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#1
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Hedgehog Diseases?
I wonder if anyone can shed some light on the malaises that afflict
young hedgehogs? A young one has apparently expired in the middle of an open area of concrete near a path I walk regularly. Although it looks superficially undamaged there are some strange organic growths on it about 5mm diameter translucent grey and longer than the spines poking out here and there. Leeches or some other nasty parasites maybe? The poor thing seemed determined to attract the attention of carrion crows by sitting right out in the open during daytime. I have never seen anything like this behaviour before. Any ideas what might have been wrong with it? I tried a Google search but mostly it found discontinued URLs and/or vendors of "pet" hedgehogs. Thanks for any enlightenment. Regards, Martin Brown |
#2
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Hedgehog Diseases?
In article .com, "Martin Brown" writes: | I wonder if anyone can shed some light on the malaises that afflict | young hedgehogs? | | A young one has apparently expired in the middle of an open area of | concrete near a path I walk regularly. Although it looks superficially | undamaged there are some strange organic growths on it about 5mm | diameter translucent grey and longer than the spines poking out here | and there. Leeches or some other nasty parasites maybe? More likely fungi or slime moulds, and quite possibly nothing to do with its demise. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#3
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Hedgehog Diseases?
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#4
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Hedgehog Diseases?
"Martin Brown" wrote in message oups.com... I wonder if anyone can shed some light on the malaises that afflict young hedgehogs? A young one has apparently expired in the middle of an open area of concrete near a path I walk regularly. Although it looks superficially undamaged there are some strange organic growths on it about 5mm diameter translucent grey and longer than the spines poking out here and there. Leeches or some other nasty parasites maybe? The poor thing seemed determined to attract the attention of carrion crows by sitting right out in the open during daytime. I have never seen anything like this behaviour before. Any ideas what might have been wrong with it? I tried a Google search but mostly it found discontinued URLs and/or vendors of "pet" hedgehogs. Try http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/ as a starting point. |
#5
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Hedgehog Diseases?
Martin Brown writes
I wonder if anyone can shed some light on the malaises that afflict young hedgehogs? A young one has apparently expired in the middle of an open area of concrete near a path I walk regularly. Although it looks superficially undamaged there are some strange organic growths on it about 5mm diameter translucent grey and longer than the spines poking out here and there. Leeches or some other nasty parasites maybe? Those sound like ticks in colour, if it wasn't for the length (ticks resemble sweetcorn grains in size and shape). Leeches tend to be various browns and blacks and dark greens. The poor thing seemed determined to attract the attention of carrion crows by sitting right out in the open during daytime. I have never seen anything like this behaviour before. Any ideas what might have been wrong with it? Sitting out in daylight is sign of sickness in hedgehogs, it's abnormal behaviour. Often if you take one to a 'hedgehog hospital' you find it has expired a few days later with respiratory disease. -- Kay |
#6
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Hedgehog Diseases?
Look at this site they may be able to answer your questions
http://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/ regards Cineman "Martin Brown" wrote in message oups.com... I wonder if anyone can shed some light on the malaises that afflict young hedgehogs? A young one has apparently expired in the middle of an open area of concrete near a path I walk regularly. Although it looks superficially undamaged there are some strange organic growths on it about 5mm diameter translucent grey and longer than the spines poking out here and there. Leeches or some other nasty parasites maybe? The poor thing seemed determined to attract the attention of carrion crows by sitting right out in the open during daytime. I have never seen anything like this behaviour before. Any ideas what might have been wrong with it? I tried a Google search but mostly it found discontinued URLs and/or vendors of "pet" hedgehogs. Thanks for any enlightenment. Regards, Martin Brown |
#7
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Hedgehog Diseases?
