Many more opossums added to the list of this year's intake log! First up there is Gus, found on the 25th. One of my friend's children found him and they promptly gave him a name. He was found in the middle of the day severely infested with fleas and anemic so I am very glad that she called me. 
On the 27th a young adult female was brought to me because she was caught in a trap. Luckily she sustained no injury and was able to be released after getting some good meals which not only fed her, but also her three week old pinkies that I saw in her pouch.
On the 28th Gus' brother, Frank, was found outside in the middle of the day. He was also anemic and severely infested with fleas. After riding him of all of those parasites he was placed with Gus to keep each other company.

I also got in a mother opossum the evening of the 28th. She was caught in a trap and sustained some small abrasions to the inside of her mouth from it. As you can see in the picture she has a group of seven week old babies in her pouch, seven of them to be exact. She will be staying with me in a safe environment to raise her babies until they are weaned. 
On the 29th I got in this no so happy adult male that was caught in a trap, pictured in the middle. He has a swollen muzzle, abrasions on top part of his muzzle, the lower right side of jaw is exposed, both bottom canines broken, and his upper right canine broken. He was put on antibiotics immediately and his wounds were cleaned. He will be staying with me for quite a while until his injuries heal.
Today a young adult female came in with a very odd issue. She was caught in a trap and luckily sustained no injury from it. What is different about her is that her back left leg is atrophied and has nerve damage to it. It is possible that she broke it a while back and it just never healed properly. She is not thin though, so she has been able to forage for food with no problem. One of the amazing things about opossums is that they can sustained so much and still persevere. They truly are incredible creatures.

On the 18th I got an adult male who was caught in a trap. His upper right canine is broken off and he has abrasions to sides of mouth and top of muzzle from trying to escape trap. He is missing fur around both shoulders which looks to be from old age. He looks to be two and a half, if not almost three years old. 
On the 19th I got both a baby gopher and two baby cottontails, unfortunately one of the cottontails was dead on arrival. All were found on the ground, no apparent injury, but the gopher and surviving cottontail were quite thin, dehydrated, and cold. After setting up their own beds they each got placed on a heating pad and soon the baby gopher was eating on it's own. 

One the 21st I got another cottontail, this one older and with its eyes open. He was found by a dog and was covered in dried up slobber by the time I got him. He was placed with the other cottontail I got and was started on antibiotics. I also got a young adult female opossum. She was caught in a trap and had small abrasions to the inside of her mouth but luckily no other injuries. 
Then today I found a baby mouse in my garage. He was very cold and lethargic so I brought him inside and put him in a warm and comfortable bed. He has already warmed up and I have been able to get some fluids in to him. Only time will tell how he does.

It's been a very busy baby season already, and thus a busy wildlife rehab season! Between this passion, my job, and planning my wedding (Yay, I can't wait!) I have been a super busy woman. So unfortunately I have not had the time necessary to update my blog as often as I used to be able to. So from now on my posts will be more combined. For every six intake logs I will be sure to make a new blog post about those animals that came in. So be looking out for new updates soon! With this many animals already coming in, I know it's going to be a busy year!

Yesterday was quite eventful! I got in another adult opossum that was caught in a live trap, although unlike the others that I have got in so far this year, this female has a pouch full of babies! The little ones are approximately six weeks old and she almost looks full to capacity. Opossums have 13 teats, although it is very common that not all of them work. I would not be surprised to find out that she has just close to 13 babies in there though. I was able to capture this adorable picture below as the mother slept and her pouch relaxed, revealing the back ends of four little ones. 

Not only did I get in a mother with babies, I got in two little ones as well (picture below). Unfortunately, their mother was attacked by a dog which killed her as well as three of their siblings. These two were fortunate enough to get a second chance at life thanks to the gentleman that found the adult female. These are two little sisters and weigh in at just 17 grams each. They must be tube feed around the clock every two hours, and I am more than happy to do that for them in hopes that they survive. 

So, baby season is definitely upon us! And speaking of babies, guess what else I found out the other week? The female opossum that I got in on the February 5th that was caught in a trap and had a significant amount of swelling and trauma to the top of her muzzle, was pregnant! While moving her to another cage inside to clean out the one she was in, I happened to see a little pink baby moving around at the opening of her pouch that looked to be about two weeks old, very tiny. I check all females when I get them to know whether or not that have little ones in their pouch so I can provide them with the proper amount of nutrients and calories. When I got her in she had an empty pouch which meant that she gave birth to them while in my care. They are now approximately four weeks old and are continuing to grow. I am expecting to get in more babies soon, this is just the beginning. 

Although I normally just receive opossums, yesterday afternoon I received a call about a baby cottontail rabbit that was found in the corner of a horse stall. The owner of the property said that she has many cats around the house and did not want the little one to become one of their new toys and wasn't sure if one of the cats may have already got to the baby. So the lady met up with me, bringing the baby cottontail with her. Fortunately it did not have any apparent wounds from a cat or otherwise. Today the little one is hoping around its cage eating all of the weeds that I have placed in there. It is very healthy and will soon be released once it gets a little larger to better defend itself from predators. 

Most of the adult opossums I receive are from being caught in a live trap and then have to stay with me for a while as they heal up and receive antibiotics for their wounds. This new male that was brought to me on the first, on the other hand, was caught in something I would have never thought of... a BBQ. The people who own the BBQ aren't sure of how he got in there or how long he had been in there. Myself, as well as a few others, came to the conclusion that the lid may have been open and he could smell the drippings inside so he climbed his way up there but soon got trapped as the lid closed down with him inside.. but who knows what had happened. He was quite a bit dehydrated and weak 

when I got him, with a few old scars on the inside of his front right leg, possibly from a previous dog attack. This morning though he is doing much better. After providing him with fluids to rehydrate him and flush out his system from eating the drippings and charcoal as well as giving him plenty of delicious food, he is happily sleeping all curled up in his cage. In a couple days he will be put outside in a prerelease enclosure and then a few days after that he will be released back in to the wild.