RaccoonRehabMama

You can see, just like children, everyone plays a part….the Bravado one, the cheater, the hider….better than TV! If you have any wildlife questions …hit me up!

Oliver and I were playing with this egg like besties … He would hide it and I would find it and roll it again. BUT..THIS TIME…in the blink of an eye he went from “PLAY” to “PREY”Then, a courtesy warning snort! AT THAT INSTANCE? HE wins and ….”playtime is over!” 😆 YOU HAVE TO BE ON YOUR TOES AND AWARE….EVERY MINUTE you’re in with a wild animal….even the sweetest one. They win…you LEAVE immediate as the loser! No eye contact till those pupils relax some!!

Jagger was one sad cat before I started there Bc the interns thought he was too unpredictable…so they had fun with the refuges brat Bobcat “Oliver, who we’ve had since he was 2 weeks old, another rehabber at BTN raised him Bc she couldn’t find a surrogate mom for him. People try to pick the sexy animal to bond with…but that’s NOT how it works…THEY pick YOU! YES, Jagger chose me and after 10 yrs he trust me! He used to chase, bite and scratch others. But my trick? I absolutely ignored him! 😆 You can tell him and Oliver apart Bc Jagger has raw skin on his nose, between his shoulders and I’m sure it’s irritatingly itchy!! He was slobbering all over me in 15 min of NO attention …if he was calm and listened, I was all his! Yes, he learned fast!sometime I have to text my director Bc he plops down on my boots and growls if I move one iota! Deb has to come in with a hose and he runs! But I …again…created a jealous animal again! But with Jagger, if he gets jealous -I get bit. If he anticipates I’m done and ready to leave? He blocks my exits….so I call Debbie again. After 10+ years he responds to my commands. But gets over jealous….I get bit!

This poor fox kit was separated from his mom during a bad thunderstorm (usual FL summer storms) and was washed into a sewer in a large neighborhood. People heard him howling and took him to the vet. He had to have been hit by a car first Bc he has neurological problems. He takes the best selfies! (Huge cheesy smile with his eyes squinted -.like a stoner from the beach! 😆 BTW-That noise in the background is a crow, “JJ” that I raised from a hatchling -and he gets very jealous when I play with anyone else! So he just squeals or yells “mama” till I go get him….so sorry! (I thought it would be so funny to teach him to say “mama” ….yeah, not so much! I learned a-lot about crows from him! So smart!

Precious never eats raw meat. When she was a baby she got Giardia and just wouldn’t eat till one day my husband got some Publix chicken fingers and so he offered her some……and she ate it!! Also, every year my mom gives her the hambone from the honeybaked ham she gets at Easter. So now she won’t eat uncooked meat -which is really weird for a raccoon. I offered her some fresh venison, from a deer that was hit by a car and the police brought it to us to feed it to out to our animals. I cut off a small 4”x4” piece with the fur still on it -so she could smell it and realize it was food. But, all she did was carry it around, stopping occasionally to lick the fur -like it was a baby…. so weird. **Watch how she won’t let go of either Apple snail while trying to eat from it -she just won’t put the other one down. 😆 (Also, because she won’t eat raw meat -like a snail, we filled it with her two favorite foods….cut up Publix chicken fingers and avocados chucks) and you can see the wheels turning trying to figure out how to get that food out! Hi-larious! btnwildlife.org

One of my babies, Rufus; about 7 weeks, found a mirror while he was out -I was cleaning his enclosure. 🐾 “Ah…., my protector!” ( I do have a special “rehab room” to keep them from making too many messes or destroying my house!!) If you have any questions…let me know by first adding- “QUESTION” What does a newborn raccoon, squirrel, opossum, owlet, etc. look like? And I will try to get get back asap. 🤙 👉 If you’d like to see more pics of your favorite resident or rehab ….just let me know! (I did work there for 10 yrs and just volunteer now (after getting Lyme disease, Fibromyalgia,CFS W/ P.O.T.S.) I still raise them and mentor our UCF college interns. Visit our website: btnwildlife.org ✋ 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: ITS ILLEGAL TO KEEP WILDLIFE AS PETS W/O A PERMIT. 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐌𝐄 .....Raccoons 𝐃𝐎 𝐍𝐎𝐓 make for good pets. These, the ones I show, are orphaned, injured, or seized in peoples homes by Fish and Wildlife officers, for housing an illegal “pet” without a permit! They only come to me or my family Bc I AM the only mom they, usually, have known. BTN Has a Facebook, Instagram sites and please, visit our website to see the 50+ refuge residents (they were too injured to be released or exotics from websites and are not native to Florida...so we can’t return them - “back to nature”…heh,heh 🤙) we call them our “Educational Ambassadors”; like 3 Lemurs, 2 Fl bobcats, CA Cougar (we've had since he was seized at 18 mo. Old -he just passed at 16yrs old!)

It was like 59° for goodness sake…..with that thick fur….c’mon! (What a privileged wuss! 😂 ) We got Precious at 3 wks old, when a local petting farm called to say an owl or hawk grabbed her from her nest, on top of a palm tree……then DROPPED HER …..while in the air still! She actually fell in a hay wagon! The same weird luck as her new mommy! 😆 She is a resident Bc her shoulder muscles were torn and then atrophied (weakened). If she was released and then fell from a tree -she could be snatched up by a predator so we decided to keep her. However, I needed to wait till she was weaned and I needed to have tons of people hold her, to get imprinted, so she wasn’t too wild and bitey! (So many college interns took her on the weekends that I swear she went to more frat party’s than I did!