In message , K
writes Martin Brown writes I wonder if anyone can shed some light on the malaises that afflict young hedgehogs? A young one has apparently expired in the middle of an open area of concrete near a path I walk regularly. Although it looks superficially undamaged there are some strange organic growths on it about 5mm diameter translucent grey and longer than the spines poking out here and there. Leeches or some other nasty parasites maybe? Those sound like ticks in colour, if it wasn't for the length (ticks resemble sweetcorn grains in size and shape). Leeches tend to be various browns and blacks and dark greens. Yes, they sound like ticks. They get bigger as they fill up with blood, 5mm is about the size of a full one. Hedgehogs normally have lots of them in various sizes depending how long they've been feeding. It's unlikely they killed it, but an unhealthy animal often has more than its fair share of parasites. Sitting out in daylight is sign of sickness in hedgehogs, it's abnormal behaviour. Often if you take one to a 'hedgehog hospital' you find it has expired a few days later with respiratory disease. Are those hedgehogs unfit to eat then? -- Sue ];( |
#8
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Hedgehog Diseases?
MadCow wrote: In message , K writes Martin Brown writes A young one has apparently expired in the middle of an open area of concrete near a path I walk regularly. Although it looks superficially undamaged there are some strange organic growths on it about 5mm diameter translucent grey and longer than the spines poking out here and there. Leeches or some other nasty parasites maybe? Those sound like ticks in colour, if it wasn't for the length (ticks resemble sweetcorn grains in size and shape). Leeches tend to be various browns and blacks and dark greens. Yes, they sound like ticks. They get bigger as they fill up with blood, 5mm is about the size of a full one. Hedgehogs normally have lots of them in various sizes depending how long they've been feeding. It's unlikely they killed it, but an unhealthy animal often has more than its fair share of parasites. Yuck. I had expected ticks to be smaller, round and much darker in colour. Biggest one was nearly 1cm across. But on closer inspection it seems they were ticks, but bigger by far than any that I have seen before close up. I was surprised that they looked light grey and elongated despite presumably being full of blood. Sitting out in daylight is sign of sickness in hedgehogs, it's abnormal behaviour. Often if you take one to a 'hedgehog hospital' you find it has expired a few days later with respiratory disease. I reckon "respiratory failure" is what they say when they don't really know. Did it die because it stopped breathing or stop breathing because it died... Thanks all for the various info. BritishHedgehogs.org.uk seemed to have the most relevant practical advice - it was the first one I saw to mention ticks being grey. Regards, Martin Brown |
#9
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Hedgehog Diseases?
Martin Brown writes
Yuck. I had expected ticks to be smaller, round and much darker in colour. Unless you know what they are, they give a good impression of being a bit of the body they're attached to. Biggest one was nearly 1cm across. But on closer inspection it seems they were ticks, but bigger by far than any that I have seen before close up. I was surprised that they looked light grey and elongated despite presumably being full of blood. They're quite tough, but with a good blood-carrying capacity, so they need to be flexible (stretchy), so my guess is that they're made of quite thick skin, so you wouldn't see the blood through it. Sitting out in daylight is sign of sickness in hedgehogs, it's abnormal behaviour. Often if you take one to a 'hedgehog hospital' you find it has expired a few days later with respiratory disease. I reckon "respiratory failure" is what they say when they don't really know. Did it die because it stopped breathing or stop breathing because it died... They wheeze for a couple of days before dying, apparently. There's a dramatic exodus of fleas when the hedgehog actually dies - presumably just after as it begins to cool. -- Kay |
#10
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Hedgehog Diseases?
On 8/9/06 11:07, in article , "K"
wrote: Martin Brown writes snip Biggest one was nearly 1cm across. But on closer inspection it seems they were ticks, but bigger by far than any that I have seen before close up. I was surprised that they looked light grey and elongated despite presumably being full of blood. They're quite tough, but with a good blood-carrying capacity, so they need to be flexible (stretchy), so my guess is that they're made of quite thick skin, so you wouldn't see the blood through it. One way of removing them is to use a cotton bud dipped in meths. Ray has treated a couple of birds this way recently with great success. The only trouble is that the birds keep well away from us for a while afterwards! snip -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.co.uk South Devon http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/ |
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