New spring babies! 05/13/2010
 The little gosling Wild Things is in full swing with spring patients and it's been a busy month! Here are a few of the stories that have been going on at WTS... A couple of weeks ago this little gosling arrived. An Ithaca couple had been watching a pair of Canada Geese sitting on their nest. The babies hatched and within hours a crow had plaucked up one of the little goslings and planned to carry it away for a tasty treat. but oops! The crow dropped this little guy in the couple's yard as it flew away. He was in really bad shape when he arrived. In fact, I thought he was dead as he was stone cold. But after several hours on being sandwiched between heating pads and being tube fed fluids and some food, he revived! (see pictures below) But what do you do with a little gosling that needs parents?? You find it some! Frst of all, I had to make sure the little one didn't see me as within the first few days water fowl "imprint" on whoever they see and decide that is their species. So I always fed him in disguise and made sure he had plenty of mirrors around his cage. He spent many hours sitting in front of the mirrors chirping away! Then I had to find him some parents. I was told there were some geese with babies at the Sapsucker Woods Lab of Ornithology. So when he was strong enough, off we went. After several hours of chasing geese families, wading through water and crawling around on my stomach, he went swimming off with a new family and was last seen sitting under his adopted parents' wings getting warm.      Little duckling A little Mallard Duckling also arrived at Wild Things this past week. It was rescued after a good Samaritan watched it swimming around for a while all on its own with no parents in sight. The little duckling was just as fluffy as the gosling, but about a third of the size. I wanted to find a buddy for this little one so I started calling around. A rehab friend of mine also has a little mallard. Hers was born with bent feet and has little corrective foot wear which should correct the problem soon. So the little Wild Things duckling went to stay with them until they are both ready for release. It makes such a big difference for baby animals to have a buddy of the same species!  Private Ryan, a bit straggly! And there's been lots of other new patients as well. Squirrels, groundhogs, bunnies, bats and opossums. The opossums are a strange case as they are about 4-5 months old, meaning that they were born in January/February...and in this part of the world that just doesn't really happen! To the left is "Private Ryan". He and his 3 brothers arrived and were in a terrible state. They were so starved that their digestive systems had more-or-less shut down. Sadly, 3 of them passed on, but this little guy hung in there and is doing great! He is a little behind developmentally and is a bit bald in places, but he is playing and enjoying his new big sister's company! I've actually received lots of single squirrels and have tried to match them up with others of the same size, so everyone has a snuggle partner. Everyone seems quite happy with their buddy. I love catching all the funny baby wildlife sleeping positions, as seen below!  This Little Brown Bat flew into someone's parked car's windscreen. His rescuer kept him warm until he found WTS. He appears to have bruised a wing, but he is getting plenty of rest and has been attempting short flights, so his recovery looks like it's on a good track! Wild Things has also had lots of cool birds coming to visit this year. See below! Purple finches, Gold finches, Rosebreasted Grosbeaks, Chipping Sparrows, Cowbirds, Redwing Blackbirds (these last two are unusual as Wild Things is deep in the woods and these species are found more in fields and marshes)! There has also been a family of 3 crows that visit all the time, below is a picture of a crow helping herself to an Easter egg! The picture of the Snapping turtle was taken at Sapsucker Woods. I moved it out of the road!  Runty RIP Wild Things also said goodbye to dear little Runty this past month. As reported in the last blog, he had his incisor teeth pulled out due to a bad jaw and tooth infection. The infection spread to his inner ear, and probably throughout his sinuses. But he was running around having fun until the very end, and that is some relief to know he didn't suffer too much. He was a dear little Rascal who was great at making nests and loved playing and saying hello. Go well dear Runty! Double Trouble at the Sanctuary! 01/14/2010
 Runty (L) & Maxie (R) OK, I know I've been the worst blogger ever. I have a bunch of pictures from last year that i never got around to posting, so I'll try to put those up soon! But for now.... Meet Runty & Maxie! They are about a week apart and came to Wild Things separately. Max kept crashing some people's party after the repeatedly put him back in the woods and it was determined that his mother was no where in sight and he was hungry and lonely at about 7 weeks old. Runt came to me via another rehabilitator. I don't have all the details on him, but he suffered from something called "Kitten Fur Syndrome," which is a symptom of a lack of calcium and may indicate the dreaded metabolic bone disease. Runt also appeared allergic to formula. When he got to WTS at about 12 weeks old he started putting on good weight and all his bald spots disappeared. The only thing that couldn't be repaired were his misaligned teeth, which can happen when baby squirrels don't get enough good nutrients at a young age. Sadly this makes him unreleasable as the teeth will have to be trimmed throughout his life so he will be able to eat.   Max (L) at about 2 months old. Max always looks like he is smiling, he is such a cheerful little fellow! And Runt is to the right at about 4 months old. You can see how is upper and lower jaws are slightly misaligned.  