A quiet night

Last night seemed quiet, compared to the last few nights. There were only six visits at the front, compared to twelve the night before, and there wasn't as much activity at the back. Not sure why, but maybe the weather had something to do with it. The first visitor arrived at 7:50 pm, the earliest yet.

There were still quite a few hedgies around, and we had two small ones meeting outside the ATM. One went through the ATM and stood on the steps inside the ATM munching mealworms. The second hedgie tried to get through, but the entrance was blocked. It kept trying to get past, but in the end the poor thing gave up and went away.



The next clip is at the entrance to 9a. The first hedgehog has just come out of the house and is standing partly inside the tunnel, eating mealworms we scattered at the entrance. A second hedgie turns up, wanting to get into the house. Eventually it gets fed up waiting and squeezes down the tunnel into the house.



We still don't know how many hedgies there are in 9a. There was at least one there during the day, but there is so much coming and going we have given up trying to keep track. They seem to be getting on quite well, so it could be they are siblings.

It looks like we will have to either widen the ATM or make a second entrance as it has been blocked several times - it was again tonight. We also had a blockage in 9e, the plastic box feeder. One hedgie was inside when another came in the door. The first hedgie frightened the second, which balled up in the doorway. The first couldn't get out, and its panic upset the second even more, so it wouldn't move. Finally the first managed to squeeze out.

We had a somewhat more worrying sighting on the ATM. The hedgehog stumbled as it climbed into the ATM, as if its front leg gave way. It rolled over onto its side and just lay there for a few seconds. It seemed to struggle to stand up and climbed back out of the ATM, but it then just sat outside for six minutes before walking away. We have seen hedgies overbalance while scratching but they just stand up immediately, whereas this one just lay there. The poor hedgie looked decidedly unwell. We didn't see it again last night, but we'll keep an eye open for it tonight and if it has problems we'll give it a check up.



We think we have a lodger in the boiler room again. Difficult to tell under the pile of straw, but there are signs of movement. One hedgie made two short visits to the mealies, sniffed at them and wandered off, so it doesn't seem too interested. We've put some commercial hedgehog food out tonight to see if it's more interested in that.

We did have two other visitors who really tucked into the mealies, one for 13 minutes, one for seven, so it looks like the other one was just being fussy.