Meanwhile...back at the first release site.

Hey...is that mom coming up the hill??

It is, it is!!! Come here guys...it's mom!! Hey mom....you got any food!??

Cat playing shy...

Grizz swinging around like a monkey!

Grizz and his sister Goldie.

Kodiak really want to play with mom! Here he does "the backward shuffle" before charging at me again and becoming velcro coon on my leg! I shoulda worn thicker pants that day, that's for sure!!

Panda strikes a pose.

Grizz and Goldie having fun.

Panda stopping for a snack.

After fun time with mom, they finally settle in to eat so I can sneak out of there.

It was tough getting pics of Diesel, Razz, Dozer etc. as they spent most of the time clinging to my legs, on my back, or trying to climb up my body. It's tough taking pics while trying to fend off rambunctious raccoons and keep the camera away from them too!

Release site #2....done!

The second release site was a walk in the park compared to the first! We didn't have to climb a vine choked hill like this one for starters!! I held the camera level from where I was standing part way up to try to give you a perspective of the hill.....it's quite a climb and it's still worse in person!

So you can imagine how great it was walking across this fairly level stretch of woods! BIG thanks go out to Andrea and her family for letting us use the woods behind their home!! It's perfect and there is a nice brook running through further back. On Thursday Laurie, Lisa, Andrea and myself lugged the cage etc. out there and set it up.

Friday Laurie and I returned to decorate and give it that "homey" touch for the gang! Trees, branches, hammocks, litter boxes and den box all put in place and ready for new guests!

Yesterday, Laurie's gang went into this pen.....6 of 10 of them that is. Four are still too little to go this year so looks like we are both going to have 4 to overwinter....sigh......so much for the winter off!!

One more pen to go!

The little kids.

Cinnamon, Peanut, Phoenix and Raquel are doing great. Still too small to release so they will be staying the winter for sure.....but how can I complain...look how damn cute they are!!

Peanut

Cinn

Raquel

Phoenix

We have raccoons in the first release site!!

One down, two to go! We finally got the first cage set up and filled. Laurie, Lisa and I lugged the damn cage up a steep hill into the woods last week. Not fun! We finally finished putting it together and "decorating" it for the kids yesterday.

Today was moving day! We loaded up Razz, Diesel, Tank, Dozer, Cat, Mack, Goldie, Panda, Kodiak and Grizz into carriers and then proceeded to lug them and supplies up that steep hill!

Once in the pen the carrier doors were opened and the fun began!! The move certainly didn't stress them out and having a new place to explore was so very exciting!

A short rest on Auntie Laurie's shoulder.....

.....then back to running around like maniacs again.

So the gang is officially settled in and will have the next 2 weeks to get used to their new surroundings before the door is open and they are free to go.

Silly raccoons!

They are in a huge cage with 2 den boxes in it....plenty of room for 9 growing coons to find comfortable sleeping accommodations! But do they take advantage of that?? Nooooooooooo!

Instead they all have to squish into one den box.....and the coon that draws the short straw???

Well a picture is worth a thousand words!

LOL!! Last coon to the den box plugs the hole!

A tale of tangled tails.

Laurie, Lisa and I were getting ready to head out and work on one of the release pens when Laurie got a call about a bunch of squirrels stuck together by their tails. Soooooo....out the door went the release pen plans and we headed over to check out the squirrel situation.

Sure enough it was a case of tangle tail. It happens when they get sap stuck in their tails, then they all head back to the nest to curl up together. Due to the sticky sap, the fur from their tails get stuck together, along with various other nest debris. The squirrels realize they are stuck, then start to flip out trying to break apart, but only make it worse....the tails end up in a painful, tail breaking knot they cannot get out of. It is not seen too often because most usually end up dying in the nest as a result.

But occasionally some manage to get out or fall from the nest. In this case, 4 squirrels were stuck together, 1 was already dead. We brought them in and started to work on them. The tail of the dead one was cut off, then the whole knot was soaped up and they were able to be untangled with less effort than expected.

With tails finally separated, each squirrel was cleaned, given fluids and capstar for the maggots that were already in residence, and put aside in a warm, dark, quiet place to de-stress as we almost lost 2 of them from the stress during treatment.


All 3 are pretty stable now. Laurie has them now and it's just a matter of ascertaining the extent of damage to the tails and deciding on what course of treatment to follow.

The squirrel bot fly.

Ever seen a lump or 2 like this on a squirrel?? It's a very common occurrence due to a natural parasite on squirrels called the tree squirrel bot fly (Cuterebra emasculator). With a little help from my backyard friends, I'll sum it up for you!

In a nutshell, the bot fly lays it's eggs somewhere in the squirrels environment....on a branch for example. When the squirrel passes by, they hatch rapidly and enter an opening on the squirrel or are ingested when they groom themselves.

After migrating through the body for about a week, they settle somewhere under the hide of the animal forming a warble...this lumpy pouch with a little hole at the end, where the larva will grow for about 3 weeks.

Once fully grown, the larva will back out of the warble hole, fall to the ground, burrow into the soil, then hibernate until the next summer when it will emerge as an adult fly and start the cycle all over again.

The warble then heals up pretty quickly and the squirrel is soon back to normal. Pretty gross to see, but a normal relationship between host and parasite that is more of an inconvenience to the squirrel than anything.

You can check out this website for a more in depth look at the squirrel bot fly if you really want to be grossed out some more! LOL

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/slansky/botfly/ABOTFLY/overview.htm

Skeeter & Skupper

Take one very adorable little squirrel named Skeeter who has been a single baby...

....with no other babies to play with...only mom's fingers! (We have other squirrels, just none close to her size to pair her with!)

Add one other little squirrel found cold and alone laying on the ground.....

.....and you have instant friendship!! Skupper is a little older and bigger, but not much so they are a perfect pair!

They are having so much fun playing together the only photo I got that wasn't blurry was this one with part of their heads cut off!