'Doc' gives devils the thumbs up!
It seems only yesterday that we were separating the first
lot of Devils bred here and placing them into their own FREs (free range
enclosures)... Three months on and its time for our quarterly heath
checks.
This is a very exciting time, as it’s not only the
juveniles, but all our devils that we check. Breeding season is likely over,
some females starting as early as March so were expecting to see lots of little
joeys in mums pouches. It also gives us the opportunity to see animals that are
more secretive.
Although trapping is only done once every three months (to
minimise human contact) we still observe our devils daily at feeding time,
using game cameras or just out and about doing their thing. If an animal is
seen with an injury or poor health at any time, we will always have a closer
look and take appropriate action.
Our health check starts with every devil in a FRE being
trapped. The special traps we use are designed for devils and are made out of
plastic, this minimises the risk of injury as well as exposure to the elements.
They are also nice and dark to avoid excess stress.
The devil is transferred from trap to a hessian sack, has it
micro-chip read for identification, is weighed, visually checked over and
treated for external and internal parasites. All observations and information
is recorded on the animal’s personal health sheet, and after checking the devil’s
history it is released back into its enclosure.
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| weighing |
 |
| recording details |
All in all, we are very happy with the condition of our devils!
The juveniles breed last year are looking fantastic and all
putting on good weight. On average female are weighing 4.5kg – 5kg and males
weighing 6.5kg – 7kg
As expected there are a few wounds amongst the adults,
mainly the males. But as this species is very competitive and aggressive during
the breeding season, these are nothing that we were surprised to see, or be overly
concerned about.
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| about to be released after a thorough health check |
The most common injury for a male is bites to the tail base
and rump, showing fur loss at the site.
All wounds are treated as we process each devil. Devils also
have an amazing immune system and in my time working with have been amazed how
quickly they heal. Adult females weighed 7.5kg- 8kg and adult males weighed up
to 10kg.
We were very excited to see lots of little joeys of various
ages, some no bigger than a jelly bean in mum’s pouches, and are looking
forward to the next health inspection when we will be able to have a closer
look.
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| joeys approx 80 days old |
