Houston, we have snuggles!
Hello and still alive! Got the batch of 13 teeniest baby opossums drinking from a dish yesterday (instead of having to be tube-fed one-by-one three times a day), and the 12 medium baby opossums have been dishing it since last week, which means I have more than 30 minutes of non-wildlife time again. I have showered! I have eaten vegetables! I may even (le gasp) vacuum!
And check out this harmonious snuggling with three raccoon babies!
Biggest raccoonlet I've had since she was only a day or two old, and the other two arrived a few weeks later, very small for their age and with mycoplasma infections (swollen joints and hands, pus-filled lesions, fun times) - generally fixable with antibiotics, but also a 4 to 8 week quarantine period. I broke quarantine a week or so early because the little kids at least looked pretty healed up from everything, and because the big girl went into complete terrified baby raccoon snarl-attack mode when I did a test introduction and I was pretty sure I'd waited too long and now had an emotionally stunted raccoon baby who would never be able to co-exist with her own species. I resorted to taking everyone on the front porch where it was Outside and Very Scary, so they were more scared of that than each other (because little kids were understandably unhappy about being growled and snapped at).
Finally got to the point where no one was growling, but big girl wanted nothing to do with the other two and hid out on the far side of their crate. Until last night, when they were all out rambling around, and went at each other ears flattened and I was all ready to separate them when...Puppy Tussle Play-Mode, activated! :D And since then big girl has started actively seeking out the little kids and tonight they were all sleeping together in the same crate! Big girl is now on antibiotics too, for a few weeks, as a precaution, but I figured learning to be a raccoon was worth the trade off :)
This entry was originally posted at http://playswithworms.dreamwidth.org/185906.html. Please comment wherever you wish.
And check out this harmonious snuggling with three raccoon babies!
Click to viewBiggest raccoonlet I've had since she was only a day or two old, and the other two arrived a few weeks later, very small for their age and with mycoplasma infections (swollen joints and hands, pus-filled lesions, fun times) - generally fixable with antibiotics, but also a 4 to 8 week quarantine period. I broke quarantine a week or so early because the little kids at least looked pretty healed up from everything, and because the big girl went into complete terrified baby raccoon snarl-attack mode when I did a test introduction and I was pretty sure I'd waited too long and now had an emotionally stunted raccoon baby who would never be able to co-exist with her own species. I resorted to taking everyone on the front porch where it was Outside and Very Scary, so they were more scared of that than each other (because little kids were understandably unhappy about being growled and snapped at).
Finally got to the point where no one was growling, but big girl wanted nothing to do with the other two and hid out on the far side of their crate. Until last night, when they were all out rambling around, and went at each other ears flattened and I was all ready to separate them when...Puppy Tussle Play-Mode, activated! :D And since then big girl has started actively seeking out the little kids and tonight they were all sleeping together in the same crate! Big girl is now on antibiotics too, for a few weeks, as a precaution, but I figured learning to be a raccoon was worth the trade off :)
This entry was originally posted at http://playswithworms.dreamwidth.org/185906.html. Please comment wherever you wish.