It never ceases to amaze me how fast
wildlife develops, they do this to have the best chance of survival. I was reminded of this when during the routine cleaning out of hedgehogs in the orphan room I saw how much our first
orphan hoglet had grown. You can read the previous blog about the hoglet that
was left behind.
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| When the orphaned hoglet first arrived. |
It has now been six weeks and it has grown from a small sausage with
spikes into a very active juvenile hedgehog. During the six weeks it has gone
through various stages of feeding; stomach tubing, lapping milk formula, having it's first
taste of meat to becoming fully weaned. Now weighing in at 400g more than when it was admitted it will not be long before this juvenile hedgehog will be transferred to an outside pen and
eventually back to the wild.
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| What a difference in only 6 weeks! |
With one well on the way to release there are
still plenty more hoglets going through the stages of weaning which i keeping us all
very busy! The wild hedgehog population is in decline so their rehabilitation and release is really important from a conservation perspective, so that we
can all continue to see them in gardens around Britain.
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| Lapping at milk formula. |
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| Enjoying some mushed up kitten food. |
See the footage below of one of Stapeleys juvenile hedgehogs enjoying a meal.
By Michelle Bite
Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery
To donate to Stapeley text and our orphans: STAP70 £2 or £5 to 70070
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