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How cute are these little fellas?
These two tiny hedgehogs are being hand-reared after they were abandoned by their mother when they were just a day old.
The three-day-old babies are being cared for by Fran and David Tomlinson, of Barnsley, after their nest was disturbed.
The spiky creatures weigh just 16 grams each and have to be fed milk every hour-and-a-half - around the clock.
The hedgehogs were delivered to the couple, who run Barnsley Hedgehog Rescue on Summer Lane, Royston.
Fran said: "They came in, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
"It seems their mother had gone off - sometimes they do that and they almost never come back.
"We're feeding them on a puppy milk substitute, about every hour and a half to two hours.
"Normally we wouldn't feed them in the night but they are so tiny that the amount of milk you can get in them at any one time is small.
"The smaller they are the less chance there is they'll pull through, but they've got more chance now they've been found. We're keeping them warm, feeding them very small amounts of milk and hoping for the best."
In the last few days the Tomlinsons have had nine baby hedgehogs brought to them. Once they are big enough to be released they will be taken back to where they were found.
Fran said: "If people come across a nest, which will look like a big ball of leaves and twigs and they see a large hedgehog come out of it, the best thing is catch it and put it in a box.
"If there are babies in the nest they should put the babies in the box and ring us."
Fran said humans should never touch hedgehogs with their bare hands, adding: "The mother will smell human on the babies and may kill them."
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -3 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light sleet
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Wind Speed: 8 mph
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