Rocky, Abi, Lena, raccoons, are released

Today was the big day! I had planned to release 4 of the 6 raccoons that have grown up at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue.

I know that I had to keep Ian and Annie, because they still depend on their bottle, but I thought Sara, the little wild one that I was never able to even touch, would be ready too.

But it turned out this morning that she was not, demanded her formula too, so it was Rocky, Abi and Lena. I also took the 3 opossums along for release, since they were ready too.

Once we arrived at the soft release place and I let the girls out of their crate, I had sworn to myself that if they climb the tree, they can stay. If they however climb my leg, they come back home with me.

And it was Rocky who ended up making it real hard for me. She had lost sight of Abi and Lena, who were climbing up high in the trees, and she got scared and kept wanting up on my arm. I decided to take her back home with me.

But once Abi came back down the tree to check out the food Judy, the property owner, had put out for them, Rocky took off with her exploring and I was all but forgotten! Which was just fine by me. We observed them for a while and when I was satisfied that the girls were in good hands, Mother Nature AND Judy, I left with one laughing and one crying eye!

Of course I took plenty of pictures and put together a movie:




MissDolittle (me) and Rocky


Saying good-bye to Rocky








Rocky


Lena


Abi waves good-bye

Six Raccoons got new Toys

Opossums and Squirrels

Getting fuller here. Today, Sleepy, a little girl from Forth Worth joined the bunch.
Thank you Peyton, for taking such good care of her!





Opossums:

6 weeks ago:


Today:








A few more days and we are ready to be released!

Pink Squirrels

It is that time again; the second litters of squirrels of the year are coming in:

2009 in Numbers so far

• 24 squirrels
• 19 cottontails
• 34 opossums
• 1 beaver
• 10 raccoons
• 3 foxes
• 37 kittens/cats
• 15 puppies/dogs
• 60 birds

-------------------------

• = 203 animals

(45 died or where euthanized, 90% of those cottontails and birds)

I went through 45 lbs of KMR (yes pounds!), 10 lbs of Esbilac, 6000 mealworms, 1000 crickets, a few hundred lbs of dog and cat food, 5 lbs of bird seeds, 30 lbs of hard shelled nuts, 5 bales of hay, 200 lbs of cat litter, 200 lbs of detergant, 50 bottles of bleach, tons of other supplies such as building material, towels, blankets, stuffed animals, toys, chewies, fresh produce, fresh meat, eggs, leave alone the electricity for heating lamps, heating pads, washing and drying, heating up the formula, the water bill went through the roof..

Sometimes I wonder why we rehabbers are not getting publicly funded. After all, we do provide a service to the community. Laws prohibit the general public to possess certain wildlife in most cases, but they do not support the ones that are at the end of the line feeding those critters.

That needs to change!

Orphaned Raccoons learn how to catch Crickets

Yep, the coonie gang at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue is at it again. They are growing like weeds and are learning to fish, catch crickets, and all the fun stuff raccoons do. Once they have learned everything and are old enough, they will be released back into the wild.

For more information on orphaned raccoons or other injured or orphaned wildlife, please go to www.rainbowwildlife.com and join our pets and wildlife forum at www.petsandwildlifeforum.com To stay updated about the orphaned raccoons at the RWR, subscribe to our blog at http://rainbowwildlife.blogspot.com/

Sleeping Time at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue

The raccoons like to squeeze into the space between the fly screen and the hardware cloth and camo net and end up in the funniest positions!

Mary and Mo are 2 white winged doves that were raised and released here at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue. But they are sticking around. Mary helps me raise other little doves and watches over them on the outside once released. Most of them left, but not Mary:

How to feed an Orphaned Infant Squirrel

Warning! It is illegal in most US States to be in the possession of a wild squirrel. By law you are required to turn it over to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator!

This movie is intended for those folks that are not bound by US law and want to help out a little baby that otherwise will slowly die.

For more information on orphaned squirrels, please go to www.squirrel-rescue.com, www,rainbowwildlife.com and visit our Pets and Wildlife Forum for more support and advice at www.petsandwildlifeforum.com

Have you been kissed by a Raccoon today yet?

I have! Annie is such a sweetheart:

Annie's Introduction, 6 orphaned Raccoons growing up

We have a newbie at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue! Annie is a 10 weeks old raccoon that has been living with a family in a house since she was found at the age of 1 week. She has never seen another raccoon or even was outside for long.

It is my job now to get her used to her own kind and more independent of humans, so they all can be eventually released back into the wild.



Here a couple of funny snapshots I took yesterday. This is where most of the raccoons sleep at night. It's too hot up there during the day hours:

Orphaned Raccoons learn how to fish

I added some live minnows to the pool yesterday afternoon and watched them having fun:

Emergency Baby Songbird Food

I have received many baby birds this year that have been fed the wrong stuff in the wrong way and as a result, the bird died.

In order to prevent that, I have made a short video on how to mix up the right baby bird food from dry kitten chow.

There are variations to it, for example you can use dog food too if you don't have kittenfood handy, or use calcium powder instead of cuttle bone, and it's ok to leave out the bird vitamins if you don't have any at the moment.

If you have questions, please join our Pets and Wildlife Forum and ask them there.

Raccoon Feeding Time

Abi cracks her first egg; Ian invents the self-feeding station deluxe, and Sara gets hooked on grapes! You've seen it here first!

The SELF-FEEDING STATION DELUXE:

Doves, Opossums and a Bunny

To continue from the previous post, here are pictures of the doves that are growing up at the Rainbow Wildlife Rescue. The 3 white-winged doves and one mourning dove are sharing the enclosure with 3 baby opossums and my bunny Max.

All critters are co-existing just fine:

Here is Mary, the oldest dove that keeps coming back to help care of the little ones:

(click on the picture to see a larger version of it!)






The mourning dove and her buddy, another white-winged dove:


And the smallest baby:


Down in the corner you can see Max, who has a way with birds!


Above him you see this squirrel house:


If you look inside, you won't see squirrels, but these 3 critters:


Ohoh, they saw us and think we are bringing them some food!




This is what they looked like when I got them with their eyes still closed. One didn't make it:

Raccoons, Birds and Squirrels

After successfully releasing Pumkin and Sandra, I put the Abilenians, Sara and Rocky in to the smaller enclosure and got to work on a drainage system that hooks into the sewer.

Thanks to Kelli, her husband and stepson as well as my husband, we got it all done! It was more work than I expected it to be, but it was sooooooooo worth it! It cut down the fly population by 90%!

Here is the drain before we put concrete around it:



The 5 coons are back in the enclosure now:



The 3 Abilenians playing with ice cubes:


And Rocky yawning and chillin':




A storm also brought me the first fall squirrel baby. Her name is Marsha and she was 17 grams when I got her. 3 days later she weighs 22 grams. This little lady has quite an appetite:



The storm also brought a few birds that needed help. This is Mary, she is a white winged dove and was released 2 weeks ago. But she hangs around and helps me feed the other baby doves: