Holly's Jolly Jubilee Arrival!
We had a very special delivery on the Jubilee bank holiday last month, when Holly the long-eared hedgehog gave birth to a tiny but spiny little hoglet.
Hedgehogs are born blind with a protective membrane covering their quills. This membrane dries and shrinks over the first few hours, after birth. The infants are born with quills beneath the skin, which look a lot like pimples. The spines begin to pass the skin after the mother has cleaned the babies and as they continue to grow and get older hoglets eventually shed their baby spines (called โquillingโ) and they are replaced with adult spines.
Holly welcomed twins last winter and is an absolutely fantastic mum! For the first few days I left Holly to bond with her little arrival and they spent all their time together in the nest but now that she is beginning to adventure out more she is certainly 'hogging' the spotlight (and I was able to get some photos to share with you all)!
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ ๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐น๐ ๐น๐ถ๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐น. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ (๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐๐ด๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐)!
Summer Jubilee Queenie Juno Jolly
Our long-eared hedgehogs are much-loved members of our wee family and are also ambassador animals. They take part in our interactive animal education sessions and help us to convey the message about their native cousins, who are in increasing trouble on our own doorstep!
www.weecritters.org 079 1278 5047 hello@weecritters.org