Young and VERY Traumatized

As if it isn't bad enough to have your mother attacked and killed in front of you and then to watch your brothers and sisters be killed, it must be horrifying to know that you will be next!  That's exactly what my newest babies went through on Thursday night.
I'm so proud of one of my students for coming to tell me that she knew of some baby opossums that needed help.  I'm also so proud that her whole family tried to help these guys too!  This sweet little girl came to me first thing on Friday morning and said "Mrs. Truex, I know you save animals and our dog killed a possum last night.  It killed some babies too, but there are 4 that are still alive!"  I asked for her mom's number and called.  Heath picked them up and to his horror, one had an eyeball hanging out!  I was sure that little guy would have to be euthanized, but thank goodness for a knowledgeable vet!  Not many vets will even see wildlife, much less really know much about wildlife!  That's a whole other blog post in itself!  He knew that opossums do fine with just one eye and removed it.  One little guy passed away on me within a couple of hours.  Louise, my mentor, told me that it's pretty rare to get injured babies, but for those that know me it isn't a surprise for ME to have something "rare" happen.  ALL of these babies have injuries and were obviously very traumatized.  Despite my best efforts they weren't interested in eating and I had to tube feed these babies.  On intake they weighed around 68 grams.  In 2 days they are all around 100 grams.  Can you say dehydrated???  Now what you all have been anticipating...PICTURES!!!  I must apologize for the quality, but I'm sure you all remember being young and broke!  For those that don't know, I'm only 27 and a teacher.  LOL!



These 2 babies are NOT being housed together, but I wanted to show that even though they are about the same weight, the one on the right is less developed.  The one on the left was the first baby I got and the one on the right is one of the new injured ones.

Same ones without the flash.

Same

Here are 2 from the 2nd litter I got.  One is much smaller than the rest.  Can't really tell from this pic, but aren't they soooooo cute!

Here's the one with the missing eye.  The eye on your right is missing.  You can see it looks squinted.  

This one has an injured ear.  You probably can't tell because it's so dark, but the ear on your left is red.

Today is EASTER!  And I still have little cottontail bunnies!  Unfortunately, I just went to feed the baby bunnies and one was not doing well.  He was obviously dying so I held him for the last few moments of his life.  I don't understand what happened, because it seemed to be doing so well.  He had been bitten by a cat and received antibiotics.  He seems to have healed well, but it's just really hard to say.  As sad as it is, that is part of doing rehab.  It's definitely not my favorite part, but the good far outweighs the bad.  I'm hoping for a success release of the other 2 cottontails.  These guys are starting to eat dandelion greens and other green stuff on their own.  They will be going into an outdoor cage very soon if the weather ever clears up enough.

Again, sorry for the pics being so dark.  Gotta make due with what I've got for now.