8 Little Oposs'

Hello! Tuesday I started out feeding the bunnies with the other Ashley. I think there were 15 at the time. They are all very young and are just opening their eyes except for two that are a little older. They need to be"pottied" after they are fed to stimulate them to urinate because that's what the mother rabbit would do to teach them how. We use a wet cottonball and rub their underside a little before they go back into the incubator. The fawn that was attacked by a bobcat is doing well and the big hematoma (a localized swelling filled with blood resulting from a break in a blood vessel) on his neck is going down. He also stands up several times a day and we made him a specialized pillow to hold his head up when he's laying down to help his neck. The new addition Tuesday was a 5 week old grey fox! Something most likely attacked it because there's something wrong with one of its eyes.

Today I started bunnies again with the other Ash. A new one came in yesterday that was caught by a dog but isn't doing well. I syringe fed him 1 and a half ccs and he wouldn't eat anymore and aspirated it (the formula went into its lungs). Hope tube fed him and gave him antibiotics for aspirating. A new bunny came in today that is a lot larger than the others. I'm not sure what happened to it but there was blood on it's nose. Other then that he is releasable sized. He was put in an incubator and fed. The outside squirrels, skunks, fox, and groundhog were fed their dishes of food and given new water. The skunks were treated to a bowl of worms in dirt that they seemed to enjoy. The squirrel with the bad arm and eye problem had to be euthanized. But then I fed the three groups of squirrels in the barn and the opossum (gets a bowl of yougurt and a bowl of formula). Eight little opossums were brought in today and they are so cute! The mother died and they were found crawling out of her pouch. There are 6 boys and 2 girls. The donated produce and lettuce was sorted and we called it a day.

Monday I am going in an hour early because Kelly is in Boston for the weekend so I am in charge of the fawn feedings.

Bobcat Attack?

Last week I made the food dishes for the foxes, fed and cleaned the cages for the two opossums, put ointment in one of their eyes, the fox cage that was used for the two foxes that went to the other rehab was cleaned out and moved back to the barn, a new volunteer was there, Rafiki- the groundhog, was put in the outside cage, laundry was done, and the chicken coop was cleaned out.

I usually go three days a week but last week we had a really bad storm and there was a tree and power lines down across the road so I couldn't get there Thursday.

Today I made up all the squirrel dishes for the outside cages, including the flying squirrels, and the four in the barn (two cages of the youngest ones and the two head trauma ones). They all got food, new water and the barn squirrels cages were cleaned out. The four skunks went outside today! Apparently a TON of bunnies came in within the past few days and they are all very young. The 13 bunnies were syringe fed 3 cc's each and their incubators were cleaned out. Rose, the limping fawn has a fractured pelvis. New arrivals today include a fawn that was attacked by a bobcat, a newborn bat, and a small rabbit with one of its back legs broken. Also, one of the fawns was found dead in the morning, not sure why.

Rafiki

He was doing somersaults through the piping, it was so cute!

All the raccoons outside while their inside cages were being cleaned

Skunks

Opossum with the weird eye was moved to the barn today

Blizzard, one of last years fawns hanging out in the yard

Violet is a licker...she could stay attached to your hand licking it for hours, but apparently she thought biting my nose was a good idea...didn't hurt, but I couldn't help squinting with a fawn that close to my face haha.

Ruddy! He couldn't even stand when we got him and he's doing great!

Little Stinkers

Everything is so much easier with all of the squirrels either outside or in the barn. I have been making up the fox food dishes lately. Between the 5 foxes (two went to another rehab today because we don't have enough outdoor fox cages), they get a can of dog food, a few scrambled eggs, and sometimes frozen mice, cherrys, and blueberrys (or a can of fruit baby food). The tack room in the barn that houses squirrels and skunks was cleaned and swept out now that most of the squirrels are in the outdoor cages.  Forest Gump, one of the squirrels outside was brought in and put under so that his teeth could be clipped and another squirrel that has been having leg problems was treated. Also, the vicious little chipmunk with puncture wounds and half his foot missing had maggots in his foot. They were removed. Ruddy, the head trauma fawn ran last week! Which means that he is releasable. The flyers are enjoying being in their outside cage. I put ointment on one of the skunks eyes because it wouldn't open. Baloo, one of the fawns, has had an abscess on his face and that is being treated every day with ointment and some other cream that goes over it.

Today, Hope was supposed to be going to a meeting but it ended up being canceled last week. But since it was planed out beforehand and there were two more volunteers there today then usual, she took the day off to go on a date with her husband. She runs the rehab every day from 11-4 and then 7-9 ish and deserved the time for herself for once. We didn't mind, and with all of the teamwork we finished all the animals really early. Marie, Nick, and Ashley did all the squirrels, Kelly did the fawns, Jess did the raccoons, and I did the fox and opossums. We sorted through some cages and played with the fawns for a while while we waited for the next fawn feeding. Here are some pictures from last week and today.

