A LOT happened in the last 2 weeks, which is why it's been 2 weeks since the last post. Here are some of the highlights, starting with the release of Nat the bat.
Five students and one student supervisor from Serve UGA, a service group that helps out at various charities and nonprofits around Athens, came to clean and do all sorts of jobs here. I appreciate their help! A lot of work got done and it was a delight to meet them. A group will be returning on April 6 to paint the new fence.
In the year off I forgot a lot of truths about rehabbing and myself, including my limits. I made the choice to not attempt to raise any opossums under 21 grams. But what I really meant was “don’t try to rehabilitate anyone under 35 grams”. I got in a group of nine who had been flung from their Mama’s pouch and then left in the yard overnight and into the next day on the advice of a vet. The finder didn’t seem to care they were cold or that they were naked little babies. I’m grateful they did call me, but I had to drive to get them as the finder was unwilling to do more than put them in an unlined cardboard box.
Joeys are still fetal at 25 grams which is what they came in at; everything is either undeveloped or under-developed. Their mouths were still partially sealed shut, as were their eyelids. Their gastrointestinal system is designed for Mom’s milk only, and to be slowly filled on demand. They don’t leave the pouch or even detach from the nipple, for several more weeks.
But I forgot all that and I tried. Anything we feed them is going to give them diarrhea, which can kill them, but if we don’t get nutrition in them, they die of starvation. They need so much fluid- to counteract the state of dehydration they arrived in, then the daily needs, then the ongoing losses from diarrhea. I tube feed them an electrolyte solution and administer subcutaneous injections of Lactated Ringer’s solution, like we get in an IV. As of today, they are finally on milk replacer and off clear fluids.
They have to be in an incubator, but in high humidity conditions, because they can dehydrate. I had the evaporation chamber full and a wet washcloth under the forced air vent. And yet they remained dehydrated. I was constantly adjusting every aspect of care- temperature, humidity, fluid therapy, milk replacer, diarrhea control, caloric needs, and doing all this on an every 90 minute schedule.
I have to keep them alive and hydrated during the night so I sleep for about 3 hours at a time. But I still couldn’t save them all. Some just couldn’t recover from diarrhea, some just couldn’t get hydrated enough, and one developed skin ulcers from being cleaned, gently, once, with an unscented baby wipe. But I have two left.
This is not to say babies under 35 grams can’t be saved. Rehabbers do try and succeed. At what cost, and what percentage, I don’t know. But I can’t. It isn’t fair to them or me to watch them suffer the last week of their life. I am glad I still have the 2 and they seem to be stabilizing.
I have 4 Mamas with pouches full of babies. Freaked out Fiona, Laundry Room Linda, Sasha the Porch ‘Possum and Chicken Mama.
Chicken Mama is big and healthy and ate someone’s chicken. They trapped her and volunteer Morgan with Georgia Wildlife Network picked her up and brought her to me as the chicken owners did not want her to come back. I will release her and her pouchlings in an appropriate habitat.
Laundry Room Linda suffered injuries after being hit by a car and has been housed in the kennel in the laundry room (hence the name). She’s quite cheerful and likes life, and is a good Mama.
Freaked Out Fiona, found in a yard being freaked out, and then placed in a box where she stayed freaked out for a day, is still freaked out. She eats well, cares for her babies, and can walk and move fine. But anytime you look at her or interact at all she freezes- not going into full thanatosis (playing dead) but not running away. I don’t know if releasing her with her babies when she freezes and doesn’t run is a good idea, so she may stay here and I will release her and her babies seperately.
Sasha the Porch ‘Possum was a regular visitor to a family’s porch, but disappeared for a month. When she returned she had an eye injury, a head wound, and, as it turned out, a pouch full of baby beans. She seems to be in good spirits and healing well. She’s been moved to an outside enclosure to enjoy fresh air and room to move. Her babies are still so small I haven’t seen them, but you can feel them when you touch her belly. So rude!
It took one finder, one government agency, and two transporters to get the 6 Waltons to me. They are a healthy 40 gram family and are stable and should be perfectly fine. I am relieved. I am also grateful to the person who reported a deceased Mama with live babies to Walton County Animal Control, to Destiny who kept them warm and did the research to locate me, and to Amanda and Katy, volunteer transporters for Georgia Wildlife Network, who coordinated the transport to me. You will see more of these babies in the coming weeks and months!
In the next blog entry I will show you all the fence surrounding the enclosures that was finally built, after 2 years of fundraising and a lot of dithering on my part. Another group of students from Serve UGA will be coming to paint it on the 6th. It’s already changed the vibe within the space, it feels safer and calmer.
More animals will surely come in although I am taking the next 3 days off. I need sleep. I am not a young person. I am not an old person, either, but I am a person who needs sleep.
There is also a lot of what I consider trivial work that needs to be done and along with needing sleep, I have to turn animals away so that I can address this.
I could say a lot more about my commitment to yard work during baby season, but as I said, I am tired.
Happy Spring and may all the wildlife you see stay safe and uninjured!
