A Typical Day
The rescue is open 7 days a week, 356 days a year
08:30
Every day at the rescue is a busy day, we just don't know how many times the phone will ring and what patients are going to be admitted to the rescue. Each morning Diane does a welfare check on all the boxes looking for any problems or concerns that may have developed overnight. Sometimes medicines need to be administered straight away and very sick, or young, hedgehogs need to be handfed food or critical care. Stock levels of consumables need to be checked to make sure that every thing that's likely to be needed throughout the day is ready at hand.
09:30 - 12:30
Two different volunteers arrive each day to help clean out each of the hedgehog boxes. It's not all about the cute and cuddly babies, there's a reason they're called hedgeHOGS! Each box is cleaned and disinfected and filled with fresh newspaper and bedding. Water bowls are replenished and food bowls replaced. Every hedgehog is weighed, and recorded on their individual patient form, before being put back in their clean box. Outside hutches are also cleaned out, disinfected and topped up with everything the hedgehog needs.
12:30 - 18:00
When the volunteers have left there's still lots of work to be done. Patient records need updating daily, recording new weights, medications required and any observations noted. Poo samples are routinely collected, processed using a centrifuge and examined under the microscope to check for parasites. Water and food bowls are washed and disinfected and stock replenished. Some hedgehogs also need a variety of treatments which can include medicated baths, bathing of wounds or tick removal. Occasionally we need to take a hedgehog to our local vets for things that we are not able to do at the rescue i.e. x-rays and small medical procedures that require the hedgehog being sedated.
18:00 - 22:00
In the evening, either Diane or one of the volunteers, trained to administer medication, does another check of all the boxes. The boxes that have been trashed during the day, of which there are many, are cleaned out again and replenished with fresh newspaper and water. All the hedgehogs are given tinned dog/cat food and cat biscuits or any other special diet foods that they need. We get through as many as 15-20 tins a day when we are busy. If you have a fussy pet cat or dog and have tins or pouches that they refuse to eat (like our 2 cats) then we will happily take them off your hands as most of our hedgehogs aren't that fussy. They can be dropped off at the rescue, please message us for details.
24/7
In between the day-to-day routine, calls come in throughout the day, and into the evening, with members of the public calling about concerns they have about a hedgehog, or simply just looking for advice. The hedgehogs are brought to the rescue by the finder, or by a volunteer transporter, but there times when Diane and Andrew have to travel to help aid in the rescue of a hedgehog that might be trapped or to assess and advise when a nest is disturbed.
Once in the rescue all the hedgehogs are thoroughly checked for external parasites and any ticks, fly strike and maggots are removed. Fly strike are eggs laid by flies and if not removed can quickly hatch into maggots. Depending on
how badly infested the hedgehog is, and how cooperative it is, this is something that can take many hours as the eggs can be laid deep into the hedgehog's fur, as well as eyes and ears, and must be removed before the maggots hatch.
The most rewarding part of rescuing is organising the release of the hedgehogs once they're fit and healthy, each one being micro chipped.
And on top of all of this, there are hand fed hoglets that need feeding every two hours, starting at 6 am and into the early hours of the following morning, and a household to run with kids to feed and an actual paid job to attend!