Piggywinkle!

[the.fee.fairy]

ok...i couldn't think of anywhere else to post this exciting pice of news. I hope people here are as excited as i am!!

We have a hedgehog!

We have nicknamed it piggyinkle, and he's in my vegetable patch at the moment munching the big fat slugs...i even knocked a few into his path so he could enjoy them!!

i think he's been living in the woodpile for a while now, and he is so welcome!!

I'm so pleased, because to me it means that all the hard work turning the garden nature friendly is working, everything is organic, so nothing can poison him, and i've never put slug pellets down, so he can eat as many slugs as he wants!!

And, Piggywinkle is so cute!

Might have to invest in a hedgehog house later in the summer so he's got somewhere to sleep over winter....

[Millymollymandy]

Really pleased for you - they are such lovely little creatures.

[chadspad]

WOW good for u!! I agree, they are totally lovely.

Found a tiny one in my garden one winter in the UK and put it in an old TV box in the garage. I went in every day to put down food and water and only ever heard it scurry for cover in the box. When I went to let him out in the spring, he was the largest hedgehog I have ever seen - pukka!

[Shirley]

Aww congratulations... lovely creatures. I haven't seen a live one for many years.

[Boots]

Aw.. that sounds so cool. Can you post a pic for us hedgehog deprived people downunder?

And what sort of house does a hedgehog have? Do they burrow?

[the.fee.fairy]

if i see him again, i'll try to take a pic. he wasn't in sight last night.

You can buy hedgehog houses on wigglywigglers.co.uk

they're like little flat houses with a tunnel to get in (apparently it makes hedgehogs feel safer) and they're waterproof. you just put some shredded paper in there so they can make themselves comfy and they sleep there over the winter.

[Millymollymandy]

My husband made one but we left it behind at our last house because the hedgehogs used to use it in winter.

Boots - they don't burrow but hibernate in log piles, compost heaps or piles of leaves. They build their nests in piles of leaves too. I had a whole family of them at my last house with a much smaller garden so I could really watch their activities. They actually built the nest during the day but normally they are nocturnal. Summer barbecues were fun because we had baby hedgehogs come out and run across the terrace just after dark. Great fun!

[Boots]

Oh that sounds like a great barbie. We had an echidna that arrived with burned quills after a bushfire. It hung around for a while, but I haven't seen it in ages. There is something really special about a garden that welcomes wildlife, I think. It just feels better.

I have never thought of actually building houses for local roaming wildlife. I'm not sure if ours might need a hand of some sort. At the moment they are all on the wander, in search of food. With things being so dry, we are seeing many more than usual. Had a big mob of roos come through a few arvos back. They just bounded through and didn't stop... seemed to know where they were going.

Gave our galah a house extension today. He arrived as a beat up baby after being hit by a car. Broken wing, dinged beak and a big chunk out of his chest that may have been the result of crows who were attempting to put him out of his misery. I really did not expect him to make it, but he did and is now our door greeter. Gave his apartment a 'second story' today, which now means he can chew on the leaves from the tree beside the door. He's been pretty busy today.

I just attempted to relocate the pig out of the big pen and into the stall as it is getting colder now. Went over to enjoy a coffee one of the girls brought out for me and sat down to find the cheeky porker settling down beside me! The housing of animals really does keep me on my toes... I wish it was as easy as just building a little house for her...

[Millymollymandy]

That's interesting - I've never thought about gardening/living with wildlife in Australia but certainly we do what we can to help the wildlife here, in northern Europe. Things we do like feeding the birds in winter. Putting out water for insects/birds to drink and bathe in. Piles of rotting logs for hedgehogs and other mammals, and beetles etc to live or shelter in. Leaving patches of the garden to grow wild to encourage the insects and butterflies/caterpillars that feed off native grasses/flowers. Well there's all sorts of stuff!

However I'd think that in Australia there would be certain poisonous things that you wouldn't necessarily want to encourage, eh, like red backs and snakes!

Given your drought and the heat you get there, perhaps you could leave some water out for the birds to bath/drink from, also for any other wildlife that comes along?

Talking of roos, do they cause any damage in the garden/veg garden when they come through your property? We hear about rabbit/deer/wild boar damage in Europe but I've never given a moments thought to what might come along and munch your veggies in Oz!

[hedgewizard]

We've had no regular edgeogs because we're walled with a grid at the gate. I wish we had an edgeog! I's made a logpile special like...

[Boots]

Oh you don't need to encourage red backs or Joe Blakes - they just invite themselves! Certain times they are more likely to turn up than others though, and they are free to roam our land as long as they do not come within 1.5 metres of the house. We have an agreement.

The roos don't bother me, as all my vegies and fruit trees are fenced to protect them from stock anyway, so they can move through the main paddocks and have not caused me any grief. Veg just grows in the house yard and the orchard is another yard again. I am surprised by the size of some I have seen lately though... really huge.

When we lived in the city, the kids and I always established frog habitats and welcomed the lizards and birds, but here the environments we were recreating already exist. The parrots and a variety of birds feed on the pionciana and leuceana each arvo, and the dam is home to a variety of frogs, ducks, lizards and turtles (and the odd toad that we always keep an eye out for). We've seen roos down there drinking only once.

Something I haven't seen much of for a while is butterflies... Can't think of the last time... Oh, I think it is because my passionfruits all need replacing. They used to love it when they flowered, but the vines are just too old now, I think. Either that or I did a lousy job of cutting them back.

I have tinted windows in the house and they are a real problem for birds. I have had quite a few birds fly into them at different times and knock themselves senseless. They make a huge thud and I go out to find this poor dopey looking bird flailing about under the window. One night I had a huge owl belt into one, as I think he had spotted the cockatiel inside and I am still reeling that he didn't break the glass. Just hit the concrete and rolled around very drunk-looking for a bit and then kind of staggered/half flew off again. Actually scared the life out of me.

I am not sure if you or anyone else here might know, but I am wondering if the galah might need a hollowed log. I'm not sure if they just sleep on the branch when it gets cold or may actually take cover... Having just extended the cage up, I can't cover it now. Does anyone know?

[Wombat]

Aren't they edible?

(The hedhog that is.......)

Nev

[hedgewizard]

Yup, an old Gypsy recipe has them rolled in mud and then baked in the embers of a fire. The spines come off with the mud.