1800mm x 1200mm x 600mm. I use this for 'long termers' - hoggies that are regrowing their quills post mange, especially ones like Charlie who are slow, slow, slow  in their regrowth. I've got a few toys and some loose dirt at one end to give the inmate something to do.



In fact Charlie and I have a daily ritual which involves him digging all of the dirt into the middle of the pen every night and me digging it all back to the end every morning. He also likes to pick up random things in his pen - like a cat mylar crinkle ball or a glove that I have dropped and hide them in his nest. I forage for them the next day and hide them in the pen for him to find and stash the next night.

Wild hoggie feeder box

I also have bedroom boxes and feeder boxes in the garden for my wild hogs.The feeder boxes are wooden but the sleeping boxes are currently plastic which isn't ideal as they get too hot during the day and are prone to condensation in cooler weather so a redesign is on the cards.

A wilding finding the sleeping box a bit too warm

Sonny's setup...

... and then of course there is Sonny's very smart and 'individual' nest and feeder box ...

Yoda and Tiggy Under the Trees K.I.S.S.I.N.G.

Mr Yoda in all his prickly glory ...

Friday the 27th was 'R' Day - the day that I planned to release Yoda and Tiggy. I had checked them both earlier in the week and they were so ready to go with a full set of beautiful quills and plenty of meat on their bones; weighing in at 1364gms and 1250gms respectively.

Although winter releases aren't generally recommended, this winter; although very wet, has for the most part been quite mild so I had been keeping an eye on the 10 day forecast to see if we could find a window of opportunity during which to set these two free. The most important factor being a decent period where the over night low wasn't going to dip below 5c. It seemed Lady Luck was with us and after conferring with the release site folk, Friday afternoon was earmarked for the big event.

After popping the hoggies into their prepared release boxes - sturdy cardboard boxes, covered with bubblewrap and stuffed full of hay, I headed out to the release site which was on a farm in a stand of 20yr old Blackwood trees. Upon arriving I had a few reservations but we went ahead as the night was closing in and I wanted to get them settled before dusk fled. I found a pile of fallen branches and tucked them in underneath it in their boxes, adding more branches to the pile over the boxes as there were cattle in the wood and not only were they very curious but I'm sure they could smell the hay in the boxes and were just a bit too close for comfort...

After I was reasonably satisfied that the boxes were secure and had put their 'supper' down for them I headed back up to the farm house, however I had quite grave reservations about the cattle and all sorts of awful scenarios were playing through my head....

Yoda the day before his release

Thankfully I met the property's owner on the way up the hill and when I expressed my concerns she admitted the cattle were due to be moved out of the wood, so we headed back down and herded them out into an adjoining paddock. 
PHEW!
 As we chatted on our way back up to the house we passed the chicken coop and she told me often finds hedgehogs asleep in the hay inside and that it didn't bother her. Hmmm, this would have been a much better release area but what was done was done and it was too dark to safely venture back down to move the hoggies. But if we release there in future this is where I will suggest we put the release boxes....

and the beautiful Mistress Tiggy

 The boxes were checked the following morning and there was no sign that either hog had ventured out - no tunnel in the hay of the doorways and none of the food I had left had been eaten. I am not too surprised by this as there was heavy rain that night and hoggies really hate heavy rain ....

I am waiting to hear any further news from the farm and I hope that when it does come, it is good news...

Update - Weds July 2nd. Yoda and Tiggy have left their boxes and no food has been eaten for 2 nights. This is good news. 

Sonny with a Chance of Showers....

Five weeks have passed since I put Sonny back outside into the uber insulated, heated bedroom of her hutch. I had no idea what she was going to do but I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't going to stay in the hutch and she proved me correct, staying in her bedroom for two whole nights before decamping to a new nest site.

 Her nest site of choice was under a Comfrey bush. Said bush wasn't very big and unfortunately didn't offer much protection so Sonny spent a very busy night digging a burrow and bringing pea straw from another area of the garden to bolster her cover. When I discovered her in the morning she was fast asleep in her marginally adequate nest and I made the decision not to disturb her as when I had done so in the past she had become very distressed and confused.

Sonny's nest site with some extra cover & insulation added

Over the next night or two Sonny excavated her nest some more but didn't increase the top cover so I decided to give her some help. Grabbing the ply wood cover I had made for Posh's house, I put it over Sonny's nest and then back stuffed it with heaps and heaps of hay. I hoped that these measures would keep Sonny warmer and drier - especially as we had some extremely wet weather heading our way.



