Station Road, Beckford, Nr Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 7AN Tel: 01386 882288 Email: info@valewildlife.org.uk Registered Charity No: 702888

Whether you are an established wildlife rehabilitator with

a large centre, or a one-man band taking in a handful
of casualties a year, if you want any help or advice or
you just want to share some tips and ideas with others,
this is the place to do it.

TICK TWISTER & TRIX LASSO TICK REMOVERS

NOW AVAILABLE FROM OUR ONLINE SHOP.
A must for all hedgehog carers and pet owners.
Chemicals and oils should NOT be used to remove ticks as they can regurgitate their stomach contents into the bloodstream causing infection. ORDER YOUR TICK REMOVER HERE.

One of the biggest problems that I encountered when I first started taking in and   rehabilitating wildlife 29 years ago, bearing in mind that I didn't have a clue what    I was doing at that time, was finding anyone with experience who was prepared to give me any advice. Nobody seemed willing to share their knowledge.
Speaking to other people who have set up since then, this problem is still the same today.
This attitude does nothing to encourage more people to take up this line of work   and certainly does nothing to help the injured wildlife.
If anyone new to wildlife rehabilitation needs any help or advice, we are happy to do our best to assist.

MICROHOTTIES

MICROWAVEABLE HEAT PADS,
IDEAL FOR SICK HEDGEHOGS &
OTHER SMALL MAMMALS/BIRDS.
AVAILABLE FROM OUR ONLINE SHOP.

Latest
Blog entry

Download our charts to help with the care & treatment of hedgehogs. These documents often get updated so make sure you have the latest version.

ROUTINE WORMING OF WILD HEDGEHOGS by
Tim Partridge B.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S
The sight of green poo from a hedgehog seems to cause panic amongst
some carers & they immediately reach for a cocktail of antibiotics, wormers
& more. This is often unnecessary & can potentially create problems in a previously healthy hedgehog.

Hedgehog facts:
• All wild hedgehogs carry worms
• Healthy hedgehogs 'develop' a resistance (or immunity) to these worms, which means that the hedgehog itself prevents the worm numbers building
up to the point at which they become a problem to the hedgehog (so that normally the hedgehog and its parasites will live in harmony)

However, if a hedgehogs immunity is reduced (by, for example, a bad injury, disease, starvation or even the stress of hospitalisation) the worms can then multiply unchecked; this will then result in them getting to such high
numbers inside the hedgehog that they DO now cause a problem.

Conclusions:
• There is no evidence to suggest that healthy, unstressed hedgehogs in
the wild need worming - they are doing a very good job for themselves in controlling their own worm burden.
• The stress experienced by a healthy hedgehog (or other wildlife) when brought into captivity is very well proven to reduce its immunity to the point where the natural host/parasite balance is tipped in favour of the parasite (hence why we often see worm egg and larvae numbers in faeces increasing during periods of hospitalisation).

So the act of captivity has just created a problem which didn't previously exist!......which is clearly not good medicine!
Please do not take hedgehogs into captivity purely for the purpose of
worming them - you will be doing them a huge disservice.

We are often asked how easy it is to sex hedgehogs.

So you can easily see the difference, I have posted the 2 photographs above. The left photo shows a female
hedgehog. The right photo shows a male hedgehog. Click on
the photos to see a bigger version.

If you have a query which you would like to

post publicly, to get advice from other carers reading it, please post it on the forum above.
I hope that other experienced rehabilitators will join us here   to share their knowledge and expertise and offer help to those who need it. If you want to contact us privately,  please email us by clicking here.