Squirrel Season Round II

Last week consisted of feeding the squirrels and giving them their antibiotic, syringe feeding bunnies, Tulip- one of the fawns we've been having problems with getting to eat was brought up to the house and died, cleaned out the barn stalls, feed the outside squirrels, cleaned cages and fed the barn opossums with Kelly and Ash, fed the 6 new bunnies we got in Thursday, and sort donated fruit and vegetables.

Monday was crazy. A bunch of new animals came in over the weekend and baby squirrel season has officially started. We have a few pinkie squirrels which I will post a picture of below, and a few that are a little bit older and are starting to get their grey color. One of them that was found, was thought to be a puppy by the person that found it and ended up going to PetCo and they told him it was a premature puppy. His wife later looked it up online and they realized it was a squirrel. We get some really funny stories like that sometimes. We also got a new opossum that was thought to be a kitten and the opossum with the broken jaw was brought to us over the weekend also.

The four older baby squirrels are still being syringe fed, no longer getting antibiotics, and now starting to eat sunflower seeds, walnuts, and apple. I then made up the outside squirrel dishes and went out and fed them in the pouring rain- hey, at least the heat wave is over. The high 90s and 100 degree weather is now back down to to 80s. The group of 8 baby opossums were split up because they are getting too big for their tank they are in. I got to make Rafiki's (groundhog) formula, which is Esbilac- puppy replacer formula. I will have to go take pictures of the fawns this week because since Kelly feeds them in the morning and they now don't get their afternoon bottle, I haven't been out there with them in a few weeks. They are getting HUGE. Some of the opossums that were in the barn were moved outside which is making things a lot easier. The other two red foxes we have ended up getting mange also....but Yoda was treated for it and already looks TONS better. They were supposed to be released by next week but now they have to wait a few more weeks.

Here is a pinkie squirrel

Skunkets!

Hello! Before I get into talking about the "Day of Hell", I will catch you up on the past week a bit. Last Tuesday was a very short day and I have no idea how we finished in only two hours, but we somehow managed to. I fed the squirrels, gave them their antibiotic, cleaned the cages and fed the opossums in the barn, and did the dishes. Mondays and Tuesdays we have the most volunteers working so we end up finishing earlier those days.

Thursday I started with the baby squirrels (they are always how the day starts and I'm usually the first one there besides Kelly, so I usually get to do the squirrels). They are still being syringe fed and given antibiotic, then their carrier is cleaned out. Thursday was kind of crazy because Hope was busy almost the entire day because a volunteer from another rehab center, came to visit and see how we do everything with our animals. Her rehab is huge and they are more concerned with quantity over the quality of how the animals are taken care of. Their raccoons have ripped up their noses from pacing and scratching them on the metal cages they are in and when she tried to fix it by placing a towel over the metal, she was told that that was not the way things were done there and she was forced to take it off. At WBR, all opinions and ideas are taken into consideration, while at that rehab, all new ideas are turned down. So Hope gave her a tour and gave her ideas of how to help their center. Then once she left, the 6 new skunk kits came in from a wildlife veterinary center. They were also given a tour because we will be working with them. They have a mother opossum with babies that has a broken jaw that they are going to do surgery on and give to us to care for. Hope's vet that she goes to now will be retiring soon and we are going to need someone to go to for animals with injuries. The skunks that were brought in are about 5 weeks old.

Okay, now today Hope called the "Day of Hell" because the fawn that was brought over the weekend from a shelter was infested with maggots and died this morning either from the maggots themselves, or from the medicine used to kill the maggots that were inside her. Then, the squirrel brought in that was caught and dropped by a crow or hawk was found dead in his cage. Plus today and the rest of the week are going to be 90 degrees or more. Yoda's cage outside was cleaned out and he was put back outside after being treated for mange because he was loosing TONS of fur. His back legs are bald. I somehow got out of doing opossums today, but did all of the squirrels, folded and did laundry, sorted the crates of produce, and went to bring Forest Gump (squirrel) in to get his teeth clipped again. He will never be able to be released or he will starve to death, so he will be re-admitted every year, otherwise he would have to be euthenized.