Over the next few weeks I checked for signs of life and yes I have to admit it, death. There were no signs of anything so I just assumed Sonny was hibernating and chose to leave her to it, letting Mother Nature guide Sonny in her struggle to be a wild hoggie. 

Alternative bedroom in place

But, I couldn't quite rest easy as I was really worried Sonny was going to get flooded out of her nest due to the huge amount of rain we were having, so I grabbed a spare plastic bedroom box, filled it with lovely warm, dry hay and installed it close to Sonny's nest. I checked the box every day for signs that she might have gone into it but it sat there, completely undisturbed much to my frustration.

Another week passed and I decided to put some cat biscuits under the hay on the floor of the box just in case she woke up and by some miracle decided she wanted to eat food that I had left for her. Two more nights passed and then on the morning of the third; upon checking the box, I discovered that the biscuits were gone ....

Sonny's entry / exit tunnel

I couldn't be sure that the cats hadn't managed to get their paws through the door of the box and dragged the biscuits out so that night I put the biscuits further into the box, under they hay. The next morning the first thing I did was check the box and once again the biscuits were gone, except for some crumbs. Now crumbs were an exciting discovery, because when hoggies eat cat biscuits, they usually leave some crumbs so it was looking pretty likely that it was Sonny and not the cats that was eating them. I had also been checking the nest site for likely looking entry/exit tunnels and sure enough I spotted what I was sure was one.

Next night I upped the portion size, making a bit of a tunnel under the hay, further into the box. I also set up my IR camera to try to grab some footage of Sonny to help assess her condition. The next morning ALL of the biscuits were gone, Sonny's entry/exit tunnel was more defined and the disturbance at the entrance of the box - which I guess is now her chosen feeder box, was much more obvious. I almost did a Happy Dance on the spot!

 

 

 

Sonny entering her chosen feeder box

I grabbed the camera and brought it inside to have a look at the SD card...

Now, although I got some photos of Sonny which is really good, she is very thin which isn't great but at least she is FINALLY eating which means she now has a chance to survive the winter and her hibernation. It looks like she is doing the same as Charlie and is waking up on warmer nights to feed. she must be absolutely starving and I am just so incredibly relieved that she has decided to accept the food that I am offering. 

Sonny leaving her feeder box.

Judging from the time stamps on the photos, Sonny visited her feeder at least four times last night. I really hope she keeps it up and stays out of deep hibernation until she has gained back a very large chunk of the weight she has lost since winter began.

I wonder if placing the biscuits under the hay makes foraging for them similar to foraging under the straw mulch as I've seen her do in the summer ... and now that she has decided that this is an acceptable feeder box and that the food I am offering her is ok, I hope she keeps it up!

and Along Came Hector

This morning my phone rang. On the other end of the line was a vet nurse from Pet Doctors, Tristram St. She told me another vet nurse had given her my number - oh dear ..... my hoggie 'fame' seems to be speading LOL! It seems the clinic had had a little hoggie in care since the middle of last week and she'd been told he needed to 'move' along hehe. As she has a dog at home and no spare room she was unable to take this little boy home so asked if I could help. Of course, the answer was 'yes' and after arranging for her to bring him to me at 10.30 I contacted Narelle to let her know I had an 'incoming' and to request a foster placement for him, then I got busy preparing a hospital box for him.

Hector arrives

 When the nurse arrived I invited her in and opened the box she was gently carrying to have a look at the hoggie. OH MY!!!! He was just beautiful. He had mange but she'd done a good job with him so far. He'd had an Ivomec injection last week and most of the mange crust was gone, leaving an almost completely bald little hoggie weighing in at 401gms. His spikey 'cap' is pretty funny, he is a bit too skinny and has a small mange crack on his face but other than that he looks perfect - albeit bald!

After giving him a warm oil bath; as his skin was dry and flakey, I started Hector on Panacur. The Ivomec/Panacur/Oil combination is now going to be my standard 'entry' treatment (under advisement from Narelle) for mange hogs and pretty much takes care of all of the possible parasitic load that a hog will have; apart form Fluke, which is rare in NZ hogs.

In fact, today I learned how to administer Ivomec via subcutaneous injection. This means that I can now treat our Waikato rescues for mange in a much more affordable manner. To date, I've been using Advocate which even discounted costs $11/pipette. With a minimum of two doses per hog for any I hogs I rescue including my wildlings and when I have been providing Advocate for many of the fosters who haven't been able to afford it themselves, the cost soon mounts up. So I'm quite relieved to now have a really good alternative in place.

Back to Hector ...

After tucking him up in his bedroom I left him to settle in. Later; when I checked on him, he was totally blissed out on his heatpad in 'splat hog' mode LOL!

