Baby hedgehogs recovering well in Dorchester rescue

Chris Legg, founder of the self-funded Prickly Prickles rescue received an emergency call after a homeowner found a tiny hoglet which had not yet managed to open its eyes squeaking in their garden after strimming the lawn.

Chris proceeded to ask the homeowner to check the rest of his garden to see if there was a nest and he later located a second hoglet.

Madison and Mason (Image: Hollie Carr)

Upon arrival, Chris noted that the pair were ‘freezing cold,’ and ‘almost blue,’ so she proceeded to wrap them in a fleece with a micro heat pad to keep them warm.

Sadly, there was no sign of their mother, but Chris believes she must have abandoned them being so scared of the strimmer – so she took them into her care.

She has since named the pair Madison and Mason.

The hedgehogs when they first came in (Image: Chris Legg).

The hoglets weighed only 46 grams each when they came into Chris’s care, and three weeks later, Madison weighs 270 grams, whilst Mason is weighing at 188 grams.

The animal lover explained that they will be released together when they weigh approximately 500 grams, into a garden where they can be support fed and watered, adding, ‘they have not been trained to fend for themselves.’

She believes the baby hedgehogs to be aged between one month to five weeks old.

Chris said: “If they weren't found, they would not have survived that night and there was no way that I was going to leave them.

“Mason had a little prolapse, so I took him to Jordan at Vets for Pets in Dorchester who is so supportive of my rescue. They are very caring.

“They are both doing really well now.”

One of the babies being fed (Image: Chris Legg)

The rescuer has since issued advice on what people should do if they believe they have young hedgehogs in their garden that may be in danger.

She said: “It’s baby season now so it’s important that people check their gardens as hedgehogs will nest anywhere. What they see as a safe place often isn’t.

“If you know that there are babies in your garden then leave them alone, but if for any reason you are not seeing the mum regularly and you’re hearing a lot of squeaking – call your rescue and don’t think about touching them.”

She suggested that some of the biggest threats to the animals are strimmers, mowers and people sticking forks into compost heaps without checking for hedgehogs.

Additionally, slug pellets pose a huge threat, not only in the raw form, but after the slugs eat the toxic pellets, hedgehogs will ingest the slugs and end up with the pellets inside of them.

She added: “Any hedgehog that is out in the day lying still, should not be as they are nocturnal. The only exception is a nursing or pregnant mum and she would be busy foraging.”

Chris has a number of hedgehogs in her care including Mabel who was admitted with an awful case of ringworm back in November and came in with hardly any spines.

Mabel now (Image: Hollie Carr)

Mabel has been recovering amazingly and Chris is planning on releasing her next week.

READ MORE: Pea the hedgehog recovers after rescue by Prickly Prickles

READ MORE: Pea the rescue hedgehog has been released 

Other hogs at the rescue include Eva who came in with a really bad facial infection and Bernie who is extremely bald due to a bad case of ringworm.

Eva has a facial infection (Image: Hollie Carr)

If you are concerned about a hedgehog, call Prickly Prickles Rescue on: 07747344042, and if Chris can’t help she will point you in the direction of another rescue.

Bernie has a bad case of ringworm which caused his spines to fall out (Image: Hollie Carr)