6  week old skunks

Feeding Eyore

Feeding Roo

Daisy

Baloo with the abscess on his face

Rose and little Prince-who came in yesterday

Flying squirrel

The basket I strung up and drilled into the ceiling

Their outdoor cage that I designed for the flyers

Flyer peeking out of the nesting box

Half of the racoons having a taste of being outside

Leia and Padme

The squirrel cages that we picked up last week

Yoda

Learning how to be a squirrel outside

Busy, Busy

After working with the squirrels for so long I was promoted last week to making the food dishes for the foxes. The rest of the week was the usual, syringe feeding the remaining two cages of squirrels, taking the food dishes outside for the three foxes and then to the two in the barn, dishes, laundry, 7 of the bunnies were released on the 8th so the two left got fed and their incubator cleaned, and feeding fawns.

Saturday a bunch of us got in three vehicles and went to another rehab to pick up new outdoor squirrel cages, and a cage for the skunks.We loaded them up on the trailer and brought them back to WBR to set up with the other outdoor cages we have.  Seven groups of squirrels were put outside and then we finished the day with feeding the fawns.

Today was crazy. We moved the rest of the squirrels into the outside cages exept for the two cages of younger ones, the two head trauma squirrels, and the flyers. The two cages of young squirrels were syringe fed, then I cleaned out the flying squirrel's cage and made five food dishes for the squirrels inside.  Then Hope showed me what she wants done for the fox and skunk dishes, because she is not going to be there next monday and I will be in charge of them (there's 5 fox and 4 skunks- that are so cute!). The two bunnies were cleaned out and fed, and the three new ones that came in today that were found in a pool were put in an incubator and fed. We also got in an opossum that was covered in fly eggs and a fox kit that was hit by a car that ended up passing away a few hours after it was brought in.  The skunk cage that was picked up Saturday needed to be moved onto a wooden stand and the squirrel cages outside had hay placed in the bottom of them. Then we ended the day with the fawn feeding.

We are up to 18 fawns (probably getting two more), 2 flying squirrels, 3 opossums, 5 foxes, 12 raccoons, 5 bunnies, 4 skunks, a groundhog, a chipmunk, and a bunch of squirrels.

130+ animals

Hello everyone! Last week I walked through the door to WBR to Hope and Kelly IV-ing a new fawn that came in the night before.  Unfortunately, she was not doing well when she came in and did not make it. There was only one group of squirrels that were being syringe fed still, everyone else was weaned.  I syringe fed the 10 bunnies (THEY TAKE FOREVER) and they are finally getting used to being fed and taking a little less time to finish. Once they are syringe fed, their incubator is cleaned out and they are given lettuce, pealed apple chunks, and a little bowl (or baby food cap) full of baby food applesause and sweet potatoes. I then gave water to and fed the outside cages of squirrels and changed the foxes water. There are still groups of squirrels out in the barn waiting to be put into the outside cage. They were cleaned and fed, then it was time to round up the fawns for feeding! Ruddy, the fawn that was found in a rivine, has been doing very well, even though he's blind in one eye, and was put out with the other fawns Monday and loved it! The company of other fawns is good for him. The crates of lettuce were sorted and we called it a day.

Tuesday I fed the squirrels, bunnies-feeding much faster!, got to see the little red squirrel that came in Monday night, had the 6 unviable opossums die, cleaned and fed the barn squirrels, and fed the fawns.

Thursday fed the squirrels, flying squirrels, realized there were two squirrels loose in the nursery room and had to catch them. They gnawed out of their carrier. Yes, they are definitely getting too big to be inside. Then did the barn squirrels, washed dishes and cleaned out holding tanks. The last task of the day was cleaning out the chicken coop with the other Ashley. It was gross. They made a huge mess and since it hasn't been cleaned out all winter, it was just delicious......I mean, I have chickens and this was just, EWW. But anyway, the hay and whatnot was shoveled out and new hay was put in.

I usually only do Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays but I also did Sunday this week because she is short on help on weekends. The squirrels were fed, along with the new addition of a baby squirrel, the flyers were cleaned and fed, the rest of the squirrels inside were cleaned out and given their bowl of food, the bunnies were fed (YES, they aren't being syringe fed anymore. hehe. although I did find a dead one..), then we went out and fed the 18 fawns. The outside cages were fed. As you probably noticed, it's all pretty routine, the inside babies, the outside cages, then the barn. A new squirrel was brought in and I helped the people that brought it in fill out the paperwork about it. Every animal brought in gets a number so that people can call in and see how the animals they brought in are doing. This one has head trauma, probably hit by a car, but (as of today) he is doing well.  When I went down to do the barn squirrels, I found one of the squirrels laying on the bottom of it's cage. Hope said it probably had a stroke, and it ended up passing away. Then after laundry, dishes, and everything was done, we went down the the barn to do the second fawn feeding. They get fed three times a day. Two of them have infected umbilical cords, so they were caught and treated, and the two that are in the house (Ruddy and Tulip, since she won't eat and Ruddy can't fend off the flies that were on him) were given shots of Vitamin B to help them out.

Today was the usual, squirrels, bunnies, barn squirrels, dishes, fawns, and going through crates of lettuce.

I apologize for any typing errors, but I wrote this quick because my laptop charger doesn't work, so my laptop is dead, and I'm on a different computer.