I likeeee this heatpad a lots!

Although I had contacted Narelle about a foster placement for this wee boy I have to admit I have completely  fallen in love with him, so for now I am going to keep him and will see how we go in regards to my allergies. When I had Yoda inside and then Sonny, I coped ok as I was on my Lupus medication which seemed to ameliorate my allergic reactions to hogs. Unfortunately since then I have had to come off the medication so we'll take it day by day and change tack if necessary. From tomorrow, I am going to house Hector in the garage with his crate set up on one of my propagation heat pads (which I also use for soap making) on top of an insulated base and I'll cover his box overnight to help keep the heat in. I think this set up will ensure that he will be warm enough. 

The Dread Pirate Rabbits aka Westley!

So the Bunny has been confirmed as a boy and now has a name - Westley, named for a character from one of Geri's favourite movies; The Princess Bride.

Westley - The Dread Pirate Roberts

In the movie, Westley inherits the title of 'The Dread Pirate Roberts' .... which logically leads us to The Dread Rabbit Westley. But of course!!!!!

And you just know that sooner or later, our Westley is going to be sporting a little black mask and bandana compliments of Geri, don't you? 

Horrendous teeth there, Buddy.

We took Westley to the vet yesterday and he confirmed that Westley's teeth are in an awful state. No wonder he is so skinny! These teeth have been stopping him from eating comfortably and need dealing to without question.

However, these teeth aren't just too long but are also not aligned properly. This means that it isn't simply a matter of having them trimmed once and then managing their growth through good husbandry, because due to the fact that the teeth don't 'match up' they will never be worn down properly by eating high fibre foods and tree branches. So, the vet gave us two options. The first was to bring Westley in every month to have them trimmed or to have the teeth removed completely. We have elected to have the problematic teeth removed in order to spare Westley the ongoing stress of having the teeth constantly trimmed as he will be having a general anesthetic when he is neutered, so it makes sense to have the teeth removed at the same time. The vet assured us that rabbits that have undergone this procedure manage very well without their front teeth as long as their back teeth are ok - which Westley's are.

Oh La La! The Hoppy Hilton

Westley is now ensconced in his very own two level condo. He is a bit perturbed by the ramp which accesses the lower level at this stage; having only shifted house today, but I'm sure he will figure it out overnight. He will spend his nights and any time during the day that we aren't home, in the hutch.
 

You expect me to timeshare with Hedgehogs? REALLY??? 

During the day while we are home he spends his time in his 'playpen' out on the grass. Yup, that pen is a spare hog pre release pen which I don't need at the moment as it is winter.

What IS that thing in there?

 The cats are quite perturbed by Westley. Miss Effie; running true to character, is mighty curious and isn't too worried by His Hopiness. Mme Coco is also her usual suspicious, aloof self. Mr Tyrion is becoming cautiously curious and Wee Lisbeth's nose is well and truly out of joint. She spent the first few days Westley was with us sitting inside the house, growling and glaring at The Dread Rabbit Westley whilst he sat out in his playpen totally oblivious.

All set for another stormy night here! Bring it ON!

We've had a few nights of really bad weather with extremely high winds with driving rain and poor Yoda's and Westley's hutches got a bit flooded (their bedrooms were warm and dry though) so I have jury rigged rain covers for the hutches until I can make something more permanent.

Hmmmmm, I think I will change the name of this blog to reflect its expanding animal participants...

Hipity Hopity Bibidy Bobidy Boo!

SQUEEEEEEEE!

This little bunny came into foster care with us on the weekend; after being found on a busy road, and is now a permanent member of our family. BIG SURPRISE! It is the snuggliest bunny in the WHOLE world and Geri is over the MOON to be its new Mamma!

This week he/she (I've not identified its sex yet, I'll leave that to the vet LOL) will be having a dental - due to VERY neglected/overgrown teeth, and will be desexed, microchipped and vaccinated. Hopefully once the teeth are sorted this little one will be able to eat more efficiently and will gain some weight as it is FAR too skinny.

On my recommendation, the bunny has been withdrawn from the Rescue group’s listing as I am not impressed with the neglect evidenced by the state of its teeth and as far as I’m concerned the original owners don’t deserve to have it back. However, I have checked on the web for lost rabbit listings and the bunny doesn't appear anywhere, so my conscience is completely clear.

A spare hoggie hutch and pre release pen are currently providing  night time lockup and day time playpen accommodation for this yet to be named bunny, but I’ll be sorting out its own hutch and day pen ASAP as I have Miss Tiggy Hog (who will be released with Yoda) coming into pre release care soon.