COLD DARK ROOM

Cathie G

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No they aren’t. Hedgehogs are designed to “ball”. They’re really flexible and can get into the most extraordinary positions. A broken back suggests impact damage of some sort. Perhaps a car, but it’s odd there were no other wounds.
I see. Some of your pictures have reminded me of my rabbits. Their backs are flexible also but not in the way as a hedgehog. Rabbits can somewhat flex both ways when they are in the air kicking and ricocheting off the walls and furniture ?
 

JoesMum

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Well I'm thinking that zoning laws should cover a business operating in a residential district anyway. Also any tort parent would be mortified if s/he got loose and ate a neighbor's dandelions. They might have used poison to get rid of them. Other than that, I can't think of a single reason why a neighborhood should have a cookie cutter look to it.?
I agree about the cookie cutter bit. Pristine grdens are not good for wildlife and bees. If people are going to accept this planet needs saving then they also need to accept that gardens should not be curated to look “perfect” all the time.
 

Lyn W

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Good evenooning all.

Monday started early as I covered a shift at the rescue from 7-10am. When I got home, we got stuck into chores. It’s Hedgehog Awareness Week in the UK and I had got some leaflets from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society about how to help them. I posted them at all the houses on the roads in our block... about 130. Initial results are encouraging. I had two people who happened to be outside their properties talk to me at length about what they could do and two nice emails too. :)

That night we saw something dreadfully sad on our camera. A hedgehog with no use of it back legs. I raced out in the rain and grabbed it and we boxed it.

I was back at the rescue for my regular shift early on Tuesday and took it with me, but as I feared had a broken back and it had to be put to sleep. ? There was no sign of open wounds so how the hedgehog got injured is a mystery.

At the rescue we are inundated with baby birds blown out of their nests in the recent high winds.

I fed everything from just hatched Song Thrushes which needed attention every 10 minutes to a near fledging Rook, our biggest crow species, that was about the size of duck! The Rook was lovely actually and very easy to feed. You just shovel it in him and then he suddenly goes to sleep for half an hour. It’s like those videos of very tired toddlers falling asleep in their high chair. ?
View attachment 324545

Today has been cold and just got very wet. At least our pond is refilling.

In other news my Schlumberga as decided to flower. I have no idea what this one is. It has a very narrow leaf and doesn’t usually flower until June.

View attachment 324546
That's so sad abut the hedgehog but it's a good job you spotted him because he could have been suffered a long slow death if he'd been left in the wild. I hope it wasn't an act of cruelty that caused that injury.
I've been looking out for any baby birds that may have been blown out of nests too, these high winds couldn't have happened at a worse time for them. It's been very cold, windy and showery again here today, thankfully no snow!!
 

Lyn W

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Sapphire had his first vet appointment today and she was very nice. I didn't get to see her face to face but I was so happy I almost cried. We talked on the phone. Sapphire was a good boy and gave her a goody care package ? too so it was fresh as it could be ?. She'll be an extra backup just in case. I was really nervous about it but it went the way I knew it should.
That's great Cathie, but hopefully you won't need her too often.
Did she manage to trim his beak OK?
 

Ray--Opo

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Not sure if it is breeding time or all the houses being built. But I have got 3 notifications on my neighbor watch on my ring doorbell about rattlesnakes this week. Screenshot_20210505-164930_Ring.jpg
 

Lyn W

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I agree about the cookie cutter bit. Pristine grdens are not good for wildlife and bees. If people are going to accept this planet needs saving then they also need to accept that gardens should not be curated to look “perfect” all the time.
I really hate this craze for artificial grass in the UK at the moment.:mad:
It's dreadful for wildlife and the environment.
It also holds on to bird poop and other bacteria so not as child friendly as people think it is.
Lazy people's landscaping!
 

JoesMum

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I really hate this craze for artificial grass in the UK at the moment.:mad:
It's dreadful for wildlife and the environment.
It also holds on to bird poop and other bacteria so not as child friendly as people think it is.
Lazy people's landscaping!
Oh me too! Terrible for wildife and it introduces more micro plastics into the environment too.

There was a lady recently in a hedgehog group I’m in who was anxious to get hedgehogs in her garden. She had a hole… and a feed station… and the garden looked like this…. sterile with astroturf. It was hard to say politely that she didn’t hve a hope of hedgehogs or anything else without radical changes
788CDCF6-4821-4FDC-8B47-0D3927A6DF3C.jpeg
 

JoesMum

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Not sure if it is breeding time or all the houses being built. But I have got 3 notifications on my neighbor watch on my ring doorbell about rattlesnakes this week. View attachment 324567
I think the rise of video doorbells and security cameras means people are more aware of them. I suspect their numbers haven’t increased. People just didn’t used to get instant alerts to movement on their phones.
 

Cathie G

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That's great Cathie, but hopefully you won't need her too often.
Did she manage to trim his beak OK?
She did a good job. She was really nice. I hope I don't need her also and really I haven't except for the beak trim. I'm really glad Sapphire came through with a big whopping poo just for her also.? He grew the beak the first year I had him and it really hasn't grown since... She mentioned that it may not grow again like that. I have no idea what he went through before I got him but I know it wasn't good. He had holes in his shell that looked like poor nutrition and not wounds from an animal or injury. They're healed over except for one little sliver. I've seen it closed also and I think it will eventually close permanently.?
 

Cathie G

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Not sure if it is breeding time or all the houses being built. But I have got 3 notifications on my neighbor watch on my ring doorbell about rattlesnakes this week. View attachment 324567
It could be both the door bell catching them and the time of year. In the spring, at least in Ohio, they are coming out of hibernation. I'm not sure about Florida.
 

Lyn W

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Oh me too! Terrible for wildife and it introduces more micro plastics into the environment too.

There was a lady recently in a hedgehog group I’m in who was anxious to get hedgehogs in her garden. She had a hole… and a feed station… and the garden looked like this…. sterile with astroturf. It was hard to say politely that she didn’t hve a hope of hedgehogs or anything else without radical changes
View attachment 324568
That looks better than my living room!!!:D
 

Maro2Bear

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Good progress today. Fridge, stove & microwave all delivered, no dents, marks or breakage. Later on, it cleared and the siding guys came and redid the entire front section of garage, removed an old light as well.

Appliance delivery window was between 0830-1230. They arrived at 0930. ?
 

Cathie G

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Spotted a very nice & lively Eastern Box Turtle on the back road near our house this morning. I did a quick U-turn but it was smart, as I approached still in my car i saw it scampering back into the weeds.

Hope he / she makes it!
I'll bet s/he will. S/he has enough sense to be afraid of vehicles and get the heck outta dodge.
 

Ray--Opo

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Disturbed habitats will bring them out.
I hope they get relocated rather than killed.
Me too! One got killed because it bit their dog. Still haven't heard of the outcome of the dog. The other Florida Wild and Game got. Not sure of the outcome of the pic I posted.
 
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