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Baby fox squirrel orphan at Witter Wildlife Refuge.
Photo by Author
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Words For Wildlife
by State licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, James Orr
FEEDING BABY ANIMALS
It continues to stay busy in the world of wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. All 11 baby opossums rescued a few weeks ago are thriving and have already doubled in size since they arrived here. The wedding that the possum rescue almost interrupted went off without a hitch,,, actually we did get hitched, but the opossums clan did not interfere further.
My new bride, Cyndi” spends more time cooking for the animals than me. The two deer fawns get chopped apples, carrots, greens, grapes, peas, assorted fruit and 6 bottles of formula each. The formula is a mix of concentrated goat milk and water that also has to be prepared for each feeding. Of course the bottles have to be washed and sterilized in between cooking duties. The fawns (about 20 pounds each) also graze all day and have to be let in and out of the pasture area. (Ever try to catch or coral a deer?) Actually these two know their names “Bamboo” & “Franco”. They come when called and trot right into their pen for their bed time bottle (make that bottles, plural). Fawn feeding, food prep and bottle cleaning accounts for a minimum of an hour twice a day. (2 x 1 = 2 hours per day)
The 11 opossums also drink formula. Their cocktail (formula) is a little more involved than the deer drink. Opossum milk substitute is made from powdered puppy replacement milk, calcium tablet crushed into powder, brewers yeast tablets crushed into powder, hard boiled egg yolk, Nutrical high calorie supplement, and apple juice. All this is blended into a vanilla colored formula that is warmed and then fed to the babies with a needle less syringe by mouth, 1/10th cc at a time. Formula prep is a good hour a day by time you boil eggs, mix the formula, prepare 11 nursing syringes, and clean up the mess. The actual feeding process takes about 5 minutes each. For those of you keeping track that's an other hour and 55 minutes added to the two hours a day for the fawns.
After each opossum babies “joeys” are fed he or she (6 females, 5 males) have to be coaxed to relieve themselves. Like most babies (except humans unfortunately) they will not go to the bathroom until the mother stimulates them. This keeps the nest dean as well as the babies but it adds at least another 5 each minutes to the routine. Let’s see....11 babies X 5 minutes equals an extra 55 minutes twice a day added to the three and half hours mentioned above.
That gets the time count up to five and half hours before we even start on the baby squirrel, the adult opossum, the juvenile opossum, the eight the wolves, the dogs and myself.
The baby squirrel nurses 6 times a day and also gets yet another formula and the ever necessary bathroom coaxing time. His face needs to be washed to prevent milk burn and his linen changed. His eyes are not yet open but should open any day. When that happens add a game of hide and seek and tag to the time sheet.
The 4 juvenile opossums no longer drink formula. They get a special smoothie concoction of Salmon (with bones), yogurt, and hard boiled eggs. Boy does our kitchen smell good. Of course they require a very balanced diet so their next coarse is a blended mess of vegetables, greens, fruit and juice. For appetizers they get crickets and worms and desert is usually grapes. Do you know opossums have more teeth than any other land animal and yet they will not eat the grape skin? They chew up the grape and spit out the skin like a spat of chewing tobacco. (Remind me to add grape skin cleanup to the time tally). Fortunately they have the bathroom business figured out so that saves a little time. They have a little litter box setup which simplifies that aspect of motherly love. Of course the news papers, bedding, and litter box have to be changed twice a day.
The adult opossum was injured by a dog attack. He is doing quite well and should be releasable as soon as he puts on a little weight. He eats the same thing as the juveniles so his food order goes pretty fast. Of course cage cleaning takes a little time and since he is big enough to leave a mark with his 50 teeth it slows the process a little.
The wolves pretty much take care of themselves. Their bowls are filled every other day with a high protein dry dog food and they get cooked meat about three times a week. The Alpha wolves make sure the pack remembers their manners deciding who eats, how much and when. In the wild a single wolf can eat as much as 22 pounds a day by itself. Luckily for us, our pac is well fed and does not find the need to gorge themselves as wild ones might after a hunt. We go through about 50 pounds of dry food a week and 20-30 pounds of meat. They also get rice, apples, watermelon and other fruits and vegetables on occasion.
I have to save myself enough time to build houses for a living to save up enough money to pay the grocery bill for all our animal charity cases so Cyndi has taken over most of the wildlife feeding chores. She is a Veterinarian technician so she also administers medicine when necessary and charts weight and growth. If I had to do all of this myself and cook dinner we’d be having chips and dip every night. Somehow she finds time to make me wonderful dinners that top all the other critters combined. Did I tell you she is special?
DONATIONS NEEDED If you would like to help any donation amount it is greatly appreciated. Donations should be made out to Witter Wildlife Refuge and can be sent to P.O. Box 1118, Huntsville AR 72740.
See web page under "HOW YOU CAN HELP" for specific ways you can help us help wildlife
