Maybe you do, maybe you don’t know, but I was a wildlife carer for about 10 years.
An older lady worked with me and helped teach me. She lived around the corner and had been doing it for a very long time. When I would go around there she always had possums down her shirt , crawling up her legs and arms, cages in the back room with possums and one large one in a cage downstairs. She was amazing to learn from however I did sometimes feel tested. I was finally ready to get my first baby possum.
I’ve got all the special little bottles of all different sizes, different teats, special milk, soft pouches and tissues all ready to go. Then I get the call to come and pick up my first possum. My heart is beating so loud I can feel it though my shirt.
I was so excited, but scared too.
What if my first one dies, will she ever give me another one, what if I don’t know what to do?
All these thoughts and more are rushing around my head.
I sit in the driveway and take three deep breaths and muster the courage to go in with my little pouch. She holds a small, red little fur-ball. Oh, she is the cutest thing ever.
She walks me through feeding ,toileting, and all the do and don’ts again and we head home.
Within a week or two she gives me another Ringtail similar size so they can grow together. This is so good. I diligently weigh them weekly and watch them grow so fast. I love letting them go running around the house playing and when I give them fresh little native poms poms to eat it’s just so adorable. They grow fast, first, a small cage, then a bigger cage and finally into a aviary where I have to sort of distance myself from them so they can be released back into the bush.
Success! I am so please my first possum babies are safe, healthy and released.
My next one, mmm whole different story.
I pick up this small, cold, exhausted, bald, lanky, grey brush tail possum from the vets. He is so badly bruised.
I fall in love. Being extra careful not to hurt him as he is super sad.This baby had mums teat attached to a pin and I have to wear him in the pouch down my top to keep him warm before I feed him.I need him to spit the teat.
I feel so sad for this defenceless little animal, he cries and cries and doesn’t settle for ages. He’s so traumatised. This is the moment I knew it was my mission to find something to help these guys. After researching I find some Desert Alchemy essences called “Crisis drops.” The name is perfect, so I make sure they are safe for every baby creature to use. I’ve had him now for 4 hours and I put one drop in the side of his mouth. Together we wait another 15minutes and he spits the teat so I can now feed him.
I can’t believe it worked, and so quickly, or is it coincidence.
At this point I don’t care I got to feed him and he’s not crying so much.
This baby, like many others, I’m pleased to say he made it through, but there were those that didn’t. I discovered brush tails had such a different personalty than the ringtails and I loved them both.
From that point on I began to used the essences regularly. I also did a course in reiki, this was something else I could use on these babies to settle them down and make them feel safe. Little did I know then, that this was just a small step in my path to Animal Connection, Healing and Communication.