Thursday March 15, 2012

 

 

Tiny Babies

 

Pip-Squeak

Have you ever seen a baby goat wearing a diaper?

 

 

Mason

Have you ever seen a baby squirrel this small?

 

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One of our youngest daughter’s passions is to give orphaned animal babies a chance to live.

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Deb, Pip, and Mason came to visit us on March 8.

 

 

Mason in my hand.

He was one of four babies born about two weeks ago in a nest their mamma built in a well drill. A squirrel expert who gives Deb advice thinks they were less than twenty-four hours old when the men needed to take the drill to a work site and discovered the nest of newborn babies.

How do you convince a mamma squirrel to move her babies on a cold rainy day?

The men did not want to leave the nest behind on the wet grass, and knew the chances were slim to none that their mother would care for them after humans touched the nest, so they called Deb and asked if she wanted them.

Of course she wanted them!

 

 

Deb was surprised when each one was still alive the next morning, but her squirrel expert said there was almost no chance she could raise them, and three of them died within a few days.

 

 

However, Mason kept on living and growing while keeping warm in the little soft “carrying case” that Deb keeps for baby animals.

 

 

It is difficult for find a nipple small enough for such a small baby. She has created a special formula for baby animals.

 

We were so sad when he only lived twelve days. However, that is much longer than her “squirrel expert” said he would live. We expect his little lungs and heart were just not mature enough to live without his mamma’s milk.

 

 

I kept the happier story until last. Pip is still very young and not totally out of “the woods” healthwise, but is still healthy and running and jumping as all little goats do.

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She was born on an Amish farm – the runt of triplets. Deb’s Amish friends did not have time to bottle feed her, and asked if she wanted her.

Of course she wanted her!

 

 

Our grandson Josiah holding Pip.

She was just a few hours old when she came to live with Roy and Deb, and weighed in at 14 ounces.

 

 

She was three days old when she, Mason, and Deb came to visit. I decided to hold her because she looked tired.

 

 

In less than a minute she was sound asleep.

 

 

A week later she and Deb were in our area again, and came to visit. She now weighs 2.4 pounds.

 

 

She was quite interested in this envelope that Cerwin had thrown on the floor. That is his way of disposing junk mail until he gets up and takes it to the kitchen waste can.

 

 

 

 

 

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You won’t guess what happened today!

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Pip-Squeek’s half sister Pepper (right) came to live with them. She is just a few hours old. They are easy to tell apart because Pep has a white face. But look – they both wear boots.

Pip and Pep have the same father, but different mothers. Pep is also the runt of triplets, and her mother didn’t want her. 

Together they weigh 3.6 pounds.