Poor little Sammy.

Well I'm saddened to say we lost Sammy. Tuft's said he was doing great and ready to come back. I got him last night and to be honest he didn't seem that well to me. But I got him settled in his bathtub suite, tried to feed him but he would have none of it, then set up all kinds of goodies in his cage to munch on. When I got up this morning to feed him he was dead. No idea why...and I'm not sending him off either. He's now in a nice peaceful spot overlooking my pond where he would have been released.

Laurie got Phillip's ashes back to me as well. I'm thinking I'll spread them at the release site we bring his sister and step-siblings to....

I have 5 more stinkers heading my way. Laurie is going to get them in and settled and re-hydrated for tonight since I'm working late then right back in to work first thing in the morning. I also have 2 more coonies coming this weekend that I don't really have room for, but there is no place else.....no one has room! I'm more stressed worrying about what will happen to them then I will be dealing with them when they get here sooooooooo...........

The little stinkers get an outside suite!

The 5 little skunks have graduated to an outdoor pen. I spent most of the day putting this together for them. I don't know why they include instructions...they are useless anyway!! Well it's finally together and the skunks love it!

They are eating on their own and as soon as they are big enough off they go!

The younger kids

After Pansy and I decorated the outside pen it was time for the the youngsters to try it out! A mass exodus from the crate, then a little shock when noticing different surroundings... Then the fun began! It's safe to say they were thrilled with the trees! No problem climbing up and down for this crew.


Little Pip.... she's so tiny she looks about the size of a chipmunk in the cage!

CHEEZE! Tash and Merry pose for a pic!

Yes...I am cute and I know it!

Kinky is also tiny like Pip but has no problem with the big trees in here!

Squibby is just going to plant himself right here for a while....the little piggy!

I'm still bringing them in at night but it won't be long before that stops also. By yesterday afternoon they had already tired themselves out and discovered the safety of the den box to curl up in and sleep. Now that they are familiar with where the shelter, food, pool and litter box are in the pen it's just a matter of me feeling they are capable of staying in there permanently without supervision since some of them are very small for their ages! (So basically I'm just a nervous nelly for a mom! LOL)

Tuft's held on to Sammy the Muskrat to see if they can figure out what is wrong with him and fix him up. He's in good hands now and hopefully will get better then come back to join us! I have to check in with them at the beginning of the week so fingers crossed!

Here's Pansy!

This is the new girl, Pansy. She's being very helpful here assisting me as I prepare the outside pen for Michelle and the younger gang.

Yup..this tree is secure!

This branch is a little wobbly.....
This tree is perfect!

She reminds me a lot of Lexi...she's got the same face. She will start to get supervised visits with the younger kids during the day as soon as the necropsy results come back (if ever!!) and I know they were not exposed to anything contagious. She will have to come inside at night until her vaccines are boostered though. Have to make sure she is not exposed to anything by the wild coonies that might visit the cage area at night until she's had enough vaccines to protect her.

I did try a brief introduction to the older NCIS and Attitude kids.....she was not very pleased about that at all! Although she's the same size as them, she's been a single coonie so she would probably be more comfortable with the smaller ones, but we'll see.

Drake and Quarry, the boy and girl from the Dracut Quarry who were buried by the asphalt landslide, are doing great and will be out of quarantine on Sunday I believe......then I can get pics of them once I don't have to worry about contaminating the camera! They will also join Pansy out in the shed and all 3 can eventually be introduced to the younger kids making one big group of 11!

The skunks are great...eating solids regularly and getting ready to go outside if I can get a pen set up. Sammy the Muskrat is hitching a ride with JoAnn to Tufts this morning to get checked out. He's loosing weight despite eating well so I want him checked, not being all that familiar with them or their ailments. Lets keep our fingers crossed for him! (At least I think it's a him! LOL Not quite as obvious as coonies!) I really like the little guy!

There's a muskrat in my tub!

