Hedgehog diary for March 11th

Okay it has been a bit since I last caught up here with our Tiggy. Today is his big moving day. :) He is now up to 1345 grams in weight and is embarking on his next stage. The Soft release.

We have had him out in the conservatory for the last couple of weeks and the weather here has turned rather chilly. So I thought we would wait a bit till we put him outside. In the anticipation of puting him in a pen outside I ordered a pen from Ebay. Well..... that seller let me down big time and I have a claim in with Paypal now against them. Thing is when I ordered they had a very high feedback, but come to find out they had switched ids etc. So just be warned there are some very dodgy folks out there. But luckily I did get an honest person and we ordered another pen. And it arrived a few days ago. Thank goodness as the weather is now warming up and I wanted to make sure Tiggy had time to get used to outside before we released him for good.

In the meantime we thought he is going to need a waterproof nesting box and a food station too. Our old hedgehog box is in need of restoration and some damp proofing. So while at B & Q (our hardware store nearby) we saw a lovely little wooden hinged box for £10.00 So we picked that up thinking a little modification and we would have a nice nesting box. So Brian set about modifying this box into a nice Home for Tiggy. He had some roofing felt left from working on our shed last year so used it to surround the box and go over the box lid too. He also put it up on legs so that way the box wouldn't sit on the ground and become wet from a rainfall. And just incase our little friend has an accident he drilled a few holes in the bottom to drain any liquids that would happen to get inside. Next came the feeding station and one of the hedgehog sites we visited showed a plastic box with a hole cut in and a brick put ontop and tape around the doorway. So that is what we have now.

Yesterday, in the rain Brian and I put together the pen and assembled all the boxes. And last night after it turned dark Tiggy got his first viewing of his new home. He snuffled about a bit and did manage a look inside the nest box with alot of rolling about and self anoiting going on. But it was just too cold last night to leave him out there. So one more night in the conservatory for him.

His new pen!! Nest box, food box and snuffle tray

Another view of his new home

And his entrance hole.

Last night's viewing of the new pen.

Today the weather has turned and I couldn't wait till dusk. So we woke him up and put him out in his new pen.

Well the first thing he did was head for the nearest hole..... Being his food box. I thought he might be a bit hungry. So we sat patiently and watched him snuffle about a bit. But when he climbed ontop of his water bowl and food bowl and started to take a nap.... Well, I ended up moving him to the nice soft straw. (We don't have the smartest hedgehog in the UK here.) (You can just about see him inside the food box)

He then remembered the other hole and checked out the front entrance.

Going........

Going.......

Then he crawled inside his nice box that is filled with straw, paper and his fav blankets (some chopped up towels).
The pen states that it is supposed to be fox and cat proof... well Jingles has already got his paws inside the bars. Silly cat and was dipping them in the water bowl I placed outside. Good thing we have it on the patio so we can keep an eye on him.
Brian and I enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and a piece of cake on the patio watching over our little friend while he sleeps snuggly. But he has had visitors already and the neighbors have dropped in to see what is going on.....