My shout of alarm elicited the right response. She put it down gently and retreated a few steps. Which is when I realized what it was. A HEDGEHOG!!!
I know that Atelerix frontalis is supposed to live in this part of the country, but in fifteen years here, I've never seen one. I suppose most people haven't, and don't really think about it, but it has long been my dream to come across one.
I scooped it up in my bare hands and carried it inside. Maybe not the wisest move, it was a hefty ball of spines. I put it down on a towel, and rolled it over to see whether it was alive, or injured. It was breathing, and there were no puncture marks or blood. So far so good.
I placed it under a towel in a plastic crate, with a dish of water, and left it to calm down.
After a while it unrolled itself and started sniffing around. Then it emerged from under the towel, tried to climb the sides of the crate, lapped some water, and curled up again in a corner. It seemed to be fine.
I invited the dogs to have a nap in the studio, locked them in, and set off with the crate to the composting corner. It's far from the house, with lots of hiding places. I know that hedgehogs eat bugs and snails. To my mind, the composting area should be heaven for hedgehogs.
I put the towel down in the grass and waited. After a minute, it uncurled itself and ran off. The area that it disappeared into is wild, with lots of hiding places. The orange plastic mesh over the opening in the wall was originally put up to keep the dogs in, but I havent' checked it in a long time. Now it's back in place.
Henning called the hedgehog a Hitchcock, ha ha. In German a hedgehog is an Igel.
Speculation: African hedgehogs are supposed to weigh around 350g. This one weighed more than 1kg. A pregnant female maybe? It was very fat. They have babies between October and March, and can have as many as a dozen at a time.
Downer facts: It was bigger than I thought hedgehogs were, and the spines were sharp! It pooed all over the crate, and it was stinky. It had fleas. Definitely not suitable as a pet.
Nevertheless, I was enchanted with it. Meeting a real live hedgehog was a dream come true. I'm regarding the encounter as an early birthday gift.
This sweet hedgie kit popped up in my FB newsfeed this morning. Available at www.gonk.co.za Hedgehogs Everywhere today!