No, really!! There's a muskrat in my tub! Got this cutie in the other day. I've never taken care of one of these before so it's been a learning experience. Got him set up in a little nest of fleece at one end of the tub and there's a litter pan filled with water and a little ramp to go in and out of it at the other end of the tub. The fur is amazingly soft! Doing a great job eating his formula and even nibbling solids already. A meal then a little dip in the pool....

....then a little grooming to keep the fur in tip top shape and back to bed.
The basement isn't smelling all that fresh and clean either...not with these five little stinkers that have recently moved in! They've got a nice hutch full of dirt and they are loving it! Already eating solid foods.....mice seem to be their favorite...yummy! It won't be long before these guys have to go outside.
When I was out last night filling the feeders I ran into Red. She brought the kids in to visit grammy! 4 beautiful kits that look just like her! I got some very cute video with my phone but doesn't seem to be compatible here so I'm sorry to say I am unable to show you! Bummer! Button also ran in real quick, grabbed some treats from me, then off she went again.

The final kit has joined the family. She was being cared for by another rehabber until weaned and is now here to join the gang and finally make some coonie friends. Her name is Pansy (No...I am not responsible for that name! LoL...that's all on you Lisa!) and she's beautiful! I'm going to try soon to take a minute or 2 to get some updated pics of the gang finally.

We are STILL waiting for necropsy results from Tufts! Laurie spoke to them yesterday and they said another week. SIGH!!! I've been getting the outdoor pen ready for the younger gang...just waiting to see if I should be concerned about anything contagious or not. Patience is a virtue I guess!

Some of the neighbors.

All my woodland neighbors have been coming by for a visit lately! There are 2 pair of geese that are regular visitors and hang out together with their babies...this pair with their 3 kids and often another pair with a single kid. Looks like some of my little stinkers are still hanging around....I was happy to see this one passing through.


I'm really hoping to see pups following these guys one of these days! That would be awesome!

A lot of the coonie kids are out and about now with their moms....showing up everywhere pretty much!

And another pleasant surprise....perhaps one of my girls released in the spring?? There was quite a bit of possie activity here the last couple nights.


I thought this was Popeye at first.....the face is unmistakable...but upon further review of the accompanying video to this picture, it isn't. There is one other however, with the same face as Popeye.....his sister Foxy! Sure enough this is definitely a mom and with that face I am very confident it's our elusive Foxy girl! A very pleasant surprise indeed!

I've got another baby coming next week that a fellow rehabber has been caring for until it was weaned and out of quarantine. Hopefully I'll have Phil's necropsy results back by then so I can hopefully put it in with his gang if all is clear as far as contagious diseases go! At least if I don't have it back, I have the pens in the shed it can go into....only the babies that are cleared and out of quarantine graduate to the shed....I can't risk loosing that hazmat-free zone by putting anything out there unless it's been cleared!

I have 2 new kits that I couldn't say no to either, despite not having a quarantine free zone really. So I just put them in the guest bedroom for now! They were found at Dracut Quarry. The guys were working in the morning scooping from a pile of ground asphalt with a loader. When they dumped a load into another container, these 2 kits tumbled out. Alive and uninjured by some miracle, they were placed into a box and put aside for mom to find. A while later another bucket dumped into the container revealed the body of the mother. They had apparently been around the pile when part of it had collapsed onto them and buried them.....smothering the mom. The guys said the pile holds the heat and when they take bucket loads out of it small pockets are formed. Mom must have decided to rest with the babies in there and for one reason or another, the pile slid, burying them.

How could I say no to those poor babies! Luckily they are a little bit older....6-8weeks....and eagerly eat out of a bowl, making it much easier for me. Not all too friendly at first, but we had a breakthrough yesterday morning when the little girl decided to come over to me and start climbing onto my arm. Next thing you know she's jumping around playing with me! Little brother followed suit soon after and I have officially been accepted as the new mom now! I'll be holding my breath until their quarantine is over now! I can't handle another tragedy like Bramble and her siblings!

