It must be with all the ringtails that have gone there recently.
I wrote last week that Rusty died. On Sunday we picked up two more ringtails to keep Rufus company. They were a male and a female, Linus and Lucy.
Rufus was a bit overwhelmed when he was first introduced to them, but he'd settled down a bit by the time we went to bed. The three of them were all snuggled up together in a cute little bundle.
The next morning Donna got up to check on them and Rufus had died in the night, most likely from the stress of meeting the other two.
We'd been having a bit of trouble getting Lucy to feed, but were told she wouldn't feed while being handled, unlike the others. So we moved Linus and Lucy to a bigger carrier and put a small container of Divetelact and some foliage in with them. The bigger carrier was so they had some more room for the food and wouldn't knock it over.
The morning after Donna had found Rufus dead, she went downstairs to check on Linus and Lucy, and Lucy had died. To make things worse, Linus was almost dead from the stress of losing Lucy. He didn't make it through the day.
From the smell of her urine, we're pretty sure Lucy had bloat, and possibly thrush as well. Something Natasja (our co-ordinator and previous carer of Linus and Lucy) said she wouldn't have got in the short time she was with us. Bloat in possums is similar to bloat in horses, in that the food they eat isn't digested properly and it ferments in the gut. It usually comes about in young possums because their gut flora (bacteria) hasn't developed enough yet. It's the reason a lot of carers feed young possums yoghurt to start off with.
It's disheartening having every ringtail we've cared for die on us, that makes six so far. There's been a lot of self analysis going on this week, trying to work out if it's something we're doing wrong. We're definitely much more aware of things to look out for now, not only with the ringtails, but also the brushtails after Lucky's bout of dermatitis
Speaking of Lucky, I looked in his cage yesterday evening and he came up to me and licked me on the nose. Apart from the fact that his hair is much shorter in places, he's pretty much back to the Lucky he was three months ago.
With the failures come the successes, and it's nice to know that in a few months there'll be a couple of brushtails back in the wild where they belong because of us.
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Hi there. Just came across your blog. I'm a Vic carer and understand all too well what you've been through with the bloat. I myself just this week lost two ringtails and a brushie with bloat. I received the ringies into care at 41g and 43g. They were originally triplets whose mother had been hit and killed by a car and the smallest one (37g) died the night she arrived. The other 2 were in my care for a little over 2 months and looked to be well on their way to making it to release. I found my little girl dead in the cage when I woke one morning and the other died in my arms 2 days later. My brushie was euthanized after being on antibiotics for a time but was not improving so was in her best interest to let her go painlessly.I was devastated at their loss as it's very hard to not become a little attached to them. Bloat can present several different symptoms and all 3 of mine had different ones apart from the hard bloated stomach. This can be a difficult and emotionally draining job but so rewarding at the same time. We can only do the best we possibly can for these animals. Best of luck with the others you have in care.
hi there was reading your blog and was wondering if you had tried a drug called peptosyl from the vet for bloat both in ringies and brushies. 1 drop per 100g of weight twice a day plus massage and heat will get them through. Remove divet for 24hours and replace with glucose or honey in water. Never lost a baby with bloat yet using this technique. Hard work and demanding but really pulls them through. Just a thought.
We haven't tried Peptosyl, but will definitely keep it in mind in the future. We now have three ringies in our care that are all around 600g, the smallest of which was about 50g when we got him. We've had no problems with them at all.
hi steve Im with barn as well and left the comment about peptosyl. do you have room in your creche for another ringie about that size that came in during storms. Just needs some tlc then released with a group. Iam a little full at moment as are the other carers in the western suburbs. I have a 100 to 200g creche of 7. As well as 15 baby brushtails under 400g requiring bottles. Have placed some with carers but we coping just need a creche for this one female. If your interested give me a ring on 0419 773 509, Don't know how else to contact you. thanks lexie
If we had the room we'd take her, although I'm not sure how the other three would take to a stranger in their midst, having all grown up together. Also we're over the other side of town in the Redlands.
We're at the stage now where most of our animals need to be moved to bigger cages/aviaries, but we have a bottleneck, a brushie that we're having trouble finding a release site for.
I take it you've tried Natasja.
I have been looking after several ringtails lately and I know what you mean about possum heaven! I had two originally, a girl and a boy. I intended to get my little boy desexed but i left it a bit late and you can guess what happened. several weeks later I went out to feed them and my girl had died, but her two tiny babies were alive. I stayed home from school the next day to try and settle them in, one was pretty happy, but the other refused to eat the formula, they weighed 35g each and had very little fur. within a week, the one who didn't like the milk had a stomach like a football, and would not eat at all, despite hours of massaging her belly, she died. My other little one is alive and well, despite a severe case of constipation that lasted nearly a week, and I've had to take her to school a lot so I can feed her during the day, but my teachers don't mind much. Anyway, I think you should try introducing your possums more slowly, that will limit stress and (hopefully) lessen the chance of them getting bloat. I'm trying to get my two surviving possums together, my boy is the sweetest thing ever, which is good because my little girl scratches him a lot when he tries to sniff her, but I only show them to each other for a short time each night so they get accustomed to having each other around before living together.
Why on earth would you want to get a wild animal desexed unless you're keeping them as pets? I think you'd find that if you took it to a vet to have the job done, you wouldn't get it back. That'd certainly be the case here in Queensland. You'd be lucky to avoid a hefty fine.
Since making the previous comment, I've discovered that it's actually illegal for wildlife carers in South Australia to release hand raised animals back into the wild.
Basically what this means is, if a baby bird or possum comes into care it has to either be euthenased, or kept in captivity for the rest of its life. All because some idiot in the government thinks that hand raised animals don't survive as well in the wild.
If the anonymous commenter above is from Sth Oz then my apologies for my harsh response.
Where can I get peptosyl? Anywhere over the counter? Or does it have to be prescribed by a vet?
It's been years now since we last looked after possums, we only do ducks these days. So I can't really answer your question, sorry. One of the other commenters may be able to help.
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