Now on Facebook username SleepyBurrows

Right, time to really get the message about wombats out there. We are finally on Facebook. Its taken too long we know but the care of the animals always comes first:).You can follow us on Facebook

I thought poodles were meant to be clever???

As the post title suggests - now I am not sure *lol*. Stinking hot weather and driving along, 2 small dogs running along the dirt road - clearly lost. I stop to get them. There are cattle grids along the road to slow people down. The jack russell gets to the cattle grid, stops, thinks about it and then goes to the left and continues along the side of the road - so clever. By this stage another guy had stopped to help me. We got the jack russell all safe.

Now for the poodle. Poodle comes up to cattle grid, stops for a milli second, then tries to run straight over - of course legs going everywhere in the grid. Clever move - nope!

Between the 2 of us we managed to catch both dogs and return them safely to owner as they had their telephone number on their collars (so smart owners):). Never a dull moment, truly.

Have called new wombat visiting 'Scarface' for obvious reasons. Heaps of movement each night so clearly new to the territory.

Activity increasing with the dry weather

We have noticed an increase in the wombat activity around the food station due to the dry weather. This is Daph (eating) and the new wombat approaching at about 2am the other morning. There was a lot of screaming and chasing. That tells us it is a new wombat into the territory. Things seem to be settling down a bit. The new wombat is still visiting most nights and the screaming and chasing has decreased, for now anyhow.

RIP dear Mr Bean

5 days ago he was running and digging. 3 days ago he was rushed to the vet with suspected pneumonia. Last night we found him dead. I knew with the large temperature variations somebody would come down with pneumonia. So close to being free. You will be missed Mr Bean, RIP.

Toxo and wombats - out of interest really

We have been doing a lot of work with wombats and toxoplasmosis over the years. More in the line of what it does to them and how come they behave in certain ways, ie behaviour, symptoms. Its a long story, too long for here as the papers are pages and pages long:). But in a nutshell, most animals do not survive toxo. It is spread by cats (feral cats in particular) and is basically everywhere.

The trend we are seeing over the years is that wombats do get very sick from it, don't get us wrong BUT they appear to have a higher survival rate than other native animals. However, they are left with ailments which would I would say ultimately lead to their death in the wild. Or it might explain why some very 'tame' wombats come into care who display some wild tendencies but yet remain calmer than you would expect.  So much more work to be done here. One of the ailments of a wombat who survives toxo is that they can be blind and brain damaged.

Another sign is a wombat's eyes. For example this little wombat. If you look at her eyes, they do not focus straight. Also her eyes are 'bulging' out, another classic sign they have been exposed to toxo. Her mother might have died of toxo, resulting in her being found and saved by Risha initially.

Wombat joey drinking bottle

Wombat Pinkie joeys lubrication.MOV

Daphne

And because everybody see's Daphne from behind, here is a photo of her before she was released, showing you what a gorgeous girl she grew up to be. This was Daph after she had to come back into care when she was attacked. She has not been attacked since and is clearly the dominant female around here at the moment.

How did we know?

Some have asked 'how did we know Daphne's joey was dead'. Well, as you can see by this photograph, the feet are not pink but grey. Also, the way the leg and front paw are lying - limp. A wombat would keep her joey in her pouch, secure and not allow it to hang out as is happening in the photo.

A wombat cannot remove a dead joey from its pouch. They have to wait until it falls out - horrible thought, carrying your dead baby around.  I would say that sadly this joey died of pneumonia - I'm guessing here. The reason is because Daphne, first time mother was going into a very wet burrow and clearly her joey got wet and stayed wet. Maybe it got bitten by a snake - we will never know. Very sad as it was a strong healthy baby girl from what we could see. But so much to learn from the feeding station at all hours of the morning, good or bad. It all helps us understand wombats better.

Veg's progress

For those interested, remember Veg who had the hideous head/neck injury who had to have surgery? Well here is a photo of what it is looking like. It is healing brilliantly, all thanks to our wonderful Gundaroo Vet Joseph.

Tiny and not what many people get to see

It always amazes me as to how tiny these creatures are and how big and strong they become. This is a 100g wombat whose mother was killed. Thankfully our lovely neighbour down the road checked the pouch. In the summer months, they can survive 1-2 days in the pouch so it is always important to check a dead wombat. And I know, not many people like to do this so if there is a joey in the pouch, we just get people to bring us the dead mother and we sort the rest out as the joey's can be injured if taken out incorrectly.

New recruit

Risha, if you are reading this, your little girl is doing beautifully. Risha brought Bella to us over the weekend. She has done an incredible job saving this little wombat from the condition she was found. Now Bella resembles a 'fat tick' and is the picture of health. She has arrived at Sleepy Burrows to start her wombat journey to eventually be released back into the bush. And if it wasn't for Risha, she would not be here.

