Rustle, rustle, rustle........

............please excuse typos, I'm not long back from the pub.................

I nipped out when I got home, looking for Bola and Fudge, saw both of them in the back garden, but heard a *rustling* coming from the shed. Jimmy was in and Max was hovering about so I thought it must be Dexter, but to be making a noise like that, he had to be trapped inside a large plastic sheet in the shed. Off I went with my wind up torch, only to be met with silence when I got into the shed

Dexter suddenly appeared, so it wasn't him, but still the *rustling' was coming from the shed I ended up picking up one end of said polythene sheet...............and it was heavy.............my first thought was a cat was there but hiding, perhaps hurt, but after shining my torch, then ripping said plastric sheet open, I was met with the sight of a massive, and I mean massive, hedgehog, sheltering. I don't know what the breeding season is for hedgehogs, but this one was either heavily pregnanat or a complete freak, it was even bigger than I first thought, in fact not miuch smaller than a average washing up bowl

I've left it alone, after putting a plate of cat food down, and I hope I didn't disturb it too much.....I'll be checking first thing tomorrow morning.

Ian

It had gone when I checked earlier and the food was untouched so it looks like I did disturb it, which is a shame.

Ian

oh oh, preggie hedgies means babies sooner or later which could add another dimension to Ian's Cat Rescue Service, it can now include baby hedgehogs, aww sweet.

LOL! Must have been a good dinking session! Just kidding, awww a giant hedgehog sounds adorable... sure you disturbed her but you had no choice, you had to make sure there wasn't an injured animal there. Oh and, wind up torch... brilliant idea, I keep meaning to get one.

That's something I can happily live without Kath If it had looked a bit harder it would have found a cardboard box on the floor (the *cat box* is on top of a old set of drawers) which would have been far comfier and away from nosey cats.

It was huge Helen, I've never seen one anywhere near as big

Those torches are fantastic, I got mine free after spending, I forget how much, in a Outdoor gear shop in town a couple of years ago. A minute or so's winding and it's good to go and saves a fortune on batteries.

Ian

Check this out Ian.... awww George the hedgehog.. lol

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7397926.stm

Yep, *mine* was of a similar size

I don't know where it went but it couldn't hide that's for sure

Ian

I can't deny I'm puzzled as to how it got into my garden in the first place due to it's sheer size, I fully expected to find it curled up somewhere today, but it's vanished There's only the one narrow-ish gap in the back garden fence and there's no gaps at all at the front of the house, so unless it can climb fences, I'm baffled.

Ian