5 baby skunks heading this way Sunday also....looks like I'm back to a full house!

My squirrely friends.

A bunch of the released squirrels are still hanging out and mooching off of me! A couple will still come up and take some treats from me....most likely from my gang of 6 that I raised.

Awww...how cute it that! This one follows me around begging until I go get it some treats! LOL
Reminds me of JoAnn's Luna that was released here a couple years ago who literally used to follow me around everywhere I went in the woods for a while.

So sucker that I am, I get a big bucket of nuts and put it out there for them to snack on....and the whole gang appears. They hang out and play and eat and watch me walk back and forth while I go about my business taking care of the coonies outside.

Right now there are 5 new squirrels in the release pen. 4 are from JoAnn and 1 that had been rescued by the animal control officer. I call him Little Monster because he was an older baby and tried to attack me whenever I went near the cage! It was a race to see if I could throw his food and water in there and clean the litter box before he got to me to try to tear me apart! LOL He's much happier in the huge release pen with 4 friends now. I can at least go in there without fear of attack.
Laurie will be bringing some red squirrels soon to go into one of the other squirrel pens for release so almost up to a full house again!

Mom and the little kit visit again.

I went out back last night to pay a visit to Red if she was around and I was pleasantly surprised by these two! Momma is a shy girl so I stayed back about 30 feet to watch them. Unfortunately that meant this type of picture of them from my crappy camera! I kept talking to her and she let me edge forward closer to them! I'm not sure who it is, she's skittish but tolerant of me so she's definitely got to be one of my gang.

Trusting enough to let me get this close finally! Awesome! The little one followed mom's lead....as long as she was ok with me, so was the baby. Of course mom was still keeping a very close eye on me as well....one wrong move and she was ready to get her baby outta there.

They both enjoyed dinner....I was pretty surprised such a little kit was even munching on the dog chow. This one seems mature beyond it's age luckily!

They're not staying in the den box. Eventually mom signalled for the little one to follow her and off they went into the woods. It was a relief to see they are doing well! Hopefully I'll get some good video of them on the cooncam!

The little kit

Got some cute video of the tiny kit at the feeding platform. I don't think they are still there. It appears they left the night I found them there. Something may have happened to the original den and mom just needed a place to stop and regroup with the one kit she had. It's unusual for one so young to be out traveling with mom yet so I hope they are safe. It will be a lot easier for mom to keep an eye on and protect just one kit though so hopefully things will go well for them.

These kits are the proper size to be out traveling with mom now. You can see the difference between the little guy and this crew! As you can see it's quite a busy station which is why most don't use the den box up there....it's just a place to hang out while visiting each night, however it is good for emergency situations as may have been the case here.

No sign of mom or kit after this so hopefully she got the little one some place safe...although I have to say, it was pretty good at getting around! Mom wasn't carrying it up and down the tree....he(or she) was doing it all by itself!

Good luck little one....I'll be keeping my eyes out for ya to see how you do!

NCIS meets attitude!

The NCIS crew had graduated to the shed, wreaking havoc climbing all over the place as many past litters had! Cute as can be they enjoyed their new playground.

Then it was finally time to meet the big boys! So I brought them out to the outdoor pen for a meet and greet with the Attitde boys. A couple of the big boys were not too thrilled about the smaller, new arrivals to begin with.....

But within half an hour the little kids and the big boys were fast friends!

They all even eat in peace together! Amazing!

They did so well I was able to leave the little kids out there with big boys instead of putting them back in their crate in the shed! They have the run of the smaller outdoor section of the pen and the indoor section and they are LOVING it!!! A lot more room for running and big trees for climbing....awesome!

Gibbs, Dinozo, McGee, Abbey, Ziva, LL, The Rock, Gerry, Vin and Bruce are officially one big happy family!