Winter can be a tough time for all the squirrels as there is a lot of snow in the ground and it can be hard to get and find all your nuts! Even harder if you were released late in the season and weren't able to store any nuts for the winter, like Bright Eyes, Tough Stuff & Little Girl. So here are a few updates to show you how well they are doing!

Here is ToughStuff! With a cashew. He is doing great!

Above is a picture of LittleGirl contemplating the snow. I don't see very much of her, and was very worried, but she appears to have turned up again. Female squirrels seem to disappear for a while and then reappear. Perhaps females are the sex that disperse, I don't know. Perhaps she found better squirrel feeders?! What is always amazing to me is how the little squirrels can be full of playtime one day and the next day they are wild and serious and being sqwerlz! Below is a picture of her playing with a stuffed toy before she was released- she is having so much fun!!

BrightEyes is also doing great (pictures on left). He & ToughStuff usually turn up together. They often fight over nuts, but there is plenty to go around!


And Lil'Mo is also doing fantastically! I see her usually at least once a day and she is very polite coming to say hello and ask for a nut. Below is a recent picture of her- hasn't she grown!! The person who found her wanted her to have a life as a wild squirrel, and she sure does ...with a few trips back for yummies!


Lil'Mo, ToughStuff & LittleGirl are easy to spot because of their dark reddish colouring, BrightEyes is easy to spot because he has such classic colouring, with a super white belly and a sweet, sweet face! Plus the little ones have had funny looking tails as they grow into their winter thickness!

By the way, you will all be pleased to hear that the Angry Young Man opossum, featured in the last blog, has gained almost ONE POUND in the last 2 weeks- that is about 30% of his original WTS body weight (i.e., he came in at 3.4 lbs and now about 4.5lb!)!! WOWEE. As soon as it gets warmer he is outta here!

And Ophelia, the little Screech Owl written up a few posts ago, has been sent to another rehabilitator with big flight cages (one day I hope WTS will have some!), where she will be tested with live prey (mice) to see if she can hunt on her own. I appears that she will never be able to see out of her left eye, but her right eye may have some vision- only time & testing will tell. If she shows us she can hunt, she is good to go, if not, I will try to find her a permanent home.

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.

The animal room is also slowly coming along as you can see below, but the weather has put a hold on construction- they can't put on the roof with all the snow! I can't wait until it is ready and functional! It will make looking after all the wild things so much easier.

The snow also brings fun footprints every morning.Do you know who has visited in the night/early morning?? In this picture there are opossum and squirrel prints, see if you can tell which is which!

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.

The babies are getting bigger! They are about 6 weeks old now and are just starting on solid foods: grapes, squirrel chow soaked in formula, cheerios...but they still love their formula best of all! I m hoping to get them all grown up and released by Thanksgiving. It is late in the year to plan a release, but I will provide a shelter for them and food so they can always come and go if they like. You can see that their tails are getting fluffy and they are becoming more active and playful. They've come a long way!

And what else has been going on at WTS???


The opossum teenagers have been visiting on some nights....

I sold my hair for $800!!!!

(see www.hairlesscrusader.com)


That's going to save a lot of animals!!

Including the little chipmunk who came in today after being caught by a cat- Wild Things' 90th patient!!

I attended the New York State Wildlife Rehabilitation Council 2008 conference up at Niagara, NY. It was great! I always learn so much- from the talks and from talking with all the other rehabilitators. There are lots of inspiring stories and lots of people willing to help. A BIG thanks to all the wonderful members of the Squirrel Board who helped me look after the baby squirrels while I went to talks. I also received a scholarship from to attend the Rabies Vector Species course, which is a requirement for those wishing to work with raccoons, skunks & bats.

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 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!

Wild Things also received a couple of little Eastern cottontail babies. Their pictures are below. They are very cute and were already about 2 1/2 weeks old, so out of the woods in terms of digestion issues, and have already gained about 50% of their weight in the last week. In total, 3 bunnies were found; a cat was "playing" with them. One appeared to have a serious injury to its back legs, possibly a spinal break. But on examination, there was no injury, it had been born with a congenital deformity of the rear limbs. It is amazing that it had lived so long- probably because up until the time it was found it was able to depend on its mum's milk. But it couldn't move. So, sadly, it had to be euthanized. I think it's siblings are a bit traumatized, they are very shy, but they are gaining weight and will hopefully be released in a few weeks. I want them to put on plenty of weight so they will be able to keep warm in this colder weather!

