Updates! 04/20/2010
 Maxie in his nest The baby animals have started arriving at Wild Things! But before I start mentioning a bunch of new characters, I wanted to give a few updates on patients in this post. As previously mentioned, Maxie made a very fine nest for himself in a watering can hanging on my house! I don't think this is his main nest, but he certainly uses it from time to time and it looks very cozy inside! He regularly comes by for snacks, as seen in the pictures below. He has become quite wild and just usually takes a nut and runs for it!    Runty! Runty, seen here with his one snaggletooth hanging out, has had some dental work in the past two weeks. After his teeth and nasal sinuses started getting infected, he had all his incisors taken out. Ouch! Many thanks to Dr. Spindel of Animal Ark Veterinary Hospital in Baldwinsville, NY for performing this surgery. The goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to return healed animals to the wild. However, sometimes, despite our best efforts, animals end up unreleasable, like Runty. Though some advocate for euthanizing all unreleasable animals, I believe in many cases they can be used as educational animals and can be given a good life with the proper housing, companionship (of their same species) and enrichment. This is my goal for Runt. His teeth were so screwy, and the vet found that both upper and lower jaws were a bit screwy as well, so it was for the best to have this operation performed. He still has his molars and in time he should learn to use them to eat nuts. For now he is happily slurping down delicious squirrel-shakes made out of nuts, veggies, applesauce, and other goodies! He is fighting some infection post-surgery, but is doing very well and is much more active than pre-surgery. Below are some pictures of him playing with a new toy: a pink octopus.  me & Peter say goodbye Peter finally was able to be released to the Wild Woods! He overwintered here while his injuries healed and was super strong and ready to go. Everyone will miss him :)  Peter leaves WTS And what else has been going on as winter turns to spring? Many wild things have been using the Wild Things brush-piles built by volunteers in the Wild Woods (left), and all the squirrels came out in the early spring, despite the snow...   The turkeys have been visiting. And now that the snow has melted, they have been displaying and gobbling to all the little turkey hens. They are so handsome!    And, of course, LilMo, is back and is nursing her 2010 babies!  LilMo grabs a peanut Add Comment 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 LilMo now LilMama!! 05/06/2009
Sqwerlz! 02/23/2009
 Here is ToughStuff! With a cashew. He is doing great!  
Little Sister back at WTS! 07/14/2008
 They were successfully released in mid-May, but still come by for snacks, as mentioned in the previous blog post, this is natural as young squirrels depend on their mums at this time of year. 
 She was a flea-ridden skeleton and incredibly weak and massively dehydrated (you can see her folds of skin that are all folded up as they aren't plumped up by the body's water content). I suspected that her teeth were becoming maloccluded from a breif look a few weeks ago and I tried to catch her with no luck. Then I didn't see her for the last 10 days and assumed that she had gone into the forest to die. But she turned up last night and was so weak that I was able to catch her....though not without her protesting the best she could.  The vet was able to trim her teeth today, and the Xray looked like her jaw joint was OK, but the jaw clearly want to go to one side...whether this is because the muscles are strained by the teeth, or there is a soft tissue injury that caused the malocclusion the first place is unknown.There is no way of knowing if her teeth will grow straight again. If they don't she will not be able to be released. But for now she will stay at WTS for several months so that I can keep an eye on her.   And one last picture- this is a scene of a squirrel break-in at WTS! Amazing how they went straight for the walnuts (seen here spilled on floor)- they found them and pushed the jar over the counter and it opened to reveal is luxury cache! 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. 
 
|  CategoriesAll |
