Ian has named the little guy, Tamigotchi. He says the possum reminds him of the Tamigotchi toys the kids were all into a few years back. They were a form of virtual pet and I guess that pretty much sums up the relationship we will build with Tamigotchi. He can never be a pet. But, for now, he can be our virtual pet...with a very real feeding routine, and broken sleep for me. It reminds me of when I would get up to feed my own babies. You just do it because you need to do it. No different for baby possums at all.Tamigotchi continues to eat well and I feel confident now that when I hand him over to a Wildlife Carer, the hard work is already done. They'll just need to continue the routine because he certainly knows how to eat.
He now weighs 61 grams, so he is definitely putting on weight, which is a good sign. He bit me again because I am awkward when it comes to handling him. He is all legs, arms and tail. His tail is quite strong as well and everything gets all tangled up. I don't think he appreciates me trying to weigh him.
Well today is definitely decision day. I owe it to Tamigotchi to make some serious decisions. He is settled, eating well, sleeping well and going to the toilet fine, so I am content that everything is going to plan, short term.
Now I have to do something with the long term plan and find someone that I trust to do right by him. It's his best interests that still lie in my heart.
I found various websites with basic information, but the one called BARN really stuck out for me. The information on their site was really useful and written in a way that was clear and easy to understand. BARN is located at Rocklea, an area not really all that far away from Willow Pond. They also had a phone number, so I decided that because these people really seemed to know what they were talking about, I would call them.
I got all psyched up to call, but when I finally did, it was a wrong number. You can imagine my disappointment. This pushed me into a corner. I would have to call the vets. I was still reluctant to call the vets because they are always so busy and I would not get to talk with a carer. I would have to surrender him and leave his fate in someone else's hands. I felt a bit sick to the stomach. He would have to wait on his own and it is always noisy at the vets with barking dogs, etc. I didn't want him to get stressed out like that. It was making me stressed just thinking about it.
But, I did it. Finally. The vets confirmed for me that I would need a permit if I was considering the option of caring for Tamigotchi. Otherwise I could take him in to them and surrender him. The other option was that I could bring him in for a vet to look at him and pay for the service as if he was a pet of mine.
I asked them if they could organise for me to speak with a wildlife carer. I explained that what I was hoping for was the opportunity to have a wildlife carer mentor who could help me raise Tamigotchi so that he could be released back onto Willow Pond. The receptionist went a way for a moment and when she returned she told me they would have to call me back.
I waited for quite some time for the vet to phone back. My head was still going at a hundred mile an hour and then I remembered a previous conversation I'd had with my friend Jill, who lives in my neighbourhood. She mentioned there was a bird sanctuary or something like that on a road behind her property. I phoned Jill to ask her if she knew the phone number of these people; wildlife people would be great a networking and I felt that if I could talk to these bird sanctuary people, they might know someone. Jill was on her way out to get Thai for lunch and told me she would phone her friend when she got home. Jill did not know the bird people personally, but her friend did.
So, I waited.
While I waited the phone rang. It was the vets phoning to apologise for taking so long, but they were unable to organise a carer to speak with me, but they did give me a phone number for a Redland Bay area wildlife group. I thanked them for their help and decided to wait now until I heard back from Jill.
Finally she called. The reason she took so long was because she is not just a friend who says she will help, she gets in and gets her hands dirty. Instead of just ringing me back with a phone number, she found out from her friend where the bird people lived and drove around to see them. She met them and explained my situation. When she phoned me, she handed the phone to a lady called Nat who wanted to speak with me and she asked me lots of questions and then explained the tough job of raising baby ringtail possums. The road apparently is fraught with dangers and things that can go wrong. She spoke to me for quite some time and then she told me the name of a wildlife carer in my local area. This carer only lived two roads over from me. Jill popped back on the phone and said she was going to drive around, pick me up and take me to Gillian's place.
I got Tamigotchi all packed up and organised. I took him around to all the family to say goodbye and whilst I was a little sad, I felt that it was for the best. I had managed, with the help of a friend, to find a carer close to Willow Pond and it made me feel much more comfortable about handing him over.
Jill arrived and we loaded up and drove over to Gillian's house. Gillian is a softly spoken lady who is very calm around animals and wildlife. She is close to my age. Her home is full to brimming with dogs, birds, baby joey wallabies that are in care. She works full time as a wildlife carer and also runs a dog sitting business, a dog grooming business and makes homemade soaps and teats which she sells at the Chandler Markets. She is such an interesting lady. I immediately felt very comfortable with her. Her husband Warren busily worked outside keeping the property up to scratch with whipper snipping and mowing and it is obvious he is a great support to Gillian.
We spent quite some time together. She listened to my story about Tamigotchi and asked me lots of questions. I was a little disappointed to learn that she had only just passed along three baby possums to another carer within the last couple of days. I knew it was very important for Tamigotchi to have mates as ringtails need company and community. Brushtails don't mind being on their own, but ringtails are very social.
I told Gillian all I had learnt off the Internet about possums over the past couple of days and I think I must have impressed her a little, because then the darnedest thing happened. Gillian said to me, "If you join BARN for $15, I will be your mentor."
I was blown away that out of all the websites I had viewed, it was BARN's website that I took the most notice of and now here was Gillian telling me that if I joined BARN she would mentor me. I really felt it was one of those 'do-do-do-do' moments.
So it seemed I had found a mentor after all. I was now going to get the opportunity to have a go at raising Tamigotchi myself, under the watchful eye of Gillian. She told me she would network with others to find another ringtail to raise with Tamigotchi.
Gillian spent more time talking to me about the process of soft release, which is what we would be leading up to for Tamigotchi. She weighed him and had a good look over him. On her scales he weighed 57 grams, but my scales had read 59 grams and then 61 grams. Anyway, it didn't really matter too much. Gillian taught me how to work out a proper feeding regime so that Tamigotchi would eat between ten and twenty percent of his weight and he would now be on four hourly feeds which would be great for me, especially through the night. She also got him to do a wee so she could check that he was okay in that department.
Gillian kindly put together all the things I would need to take care of the little guy. She gave me some handmade fleecy pouches, syringes for feeding, I bought some proper milk product from her called Divetelact, a couple of her handmade teats, some large safety pins and an information pack - more necessary reading. She also gave me a little plastic cage for when he got a little bigger.
His feeding regime would be 3 mls every 4 hours.
Jill patiently waited while all this was being worked out, then we loaded up and drove home. I had Tamigotchi in his little pouch stuck down the front of my bra. This kept him warm and secure, listening to my heart beat. The things us Possum mums have to do.
When we arrived home I invited Jill in for a drink, which she accepted. The family were all a little surprised when I arrived home with Tamigotchi, but somehow I don't think they were all that surprised. I updated the family on the process of raising little Tamigotchi.
It is not always an easy road raising ringtails and apparently there are many diseases and problems that can crop up out of the blue and cause death. Hearing and reading about all these problems makes me extremely nervous. But what can I do? The only thing I can do is to give it my best shot.
It is scary, but most things worth doing are usually the scariest. I will be praying that Tamigotchi stays strong and well. I think he is a survivor and I'm going to do everything in my power to help him survive.
I don't even know how long possums live for once they make it to adulthood.
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