As winter encroaches, the behaviour patterns of my current wildling resident; Red, is changing.
When Red first appeared on May the 12th I suspected two things - one, that he may be Tom Thumb and two, that he had early mange. After giving him the 'welcome to the garden' treatment - weigh in, Advocate and war paint, I popped him back to bed and hoped he'd be back.
Well, 12 days later he was indeed back. I weighed him again and he had gained 168gms since his last visit. This was great because it means he's not being seriously challenged by anything too onerous.
His mange was however more apparent so I'm relieved he had come back. It is best to give a second dose of Advocate two weeks after the first and 12 days was good enough for me!
Although Red has mange - his quills were looking a bit dirty and he had that 'mangey' smell, his mange is mild, he had no crusting and no significant quill loss with just a little skirt loss - which had been apparent on his first visit. With this in mind, I consulted with Narelle to check that my instincts were correct in thinking he was ok to be left out in the wild as he was a very healthy weight and that the Advocate would sort out his mange - and any worm burden, in time. She agreed with me so I topped up his war paint, took a mug shot and popped him back into his chosen bedroom. As a precaution, I will give him a third dose of Advocate in another 3-4 weeks when/if he sleeps over again.
Looking closely at his photo, I now think this isn't Tom Thumb. This dude has a pair of rather impressive white eyebrows which Tom didn't have and I think he's a random wild visitor who knows when he's on to a good thing!
A week later, Red was back for a couple of nights. I didn't disturb him this time, beyond pulling the bedding back to check out the 'war paint' to identify who was at home. I am assuming that it is mostly Red that is currently visiting my feeder boxes. They are being completely cleaned out every night - or should I say, the food is all being consumed .... 'cleaned out' they are not! Whoever is frequenting them has appalling table manners and I am having to change the lining papers and scrub them out nearly every day.
I've also had to 'detox' the feeder boxes and bedrooms as much as possible due to Red bringing mange into the garden. This has involved emptying them all, disinfecting and scrubbing them all out and 'remaking' the beds. Hopefully, Red is no longer contagious but I will do the whole lot again each week for the next month - or until he hibernates .... I wonder if he will hibernate here? Time will tell.
When Red first appeared on May the 12th I suspected two things - one, that he may be Tom Thumb and two, that he had early mange. After giving him the 'welcome to the garden' treatment - weigh in, Advocate and war paint, I popped him back to bed and hoped he'd be back.
His mange was however more apparent so I'm relieved he had come back. It is best to give a second dose of Advocate two weeks after the first and 12 days was good enough for me!
Although Red has mange - his quills were looking a bit dirty and he had that 'mangey' smell, his mange is mild, he had no crusting and no significant quill loss with just a little skirt loss - which had been apparent on his first visit. With this in mind, I consulted with Narelle to check that my instincts were correct in thinking he was ok to be left out in the wild as he was a very healthy weight and that the Advocate would sort out his mange - and any worm burden, in time. She agreed with me so I topped up his war paint, took a mug shot and popped him back into his chosen bedroom. As a precaution, I will give him a third dose of Advocate in another 3-4 weeks when/if he sleeps over again.
Looking closely at his photo, I now think this isn't Tom Thumb. This dude has a pair of rather impressive white eyebrows which Tom didn't have and I think he's a random wild visitor who knows when he's on to a good thing!
A week later, Red was back for a couple of nights. I didn't disturb him this time, beyond pulling the bedding back to check out the 'war paint' to identify who was at home. I am assuming that it is mostly Red that is currently visiting my feeder boxes. They are being completely cleaned out every night - or should I say, the food is all being consumed .... 'cleaned out' they are not! Whoever is frequenting them has appalling table manners and I am having to change the lining papers and scrub them out nearly every day.
I've also had to 'detox' the feeder boxes and bedrooms as much as possible due to Red bringing mange into the garden. This has involved emptying them all, disinfecting and scrubbing them all out and 'remaking' the beds. Hopefully, Red is no longer contagious but I will do the whole lot again each week for the next month - or until he hibernates .... I wonder if he will hibernate here? Time will tell.
I've finally looked up mange so I could understand better what you're dealing with. The work involved with caring for these critters is incredible. You're amazing!
ReplyDeleteThank you :) It is both challenging and rewarding and is certainly worth the effort.
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