I am grateful for Wade and Joan Sheldon, Guy Spencer, Claire Elrod, and Amber Stokes Torrent and Family for providing wonderful release spots for some of the first round babies. Thank you Tanya and Olivia for assisting!
Two years ago I developed a program for the Jefferson Library homeschool group on opossums, with a craft creating enrichment boxes and balls for the opossums in my care. The program is designed for ages 6 and up and most attendees at this event were 4 and under, but they liked the photos of the opossums. I was the Branch Manager of the Madison County Library for 11 years before I left to become a wildlife rehabilitator.
The two smallest opossums, Lily and Lionel, came in very small at 22 grams, with 3 other siblings. I tried to encourage Laundry Room Linda to take them on at least until they were big enough for me to manage, but it didn’t work out. I have been feeding them every 3 hours since they arrived and they have tripled in weight but are still little guys. Lily started drinking from a syringe! Making the transition from tube feeding to lapping is sometimes not an easy developmental step. Lionel still doesn’t grasp the concept.
Mary Kvitko and her son Nick helped demolish the Possumary, which had lasted quite a long time for an enclosure not made with pressure treated wood. Originally built 10 years ago as an aviary, it switched to being used for opossums, hence the name. There have been two tragedies in there and it was time to come down. The portable Bat Yurt will be placed there instead and a 12′ by 16′ enclosure for opossums and as a flight cage for bats will be built on the remaining property inside the new fence. Thank you Mary and Nick! You two are powerhouses and I appreciate you!
From January 1 to June 1 I took in 190 animals and had, at the peak, 75 animals in care. That’s 25 more than I can reasonably handle so it was “grit your teeth and try to remember to eat” for a while there. Volunteers Olivia, Sydney, Lauren, Teresa and her children Imogene and Henry, Ashley, Frances, Madison, Toni, Melanie and Tanya helped smooth out the rough edges of rehabbing by deep cleaning enclosures, making meals, and doing the little immediate needs making handling all of this easier. But I am so happy to nearly be under 30 animals when I release a batch of 6 and 5 this week. I have a little Evening bat but he is so small photos don’t do him justice. he is an adorable little guy. Thank you all for your support!