Runt & Max love to play!  Max on the wheelbarrow in the snow I released Max before Christmas. The weather was quite nice, but before long we got lots of snow. It might seem a bit mean to release a little one in the cold, but he was ready- tearing up WTS and so excited to get outside. And he is doing quite well out the wild. Below he collect toilet paper for a nest he built in my drainpipe (!) and to the right he is burying a nut in a pile of hay.   Max still comes back inside sometimes to play with Runt. They have so much fun and make a total mess of the sanctuary! It is really bittersweet and sad for me that Runt will never be able to join him. Runty is superb at building nests; he has an enormous nest in my office that he built out of any piece of paper he can lay his paws onto! He is also a good nut bury-ier. (I let him run around my office a lot as he doesn't like being in his cage all the time- you can see where he wore away some fur on his nose from trying nibbling on the bars and wanting to get out!) I think that I have found Runt a permanent sanctuary to go to live out his life. It is sad that these two will have to be separated, but I hope that they both live happy, healthy lives.  Max comes back for a visit! And while we're on the subject of squirrels...guess who else is back after several months out int he woods??? LilMo!  LIlMo, January 2010 Everyone needs a shnuggle partner! :) 04/18/2009
 Sqwerlz! 02/23/2009
 Here is ToughStuff! With a cashew. He is doing great!  
Wild Things update 12/01/2008
 Look at how big the babies are now! They are doing GREAT and have so much energy. I wish I could start releasing them, but it's been so cold that I think that they should get a bit bigger first (you should see how fat all the other squirrels are now- including some of the past stars of this blog!). They are ready to start exploring their woods whenever the weather cooperates. Little girl is the one in the back, she is very golden and furrier than her brothers in the foreground. As for the boys, ToughStuff is the one on top and BrightEyes is the one on the bottom. They play non-stop unless they are snuggling in their nestbox. I put them outside during the day so that they can start acclimatizing to the cold.    Here's another shot of ToughStuff (so called as he is quick to attack anything that seems threatening!). This time of year is a bit slower, but the construction and these three have kept me busy. I am also looking after a squirrel who was hit by a car. He broke his nose and is suffering from brain blindness- there doesn't appear to be anything woring with his eyes, but a concussion has compromised his brain areas in charge of seeing. Hopefully with time this will heal. It seems as though he might have some vision back, but it may take 1-2 months. And I get various calls to check out injured animals. Tonight I was called to the aid of a beautiful young male raccoon who had been hit by a car. He died just before I got there, his hands were still warm. He appeared to have broken his pelvis and upper right femur irreparably, so that was some consolation, and I was glad that I could move him off the road. Second Chances 11/01/2008
 
I also received a very special invitation at the conference. Does everyone remember Radar the blind fawn that came to WTS a few months ago?? He has found a wonderful home at an amazing deer sanctuary run by a deer rehabilitating guru! He is doing absolutely GREAT!!! See picture below. He runs and leaps around and has a girlfriend named Cookie Doe. Cookie was blind due to a vitamin deficiency, but her sight was restored with a proper diet. However, a car accident left her with a badly broken jaw. She arrived at the sanctuary a day before Radar, so they are the same age. Radar was neutered so they can be buddies and stay together always! You would never know that he was blind he runs around so well!  Autumn's here! 10/01/2008
 Autumn has started to arrive at Wild Things, but that doesn't mean that the animals stop coming in! Though, thankfully not nearly as many, so I can start to catch up on a serious sleep deficit! This is a picture of a little Red Sqiuirrel, about 4 weeks old. He was found on a construction site, his nest probably destroyed by the construction activity.  I told the lady who brought him in to look out for his brothers and sisters, but so far no more have come in. He had scratched all over the pads of his feet, probably from the rough ground of the construction. After a few days adjusting he was all too happy to take advantage of a warm bed and formula at Wild Things. The best part is that another nearby rehabilitator had a little red just a week or so younger. So, the two boys are now together and are happy to be snugglepartners!   There is some other sad news from Wild Things. Little Bunchowski passed away last week. Can you see the "B" above his grave in the picture? (I usually don't bury animls here, but I'd had him for so long it was too hard for me to leave him in the woods for some animal to eat). For all those who have been following his story, he came to WTS at about 3-4 days old. As you all know by now, it is almost impossible to keep these tiny ones alive as they don't receive the important nutrients in their mother's milk. I tried new formula and infant anti-gas formula, and this got him through the first 3-4 weeks with no bloat or diarrhea. This was amazing! Well, then he broke his arm, a sign of metabolic bone disease (MBD). It healed well and I gave him extra calcium. He got bigger and bigger, but still never seemed right. At 300g, much bigger than the size I usually release bunnies, he was still here as he didn't seem quite right. At two months old he still wanted to eat formula more than anything else, and he didn't hop much. He got diarrhea at 2 months old. It went away, but then came back the next week and he was gone. 
