It's every-day-a-bunny season and this past week did not disappoint!
Plus Pixie, Victoria and Blossom got released.
Bunnies
From eyes closed to eyes open, from healthy to injured, it’s definitely NOT primarily possums here right now. Since I started working on this post, two more cottontails have come in. Both of these were caught by domestic house cats. A bunny has no defenses other than to scream and run, but they have an interesting biological aspect. Their skin easily tears from their muscle and they run off with the cat holding nothing but some fur. The wounds scab quickly and as long as a secondary infection doesn’t set in, everything heals up and bun is good to go.
A meet-up with a dog is another issue. Dogs tend to crush, and enjoy squeaky toys. Bunnies caught by dogs generally don’t even make their way to me.
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Pixie
Pixie is smaller than normal and it was thought she might be better as an education animal. Her attitude negated that idea! She spent the winter with me until I could move her into a “palace”, set inside a larger enclosure. Her palace is a large rabbit hutch with multiple rooms. She stayed in there several days, napping, getting fed, getting used to being outside. I then opened the door from her palace into the larger enclosure.
There she discovered how much she loves running on the wheel!
When the weather started to cooperate a bit better, volunteer Jeffrey and I loaded her up, in her palace, and took her to her new home.
There she is also being kept captive while she gets used to the sights, smells and sounds. This location is what I call a “managed colony”. The property owner, Missy, provides shelter and food for several opossum visitors. If Pixie cannot find food on her own, there’s always a hardboiled egg or banana available.
Today the door to her palace will be opened and she can come and go as she pleases.
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Blossom and Victoria
These two girls spent the fall and winter with me! I moved them from enclosure to enclosure to keep them entertained, and always provided nice nests.
They have been returned to the property where Blossom was found. That told me it was an environment that supported opossums. They were moved into a soft release enclosure to adapt to the new conditions, and will be supplementally fed and provided water and shelter as needed. Blossom doesn’t look too happy to go but I’m sure she will do fine.
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Everyone else
I need to pull out my folder of 71 intakes to make sure we are all caught up!
Opossums
It’s been very sad in the opossum department this past week. I’ve received multiple litters of opossums too tiny to save or too ill to be helped. I only have a few left but am doing everything I can to keep them alive. It’s a true challenge when you are working with what is essentially a fetus. They do all their development in the pouch rather than a uterus, and do not exit the pouch until 2 months after they’ve been “born”. People ask me how old a certain opossum is, and I can tell you their weight but not age. At what day do you start counting? When they are honeybee sized nearly embryonic beans crawling into the pouch? Or when they can survive with our support? When they emerge from the pouch?
Vehicle collisions
Please urge your friends and family to slow down, and at night, watch the fog line for the glowing eyes of an animal just trying to cross the road that humans put in their path. If you find an opossum lying dead by the road, make a quick check if it’s big and healthy like a male, or smaller and “pointier” like a female. If you can safely stop, please do. There will often be living babies in a dead Mama’s pouch.
Regardless of the gender, dead animals can attract more animals, and I often see multiple species dead in the same place. (“dead bodies attract dead bodies”) Moving an animal into the grass or ditch may save lives.
The best bet is to keep a cardboard box, towel and gloves in your car and place Mom and babies in there. There is a specific way to break the seal between the baby’s mouth and Mom’s teat and if done incorrectly, can lead to injury. We rehabbers can do that part. Make note of how long you imagine she may have been deceased. The babies will continue nursing, even if Mom has passed. Those we need to get on antibiotics to treat any exposure to bacteria-laden milk.
A side note- opossums lying by the side of the road are not “playing dead”. An opossum that’s been attacked by a dog may be. But not one that’s been hit by a monster of a machine going 55 mph.
Dog issues
If you have a fenced yard you let your dogs out into, you can make a loud announcement prior to letting them out, giving wildlife a chance to get out or take cover.
If your dog has killed a female, the dog has probably shaken her. The babies may have been flung from the pouch. Check the area around her for babies and keep an ear out for little sneezing noises. That is the sound of a baby calling for it’s Mom.
Released animals
A few bunnies have come and been quickly released, after receiving a 5 day course of antibiotics. That’s always nice when it’s a quick visit!
Mama and beans
The mother opossum with 3 babies in her pouch that came in on March 1st has made great strides in healing! Her multiple skull fractures are healing, and she is starting to hold and eat soft foods like bananas. She is very active and does spend some time doing the “head trauma circle”. But using the maze Rich Bergins built for Sweet Pea, we are training her brain to not always turn right. She is improving and taking good care of her beans. I am rude and stick my hand in her pouch every few days to check on them and they are growing and wiggling just fine.
Another side note- an opossum walking in circles by the side of the road needs help. He or she has sustained head trauma and will not “recover” and walk away. Head trauma opossums are unusually accepting of help. Place that towel you’re keeping in your car over the animal, then scoop up under the belly and firmly grasp the tail. Then place in that handy cardboard box I mentioned.
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