At the moment we have 2 bunnies, 12 coons, 19 fawns, 23+ opossums, 11 skunks, 3 red fox, 1 grey fox, a groundhog, 4 squirrels inside, one in the barn, and a bunch outside.

And squirrel season starts again...

Hello! Last Monday I went to Wild Baby Rescue and hour early because the volunteer that does the fawns, Kelly, was in Boston. I made 10 batches of formula, using a scoop of formula powder and three scoops of warm water and put it through the blender to mix.  All of the formula is put into four containers and brought down to the barn along with the bottles used to feed them, a funnel to pour the formula into the bottles, and wet washclothes for the fawns faces if they get milk all over them or for your hands if they get sticky with milk or fawn licks.  Rose, the fawn with the fractured hip, was on medication so the pill was melted and put into a bottle of formula for her. There are three stalls in the barn; the smaller fawns go in the first one, Hope's goat is in the second, and the bigger fawns are in the last one. Well, of course the fawns in the last stall dumped their water so I raked out all of the hay and wood shavings and left it to dry out a little once they were fed and put in the field. The fawns are locked in at night so the first feeding is easy because once one is fed, they can go outside so that you always know which ones have been fed and which ones haven't. I started with the first stall and fed all except for Rose and Tulip because she wouldn't eat (she's the smallest but has been eating a lot of corn so she never wants formula). Rose then got her bottle with her medication in it. Sebastion, the bobcat attack fawn, is in the barn now and stays in with  Rose. Then the last stall was fed, put outside, and cleaned. Just when I finished, Hope and the other Ashley came down to the barn to feed and clean out the opossum cages in the barn. I gave the chickens water, fed them, and collected eggs, then helped clean out the opposums. Fifteen came in all at once a few days before and they are all different sizes. They get a bowl of yougurt or baby food and a bowl of formula (same formula used for the squirrels). Once they were done, we all went back up to the house to do laundry and syringe feed three bunnies.  There was a loose bunny from the day before that was found wandering around the room and caught. Then once 1:30 hit, I made 8 batches of formula for the second fawn feeding. Nick and I went down to the barn and fed them. He can't tell them apart and some of them lost their tags on their necks so it was up to me to make sure they were all fed. It actually wasn't that difficult but once again, Tulip wouldn't eat so Hope came down later and got her to eat half a bottle. The last stall was fixed up after feeding was done. Yes, Monday was a longgggggg day.

The rest of last week started with one of my brother's friends finding a baby squirrel, which was brought to my house and I brought it in to WBR. He was about 4 weeks old and named Merlin. He was hydrated with pedialyte twice, warmed up on a heating pad and a microwaved IV bag in a sock, and later fed formula. The bunnies were syringe fed, the outside squirrel dishes were made up and given to them, the squirrels and opossums in the barn were fed, the fawns were fed, and then I did dishes.

Thursday the person I got the baby squirrel from brought in three more that they found. The bunnies are so hard to keep alive. Everything in the world is done for them to keep them healthy and we always end up loosing about a third of them. I found two dead in the incubator so I syringe fed the one that needed it. The outside squirrels and fox were fed, the raccoons went into the outside cage so their carriers were scrubbed and hosed out, I made the barn squirrels food and then those two groups of squirrels were put in outside cages, I found a tick on one of the skunks ears and that was taken off, and the other Ash and I cleaned out the outside opossum cage.

Today! I started by feeding the four squirrels. One of them got formula in its lungs so I told Hope and she said that they are all on an antibiotic. They were all fed formula and given 3ccs of antibiotic. Another one of the bunnies was dead today, so I got to release the three that were left. I then made up the squirrel dishes, and gave the fox water, because we ended up running out of water from what we brought down to the cages originally. Hope told me that I'm the only one she allows in the fox cage! I was excited. The entire barn was cleaned out- stalls and sweeping the entire floor. Laundry was done and then we all helped in the second baby squirrel feeding. The fawns no longer get a afternoon bottle, so they are only fed twice a day and starting to get weaned because giving them formula stops the beginning of August.

Baby squirrel

There are 8 baby opossums crammed in there!

Rafiki

Raccoon playing with enrichment college students made

Grey fox kit

Bunny being released