 But I don't want to end on a sad note...so here are a few more pictures. Here are two of my 10 or so recently released squirrels, a little grey onthe left and a red on the right. All looks harmonious, right? Well, actually the little red was totally bullying the grey! I have now put out two food dishes!   And check out the great insulation area that Ingrid and I made around her snapping turtle cage (wearing a mask because of the fiberglass int he insulation- we were mid-construction!). She will be hibernating her 6 year old almost-manhole-cover size snapper, but needed something to help keep the water from freezing. We'll get a top on it as well. As you all know, Ingrid is a great friend of WTS and my reptile/amphibian/fish expert. She has helped me all summer: Thank you Ingrid! Goodbyes 09/23/2008
 Saying goodbye can be tough. This is a picture of me & Habakkuk, a Virginia opossum, the day before his release. Habby came to me with 6 brothers & sisters on 1July and weighed 40g (~1.5oz), they were about 10-13 weeks old. When he was released the other day he was almost 2 kilos (4.4lbs)! 
 Lil'Mo grows up! 07/12/2008
 Lil'Mo has grown up into quite a lovely & smart little squirrel. She is lovely with a bushy tail and a very unique red coloring, so she is very easy to spot. A few weeks ago I started the release process and now she lives in the WTS woods, and stops by for breakfast & from time-to-time just to play. As a singleton and being born so late in the early season (squirrels will usually have more babies in August), I'm happy to play with her a bit and know that this will not affect her success in the wild. It's important for her emotional well being and for learning motor skills.  I am also happy to provide her with breakfast as at this time of year young squirrels depend on their mother for her cached nuts (the spring buds have passed and the nuts are not out yet). She gets a breakfast platter of a bowl of formula (she doesn't need to nurse anymore as she can lap it up relatively well), and a selection of nutes & grapes. But NO PEANUTS & SUNFLOWER seeds. These rob the body of calcium and in young squirrels can lead to metabolic bone disease. Sadly, as people see wild squirrels eat these foods at birdfeeders, they will feed young squirrels the same. Wild adult squirrels will naturally balance their diet with wild foods, but the young won't especially if they are in captivity and can only eat what they are offered. Last week a rehab friend got a young squirrel whose legs were literally curving as the bones bent under the body's weight. Hoepfully afer a few weeks on a calcium rich diet and in the proper cage set-up, this squirrel will heal, but only time will tell. 
 
Here come the babies! 04/22/2008
 Here come the babies! As everyone knows, spring is baby season, and wildlife rehabilitators are always very busy! These two little baby Grey Squirrels were orphaned. It is unclear what happened to their mother. They are 7 weeks old and their eyes just opened. They are very greedy and try to drink so fast that they can suck milk into their lungs and get pneumonia, so you have to be careful when you feed them. After nursing, they get very sleepy! Their formula is modified as they grow so they get all the right nutrients at every stage of development (another good reason not to try to raise baby wildlife yourself- there's a lot to know and to get right!). I am also introducing solids, and though they will be nursed for several more weeks, they will hopefully slowly learn about solids too! 
 These tiny ones are just a few weeks old. Some boys knocked their nest out of a tree. The mother squirrel returned and took two of the babies, but left these two behind. Thankfully the human boys' parents were wise enough to call a rehabilitator, and hopefully this little boy & girl will grow up to be strong squirrel nutkins! I just love their sleeping positions! | CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed