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 ...