We all want to help where we can, but we might not always know what’s best.
If injured always call your local wildlife organisation Sydney Wildlife rescue 94134300 open 24/7. They will give you the best advice for that animal.
If not injured and it has entered your yard please lock up any domestic pets and leave it alone. The Echidna will leave. Try to resist going back out to check on it. When disturbed the Echidna will roll up into a ball or dig down in the ground to protect its self. Never try to dig it out using a shovel. If you remove the Echidna you may unknowingly have just made an orphan of its baby. If you can, leave it alone and keep your pets in overnight it will be gone in the morning.
A little about our fascinating Echidnas.
Did you know
• They have been known to mate from May through to September
• You cannot tell the sex of an Echidna
• They don’t have teats, they have milk ducts special glands that secrete milk,
• They lay eggs and next to platypus they are the only known egg laying land mammal
• After about 10 days the egg hatches
• A baby Echidna is called a Puggle
• The Puggle, will drink up to 40% of its body weight in one sitting.
• The mother Echidna will leave her Puggle for up to 5 days and go off looking for food.
• They are shy yet inquisitive.
• Their spines are actually long, tough, hollow hair follicles
• They have a much lower body temp than other mammal’s and can die from heat stress.
• When the temperature drops too low, they go in to torpor or hibernation.
• They love to eat termites, ant’s, worms, larvae and invertebrates.