I've also put a photo up of Boney Bum caught on the night cam. You can see from his head that he is taking the fighting head on but no change to him of late so that is good news. It means they are sorting themselves out and no 'new damage'. There was a lot of screaming and somebody being chased at about 2am this morning and I would imagine it was Boney Bum chasing Moses possibly? Or Daphne chasing Moses. But glad to see they are accepting the new release into the bush.

Feeling like I need to put some things in writing

I swear I was chased by Mr Bean on the highway!!! Out of nowhere, suddenly in the rear view mirror, only being able to see the roof as the little fiat was tiny, was Mr Bean on a mission. One man and his fiat *lol*. 

Been hit with a philosophical stick today. Why is it that some people just don't 'get it'? Truly, it is not hard folks. Either you are nice or nasty. You can chose to be nice or nasty. You can chose to do the right or wrong thing. Well, I guess some people just like their own nasty paths they create for themselves. Enjoy it as it will be short! Energy completely wasted.

For me, I'm entering a new 'phase' in life - that would be the most appropriate way to put it right now. And BRING IT ON:). I am not somebody who gives up easily and I'm not about to start. I believe in morals and hard work, in kindness and helping others. THAT is my chosen path. To others who want to knock that - it will be only that, a 'knock'. If others work their arse off for what is important to them - respect them for the person they are. So many people have a lot to say yet do jack sh** themselves. So before you point fingers, have a look at yourself first! Right, I'll stop there.

New wombat arriving on the weekend, little female. The new little male, now called 'Lucky' is more humanised than we thought. Apparently likes grass and dog food!!! We are changing that asap and he has settled in very well. He is going for bush walks most evenings and is certainly starting to display nice wombat play behaviour - which by the way is not what us humans call 'fun'. It entails rather severe biting and ambushing however for a wombat, it is just perfect and behaviour they need to develop.

Boney Bum is still being challenged, not sure by who, Forrest or Moses we think. He is looking very tired and obviously cannot give in as otherwise he will lose his territory. We will step in if he rocks up injured but for now we have to respect nature and let the males sort themselves out. Heaps of activity at the back fence of the enclosure area. Will have to move the night cam up there to see what is going on.

Going to do some brush cutting - fantastic anger management:).

Moses....

Well, Moses has done well so far. He has and is challenging our resident male. Phil watched 2 nights ago the goings on between the two. It was very even in terms of the pushing and shoving. The odd bite but both parties are fine. Interestingly both have head marks from fighting which means neither one is backing down. There was a larger third wombat in the equation who kept going, then coming back and almost antagonizing Boney Bum. Eventually Boney Bum chased him off. Then he collapsed as this type of behaviour takes an incredible amount of energy out of wombats.

It is why if a wombat is not strong enough physically to cope, it will be killed as if they are doing to challenge a territory, it is not only strength but stamina that allows them to survive. If it gets horrific, we step in. If its evenly matched and 'males being males' then we let them sort themselves out in terms of hierarchy. The sooner they sort it out the better of course.

Daphne is still around but keeping a low profile I would say with the latest activity going on. Wise lady:). We received a new recruit yesterday. A young male who although is quite imprinted (ie tame) he will do well. He was raised by a new carer who has given him a little bit too much love but they have done a great job in that he is healthy and certainly has the tendencies which he now has to develop. So all good.  It will be a harder adjustment for him initially as his 'comforts' will most certainly be removed but after what we have seen in the bush over the last 48 hours, it only confirms you have to send the strongest and fittest back into the bush to survive.

In keeping with the theme of a 'crap week' last week we lost the little guy who had come in. We couldn't have saved him as he had a huge amount of bruising and blood which started to show so he had obviously taken the impact of his mother being hit. Very sad but that is just the way it goes. At least he wasn't eaten alive by bull ants. Back to it. Travel safe and have a great weekend.

Lesson for life - might save that for later:)

So the new little guy is doing really well but I hate to put that into words as it can change so quickly with the little wombats. He is drinking very well which is the first thing to go wrong if they are going to go downhill. I also might just put a reminder out there that the work we do with the wildlife and wombats is completely voluntary:). And that wombats are nocturnal:).

Veg and her little bub are doing brilliantly. Her wounds are healing so so well. Some observations of a pregnant wombat - as we have never had one in care actually pregnant - it appears pregnant wombats eat more and sleep more. Veg is clearly eating for two and is sleeping almost 20 hours per day.  I had never thought about any correlation to being pregnant as a human being but having been there myself, its an interesting comparison:).

We opened up the enclosure area again for Moses during the week and he did not come back. He has gone in the direction of the creek and decided to give living in the bush his best shot. Boney Bum the resident male hasn't been around which might mean he is asserting himself and his territory because a new male is 'in town' so to speak. Hopefully everybody will behave themselves and we won't have any injured males.