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.

As you all know, I've been trying to X-ray some of the very young bunnies that have come to Wild Things to learn more about their health. So, I brought Bunchowski for a post-mortem X-ray. Well, take a look below. His long bones look thin but OK, but I have NEVER seen anything like his spine- neither had any of the vets. The way it is wavy is a sure sign of MBD, and poor little guy, I hope he didn't suffer too much.

All of this has been a BIG learning experience, which I had shared with lots of other rehabbers. I may even do a presentation on it at the wildlife conference this month. All of this indicates that there is something in the mother's milk that helps the digestive system to develop. Without this mystery factorX, the digestive system is not able to develop correctly and does not seem to be able to digest well or absorb the essential nutrrients. This winter I want to come up with a plan to help all those itsy-bitsy bunnies that come in next year. Perhaps they need uv light to help calcium absorption, or perhaps the pH of the formula needs to be tweaked. It's a real mystery- so stay tuned!
 

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!

Also, below is Soixante-neuf, or Lil'Girl as I've been calling her. She is released, but like Lil'Mo, she likes to come visit to play and even offers her nose for a kiss! She was VERY happy with this little piece of corn on the cob! I have to break it to her that they are not selling it anymore up here as it's out of season!

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!

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)!

The reason why Habby ended up staying longer than his siblings is because one of them bit off the tip of his tail back in July (opossums tend to bite at almost anything- I still have a healing finger after about a month!). It was healing just fine, but then got terribly infected and had to be amputated. You can see the little tail stub in this picture. It finally healed up nicely, and amazingly enough he still uses it to hook onto things!

WTS has also released lots of little squirrels over the past 2 weeks. Here is a picture of one of the little Red squirrels that is now running around the WTS woods. Reds are a HANDFUL! They are so high energy and if they come in past a certain age (~6 weeks or so) they do not like to be handled. But they are very cute! I just welcomed another one yesterday. He is still very young and likes to be held, which makes looking after him a lot easier.

OK, this isn't the greatest photograph, but you can just about make out 5 very cute little Grey squirrel faces all cozy in the hammock in their release cage. These 4 brothers & 1 sister were raised by another local rehabilitator and brought to WTS to be released here in the woods. They are now running around and living in the woods full time...but still stop by for breakfast! it's a great time to release squirrels as the woods are loaded with acorns. Yum! Below is a picture of a couple of them just after I opened their cage and they went out to explore. The other 3 are up the tree!

And it's not just the WTS patients that have been busy. Below are a few pictures of some of the other residents in the area. In the last few days I've also seen a young Yellow spotted salamander and an opossum (perhaps one of the ones I released several weeks ago as it was about the same size as Habby), and this morning there was a Cooper's hawk sitting on top of the bunny release cage. I can just imagine it saying  "OK little bunny, let's be friends once you get out...."! He was beautiful but I scared him away! At this time of year there are many juvinille raptors about that have realised that hunting on one's own is tough and they are happy to find easy meals!

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.

In this picture Lil'Mo is eating a walnut.

But she also quite likes to hunt the moths on my window screens! I have never seen any other squirrels doing this, but I assume it is a great source of nutrients. She has also started to bury her own nuts and I am so proud of her! I wonder if this is instinct, or if she learned it  from the wild squirrels. The first time I gave her a brazil nut, she took it, hopped away, buried it, and placed a leaf on top, patting it down so that the nut was nice and safe. Adorable!

Speaking of moths, look at this beauty who appeared in my house the other morning. Anyone know what type it is??

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!

After eating tonight I let them have a few minutes to do some climbing...on me! The little girl fell asleep in my hand, and her brother started nodding off on my shoulder, so I tucked them up in their cozy fleece nest :)

Now, take a look at these tiny orphans below- just brought to a fellow rehabilitator's sanctuary (who is one of my mentors and kindly let me take photos of them- Second Chance Wildlife up to the NW of Syracuse, NY).

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!