The name may be Primarily 'Possums but some months it's "...and everything else"
Adventures with Snakey
My friend Anne Thomas found a young Black rat snake stuck to a glue trap and brought him to me in mid January. I removed the rest of the glue and gave him or her a good soak to rehydrate. He was healthy otherwise, so I held on to him until the weather improved enough to release. Anne picked him up to release to his home location (where all the glue traps had been removed). On the way there it became apparent that although the box was tightly taped shut, the snake could get out. After riding shotgun and taking in the sights, my quick-thinking and brave friend was able to release him safely.
This nice little guy opossum was found by the side of a rural road with a leg injury, and frostbite to his ears and tail.
This year has started off with an explosion of donations! Wands for Wildlife, one of our partners, had a drawing for an incubator, and I won! Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter donated their extra cans of puppy formula, which is the base for many milk replacer recipes for a variety of wildlife. To top it off, the staff at Galilee Veterinary Hospital in Jefferson, GA, had a supply drive for Primarily ‘Possums in January. Thank you, Lisa Sheppard, for organizing this and the vets, vet techs, staff and volunteers that donated. I received a literal truckload! I am so grateful to them for supporting my mission and lending a helping hand.
If you’d like to help out with much-needed wish list items, I have one at Amazon: CLICK HERE
and one at Chewy: CLICK HERE
Both can be accessed at the top of this webpage, too. If you’d like to help out with fresh food and veterinary expenses, I accept donations through PayPal and Venmo. Both are easily accessed at the top of this page. Thank you so much!
Another of our partners, Baby Warm, donates incubators to wildlife rehabilitators all over the United States and Canada. I have received 2 of their incubators, specially made for them by the Brinsea company. I will be applying for the model that has a built-in humidity pump. Humidity is very hard to regulate in incubators and both opossums and bat neonates require high humidity to replicate their natural environment. I will be running a campaign to qualify for this new incubator. The recipient raises a certain amount of the cost using email and social media, and Baby Warm covers the rest. I already have most of the money raised! This is the photo I will be using for my campaign. Once it’s “live” I’ll share the link.
In Memorium
Poppy, formerly known as Wobbles and PJ, became a full time resident at Chattahoochee Nature Center in August. She came to me as a 40 gram joey with her siblings.
Due to an unfortunate accident in the incubator, she lost movement in her lower limbs. Through time and physical therapy, she regained the use of her legs but wasn’t a suitable candidate for release. I am lucky that I have two locations, Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, GA, and Bear Hollow Zoo, in Athens, GA, as locations that accept opossums I have to deem nonreleasable.
Sadly, Poppy developed kidney failure and last week it was determined she had to be humanely euthanized. She didn’t get to live a long life, but it was full of love, treats, and safety.
