We've had a gentle turning into fall here, which helps to soothe any worries I have about the released opossums. Plenty of sun and food and warm beds at night to be found in the wild.
Armadillo
This poor armadillo was found huddled by the side of the road. At first the finder, Kelly, and I thought he had been hit by a car. I found no injuries, but it was obvious he felt awful. As the hours went by, it became more evident he had a terrible upper respiratory infection.
I started him on a strong antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory. He wasn’t able to eat or drink so I attempted to give him subcutaneous fluids. He was too active for that but too weak to drink. Armadillos are incredibly strong animals! Those feet made for digging in dirt are muscular.
He was having so much trouble breathing I ended up putting him in the incubator and putting a nasal cannula by his nostrils to administer oxygen.
Sadly, all that wasn’t enough to save him. He was warm and safe, though, and not suffering by the side of the road. Kelly’s compassionate act made a true difference in his life.
Squirrels and Voles
My fellow rehabilitator Nikki Hughes of Camp Critter needed a couple days for a medical procedure so I was happy to step in and take in 4 baby squirrels for her. The tree they were nesting in was cut down. Another little girl fell with her sibling from a nest in another town. Her Mom came back to get her sibling, but left her. It was starting to get cool out and we didn’t want her to go much longer being cold and hungry.
As a rule of thumb, I like to give Mom 24 hours to retrieve her babies if they are displaced from the nest. In her case, it wasn’t possible.
Two little voles were separated from their mom in a forest but thanks to Austin’s sharp eyes, they made their way to safety. We aren’t sure why they were alone and why Mom didn’t return for them. Most mothers are highly motivated to reunite with their babies and I try to avoid kidnapping. But these little sweeties were getting cold, and ants were crawling on them.
I don’t have the same level of success with rodents as I do with opossums, so they were transferred to Nikki at Camp Critter. She has a magic touch with them!
Nest building practice
The 4 overwintering opossums, Blossom, Victoria, Big Brother and Little Brother, got a chance to practice their nest building skills with an unusual material! It got cold one night so I covered their nest box with a mylar emergency blanket. They pulled it off of the box and added it to the pine straw in the box and shredded some up for the nest bag.
Those cloth bags make great hanging nests!
It’s going to be a mess to clean up, but they had fun.
Change of scene
The opossums are here until spring. I don’t want them to get bored, so I am moving them through the 4 pre-release enclosures. This week was the first move. New surroundings, new wheel, new smells and enrichment! This enclosure has tubes that lead from area to area and provided some real fun mini-adventures.
The other day I couldn’t find Victoria and was really worried! Where on earth could she be? After thoroughly searching almost every inch of the enclosure, I stuck my hand in the long tube, and made contact with a tail! She had found her own napping spot and was safe.
