Barley and Poss Wildlife Rescue

07/28/2023

I do not post as much as I should, life has been crazy yall. But our oldest opossums, Sally and Anita's crew, are outside and almost ready to go! As soon as they are out, we have another group ready to move into the outdoor cage!

P.S. they do have a nice nest box as well, but these nuggets have decided to set up shop in a cardboard box. I don't ask questions.

06/20/2023

I'm a couple days behind but thank you so much for your generous donation Jessica! The babies are going to love these!

06/17/2023

The cottontails are coming in hot, just in time for the Highland Posse to move out of the incubator with heat support so these nuggets have the incubator all to themselves.

06/15/2023

The opossums are growing quick!

Pictured first are our bigger group who are displaying appropriate behavior by hating me - they are hiding and hissing and one even lunged at me as I was cleaning their cage!

Our group of middles moved to a cage today that will be easier to clean (oh, the mountains of p**p 🤦‍♀️). You can see that they are not happy and also trying to get away from me.

This means that our Highland Posse is almost ready to upgrade from incubator to heat support! They are anxious to come out and explore! Because these babies were hand raised with feedings before they could self feed, they are not as afraid. Now that they are self feeding though, we are *very* hands off and as they grow they will be more and more hostile towards me which is exactly what we want.

Not pictured are the 4 cottontails we also currently have in care.

Right now we are flying through baby food as all of the opossums are getting a steady diet of baby food and formula. We are working on transitioning to finely chopped vegetables for our larger group but they are being pretty stubborn. They will eat the hard dog food - but kids just don't like their solid veggies and only want the baby food. Little buggers!

If you can help provide us with nutrition for these babies, please look up our amazon wishlist - https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/18X7Y7DCAUC8Y?ref_=wl_share. I will take any donations that you can offer! If you have any extra jars laying around that you didn't use that are strictly vegetables and water, I can take them off your hands! Or if you can donate towards baby food: paypal.me/bunnyrescues.

I could not do this without all of you! ❤️

06/11/2023

I know you have the best intentions, I promise I do. But please do not raise wildlife unless you are licensed. We attend classes and continuing education seminars to do this. We also have a large network of people who have been doing this for many, many years that we can consult for advice and learn from. Please do not raise wild babies on your own. The best place for babies is with their moms, the second best place is with a licensed rehabber.

Poor Fidget. :( These cases can be very frustrating. She and her littermates were all found in a warehouse after their mother was needlessly killed. A worker got the babies to us, but someone decided to bring Fidget home and raise her himself for weeks. He eventually got Fidget to us, where she was reunited with her littermates, but without proper care, she had ended up very underweight. We’ve been doing our best to help her catch up, but she’s still much smaller than her siblings. We’ve ultimately had to separate her from them because the size difference is so great that they could hurt her through rough play or prevent her from getting enough to eat.

It’s all very sad and completely preventable. Please bring baby animals to wildlife rehabilitators immediately, not after weeks or months of improper care. They deserve to be treated as something more than a DIY project done in your spare time.

06/11/2023

Thank you to Maggie right here in Preston and Julia in East Hampton for saving this collective group right here! The cottontails are coming in hot again!

06/11/2023

Normally we only post about wildlife here, but this us a friends dog who got spooked and ran off. Let's help bring her home!

06/09/2023

Hop onto over to Pachaug Wildlife Rehabilitation and help them out as they raise 18, yes you read that right - EIGHTEEN, super cute baby woodchucks to live their best lives back out in the wild!

I am a licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator focusing on small mammals in Griswold, CT. I’m fundraising for various needs such as formula, medical supplies, and enclosures. My goal is to build more pre-release enclosures. My first new enclosure would be dedicated to woodchucks. I am self funded and rece...

06/09/2023

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD - if you see these white/ yellow things on a wild animal, it is in trouble and needs immediate help!

These are fly eggs (also know as “fly strike”) and will hatch in less than 24 hours. Once they do, fly larva (aka maggots) will wreak havoc on the poor animal they are attached to.

Many people believe they maggots only eat dead tissue so they can’t hurt animals - which isn’t entirely true. These larva cause damage to surrounding healthy tissue as they feast on dead tissue. This damage causes healthy tissue to die and then be eaten.

Flies often lay their eggs on animals they sense to be dying, so their larva can feast on it. They each lay about 150 eggs at a time, so it doesn’t take long for freshly hatched larva to cause severe damage to the host.

If you see these on an animal, don’t wait to call someone. They need help IMMEDIATELY. Please call your local wildlife rehabilitator ASAP. They can be combed off gently with a flea comb and warm soapy water if you are not able to reach anyone.

Let’s spread the word to prevent as much suffering as possible. Knowledge is power and the more we know the more we can help.

06/08/2023

It's been a busy day. Taryn brought us a litter of opossums from Windham where she pulled them off mom who was hit by a car. We also received a singleton from Kari in Cromwell who had been seen in her yard for 3 or 4 days and she knew needed help! The singleton, named Oscar (I think, but it's been a long day) joins his new messy sisters Sally, Anita, and Opal (it was Kari's choice if Oscar was a girl). I swear their cage was clean this morning 🤦‍♀️.

And with that, we are now officially back open to intakes!

06/05/2023

Sorry I've been slacking on updates on these little ragamuffins! The Highland Posse opossum pack is doing very well! They are starting to eat on their own but we are still doing limited supplemental feedings to ensure they are getting the nutrition that they need. Only a few are pictured here, the rest are hiding in the blanket!