A week or so before the fires, while we were having a heat wave, one of my fellow carers came to the door, clutching a pouch, which appeared to be empty. “I have a wombat” she said. I wondered where. She opened the pouch and there was this tiny pink hairless wombat. The only hair on this creature were her whiskers and eyebrows. She was completely hairless otherwise but her eyes were open and bright, and her ears were erect and alert. Her legs were strong looking but she was much too small to actually stand up. We guestimated her weight at a couple of hundred grams (less than 8 ounces). She wanted to know what the little wombats chances would be. I reminded her I wasn’t an expert on wombats, but said if this was a little eastern grey kangaroo, I’d suggest you have it put to sleep, but wombats are tough little creatures, and I’d give it a go, as long as you’re prepared for the work involved. It appeared healthy, but it would be months and months before it was ready for release. She wrapped it up again and took it home.
A few days later she was at my door again. It was going to be a stinker of a day – high thirties forecast, and she had to go to Mudgee. The wombat was still with us, and would I mind feeding it. She brought all its paraphernalia inside, and left the little wombat with me. She wasn’t expecting to be back until late that night, but I said that’s ok, it’s hot, I’ll be up. I had to go shopping to get a few things, and rushed down the street, because it was due for its first feed in half an hour or so.
Normally half an hour is plenty for me to get my shopping done. However, I met several people that I hadn’t seen for a while, and all wanted to talk. Half an hour became an hour, and I was starting to get agitated when I realised how long I’d been, and half expected to find an expired wombat when I went to feed her. But no, instead of finding a creature that was hard to get on with, I found a little sucking machine! I had no trouble getting her to suck, but after 5 ml, she was exhausted, and fell asleep! I let her go for a few minutes, and tried to remove the teat. This woke her up and she drank another ml or two. Five mls is 1 teaspoon. I also weighed her, and she was now 250 grams, about 8 ounces, so despite her (lack of) size, and the heat, she was gaining weight.
Every two to three hours thereafter I fed her, and she took around about 5 mls each time. She was so tiny, I had to put my glasses on each feed so I could find her mouth. Once she realised milk was available, she would open her mouth and frantically try to grab the teat, but I had to make sure the teat was close to her mouth, otherwise she’d miss! I had no trouble keeping her warm, because of the heatwave, but I couldn’t feed her in the air conditioning, because that would make her cold.
Her “mother” turned up at the appointed time, and picked her up with all her belongings. She has a long road ahead of her, but she seems a little fighter. I was talking to her “mother” a couple of days ago, and she had gained more weight. She is now 300 grams. In a few months, she will be the size of a football, and be an opinionated little so and so, rushing hither and yon, and wreaking havoc wherever she goes. I wish her well…
Mamaroo's Diary 