The kits are getting big!

Pretty soon it will be hard to tell the kits from the moms! They are growing fast out there. Here are a few cute pics of the gang hanging out.

Look at the little rolly polly porkers! Ha!

Here is Popeye (top) and Foxy sneaking in for a meal after all the moms and kits are done!

A late morning feeding...I think this is Belle, but she and Ringer look pretty identical except for their personality's and some distinguishing scars they have that this pic doesn't show me! Belle's scar is on her face but I need to see her face front to see it.

Went out last night and ran into Screech and I think I saw Goofball!! He's the smiling poster boy on the title of the blog. I have not seen him in soooooo long.....since early winter. It was dark and the flashlight didn't give me the best look. He was shy, but did take a fig newton from me and just hung out while I watched him and tried to decide for sure if it was him! Must have been boys night out....none of the girls were around.

Vetrans & Rookies hanging out back

I just came in from a visit out back to check on the gang. I couldn't believe I ran into Brownie! Wow...I haven't seen her in a while! She is Ringer and Belle's sister from my first gang. She was more than happy to get some treats and a good back scratch from mom again! It was good to hear her bark too! Yup....she actually barks at any of the other coonies that come near her. It is a very distinctive bark and I would recognize it anywhere. And why was she barking do you say?? Because she had 4 little ones in tow now! She's the most protective mom I have out there, keeping everyone at bay when she has kits and it's good to see that hasn't changed. They were at a different feeding station than the "kit daycare tree" and everyone else was more than happy to give them their space.

Next in was Ringer, Lexi and their crew. They and their kits get along very well together. It was very cute watching the kits greet each other and say hi!

Daisy came in next, followed by Popeye. He's walking around fine on his foot again. On my way out I ran into Screech, also walking well on his foot. The newly released gang seems to finally be settling in to their new domain. I think Foxy was out there too, there was a pair of eyes with Daisy, but a little too shy to come in to say hi. Last time I saw Daisy the same thing happened but I managed to get a peek at the body behind the eyes and it was Foxy so I think this is the same situation.

Lots more racket going on in the woods, but the massive swarm of mosquito's got the better of me....even in my goofy looking mosquito netting clothes!

Kits everywhere!

I just paid a quick visit out to the feeding station and there were mom's and kits everywhere! The first to greet me were Silly and Lexi! I havn't seen Lexi in a while and she appears to be a mom now too. There were at least 8 kits in the tree and top platform. Ringer came in next, followed by Belle with Bella and Macy. Popeye even showed up! He was in a playful, silly mood and wisely avoiding all the girls! Red popped in next with a great big hello.

There were so many kits and mom's shuffling around I couldn't keep track of how many and who belonged to who. Hopefully the coondo camera caught some good pics and I'll post them when I download them.

Screech is doing fine....he wants out but he's a little too gimpy for me to feel comfortable letting him go just yet. I sprayed some antibiotic spray on his wound to help speed the healling along.

The giant swarm of mosquitoes finally got the better of me and I had to come in!

Screech is back

It just never ends with these guys! I went out to the release pen to see if Daisy was still using it. What I found was a LOT of blood....on top of the cage, on bushes and leaves next to the cage, and a trail all throughout the cage....leading to one of the den boxes. I expected to find Daisy as she had been the one using it, but imagine my surprise when Screech poked his head out. Laurie came by and we checked him out.

The foot with the old wound from the first attempt at release is pretty swollen and appears to have new injuries on the underside of this one. He must have cut it last night (or more likely someone cut it for him!) and decided to take refuge back home.

So he moved out of the den box we were bugging him in while we checked him out and moved over to a den box less accessible to our prodding hands....a little gimpy but he can use it if he really has to.

So once again the pen is closed up while he is given a chance to heal up. With all the blood I saw I'm going to keep a closer eye on him. Daisy will have to use the den box on top of the pen for now.

The Un-Released gang!

Popeye and Daisy have been re-joined by Foxy and Screech now. I found Foxy curled up under the tarp on top of the release cage. When I opened the door later in the evening she ran down and went straight for the open door and into the cage. I found Screech up in the squirrel pen! God knows how he got in there. I let him out and when I saw him take a limping step, got closer to look. He's got a wound on his foot too...and he begged me to pick him up, climbing up the front of me to hold him. So I brought him back down to nurse his wounds as well.

The girls are uninjured for the most part. It's the boys getting the crap beat out of them! I have a feeling that baby season has a lot to do with it. We'll let them heal up and plan to re-release them later in the summer when all the babies should be old enough to create less conflict between the resident mothers and our gang. No sign of Buddy or Whitey. Whitey was timid to begin with so I am guessing he was avoiding the local natives with all his might and not running into any problems.