Y'kno I've been wondering when my first hedgehog call would come through. Wildlife centres all over the UK are fit to burst with young hedgehogs born later due to the mild weather, who haven't reached the minimum hibernation weight of 600g... well, mine came today.

I was on the points of going out to meet a friend. Was dressed up, made up... then the wildlife phone started ringing. It was a local number... about 20 minutes away. The lady had found a hedgehog in her garage. She'd put it in a box, given it dog food and water and left it overnight. Today, she found it had got outta the box, but was staggering around the garage. One quick call to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society confirmed the hedgehog was showing symptomns of hypothermia. They gave her the phone number of her local wildlife rescuer.... me.

Within 20 minutes I was outside her door with my animal carry case in hand. She showed me into the kitchen and opened a box to reveal a baby hedgehog no bigger than my hand. She didn't realise it was a baby! I quickly took it back to the car and put the box under the heater to keep it warm. 20 minutes later I was back home and transferring it into a cage after a quick assessment (no injuries, & it's a boy!) It's now got a saucer of puppy food and some water and every now & then I can hear it shuffling around... which is a good thing, but as it's in a dark room, I would hope it'd be a little more active. My major concern is that it hasn't had a drink of water. I have waited an hour now to let it settle, so shock doesn't kill it but if it doesn't take fluids soon I'm going to have to give them via syringe. Not the most pleasant of tasks, but if it'll stop it dying...

I don't think my boss will be too pleased that I have to take the morning off to care for a baby hedgehog, but until I find a centre who'll take him on, I'm giving him my full attention.

Oh & if you hadn't guessed, I've called him Sonic :-)

Keep you posted guys. Will upload photos soon x