Bye Bye Wombat Ben

There was a farewell here at Onemilebridge yesterday. One we approached happily and, might I say, with relief.

Wombat Ben has been released into the bush. His stay in the Wombat Hilton was a short one — possibly a record.

When he arrived he was already a good size — about 15 kg — so the only tasks he had to achieve were to separate from his human carers and to allow his natural tendencies to come to the fore.

Well, he accomplished both those lickety split. He fled from us any time we approached; he preferred to eat the native grasses we picked for him rather than the oats and horse mix in his food bowl; and he rearranged his environment as assiduously as a backyard blitz team with a backhoe and an open cheque book. I reckon if he'd stayed any longer he'd have tunnelled or broken his way out anyway. You can see daylight through the gateposts now!

There was wombat poo outside the gate too, and evidence of a wombat trying to get into the enclosure. Maybe a groupie for what my commenter Judith calls our rockstar wombat.

                                        

We tied up the 'wombat flap' in the gate so Ben could find it easily. In the coming days we'll untie it but leave it unlatched so he can come and go if he wishes. We'll leave food in the bowl, but my guess is that possums will get that.

 I think we've seen the last of Wombat Ben. We wish him a long, happy life in the bush.

Wombat Ben The Builder

Personally, I reckon Ben is going to be out of the Wombat Hilton and into the wild in record time. 

His renovations would put Grand Designs to shame! Though at least he can afford to complete his - and without a crippling mortgage too!

He's moved all the logs from one side of the top of the burrow to the other. It's hard to know if he's dug any new chambers down below, though I suspect he hasn't installed a dance floor and DJ booth. Not yet anyway!

The entrance now faces in the opposite direction, away from the gate into the enclosure, so perhaps he feels better protected from us. He still runs into the burrow the moment he senses our approach.

But his poo is firm and plentiful, showing that he is stress-free and confident. 

 He's continued to excavate under the hollow log too.

With all that energy, I imagine he'll do well when he's released.  I wonder what the other wombats will think of him.

What Wombat Ben Did Next

It's interesting to watch Wombat Ben adjust to his new circumstances and to see his natural instincts come to the fore. While he lived with his previous carers he regarded them as members of his family. Even when they transferred him to an outdoor enclosure he used to perch on a log each morning, waiting for them to arrive with his food. When they turned up he'd follow them around, nipping their legs when he could. When they tried to collect his poo he'd often sit on it to protect it.

Since he's been here at Onemilebridge he's been mostly nocturnal. Certainly, as soon as he's sensed our presence he's hidden in his burrow. This is a step forward as he learns not to bond with humans in his progression towards returning to the wild.

Gradually, though, he's begun coming out early in the day to eat.

And he's been up to some serious renovation. He's pulled a long piece of wood across to the mouth of his burrow and stuck it in place with a mortar of mud.

We think this is to protect the burrow from rain as its entrance had become quite open.

He's also been digging in other places, including under the hollow log.

He's certainly leaving his mark on the Wombat Hilton! It'll never be the same again.

Wombat Ben Settles In

Sleeping by day, emerging late afternoon. 

Serious renovations by night. 

Shy of these new humans.

Not eating much yet, very little poo on show. Early days yet. Just settling in.

Wombat Ben's First Day

Ben was not to be seen this morning, but there was plenty of evidence of his presence:

Some  loose poo, though that's to be expected from the stress of the move.

Some serious renovation of the main burrow. The Poa that was there yesterday looks like it's been demolished. And the hay has disappeared too.

Some evidence of digging beneath the hollow log.

This is a huge move for Ben, away from what is probably the only home he can remember, but so far it looks like he's about on track. We left some food in the container in the kennel and we'll return periodically to check if he's eaten it. Normally we'd remove his poo every morning, but for the moment we'll leave it where it is so he can begin to feel at home.

It's nice to have a wombat back in the Wombat Hilton. I know it's stressful for Ben right now but I'm sure in a couple of days he'll be settled in and ready to begin his transition back into the wild where he belongs.

Hello Wombat Ben

This morning Wombat Ben arrived at Onemilebridge. His carers, Iris and James, brought him and transferred him into the pen that we call the Wombat Hilton where he will stay for about a month or six weeks.

I wrote about Ben first a year ago, when we visited him at home with Iris and James. At that time he was only about eight months old and still quite a baby. He lived inside their house, was bottle fed and slept in a sleeping bag.

We visited Ben again last December. He was much bigger then and had moved into his own outdoor pen. He was probably large enough to come to us already but he still had some psychological issues to work out, and it was felt best to delay release until he was ready. 

Today was that day. Yay!!

Ben was brought in a carrier and carried into the pen. Iris walked around to give him plenty of familiar smells to make him feel a little at home, and put straw around in various places. James decanted him at the mouth of a burrow that earlier wombats had dug and renovated.

When Ben was an infant his mother was killed by a car on the West Coast Cradle Mountain Road. He was found and placed with a carer. When he proved difficult to care for he was passed on to Iris and James who have had years of experience with caring for orphaned animals.

The Wombat Hilton contains a hollow log, a kennel, a corrugated iron shelter with a food bowl, and a water container. Within a minute, Ben was out and about inspecting this new place, smelling all the funny smells and trying to work out the lay of the land.

He found the water container and had himself a big drink, still unsure but beginning already to settle.

Ben comes to us with a printed history and a list of instructions.

Diet: horse mix, rolled oats, grass and hay. (prefers horse mix to oats.)

Comments: Don’t think he will want to stay very long. He is chomping at the bit to be out in the bush.

Appetite: Very good, eats a lot, prefers to be fed during the day before the possums are about.

Behaviour: Gets very agro and agitated very easily, has lots of jaw judders and lip smacks to let you know he is not happy. Always wear gumboots as he likes to zap you from behind.

Very lovable but DO NOT TRUST HIM!

Uh oh, sounds quite the handful. But we're excited to have a new occupant for the Wombat Hilton and look forward to caring for him until he's ready to be out in the wild, meeting all the other wombats that have made their home here at Onemilebridge.

Team Canada

For the past week the Onemilebridge guest wing has been occupied by a Canadian family, friends of ours who have stayed with us several times before.  Before they arrived, the youngest member requested a regional specialty that he remembered from his last visit: frog in the pond. This delicacy consists of a chocolate frog set in a bowl of green jelly (or as he calls it, jello). We, of course, obliged, and he informed us it was every bit as good as he remembered. Phew!

I guess that was a taste of things to come and their visit seems to have centred largely on food: sitting around the table, eating too much, talking and laughing. 

We have explored coffee shops,

and picked sour cherries. 

We spent a sticky afternoon pitting the cherries, which I then made into sour cherry jam. 

Readers of this blog may remember this is my all time favourite jam, with its sweet taste undercut by sour. Yum!

Christmas morning we exchanged small gifts.

Instead of a cloth I dressed the table with butchers paper, which the children decorated while the meal was cooking.

After lunch we drove to Alum Cliffs to admire Mother Nature's Christmas decorations. She didn't let us down.

One day we called in at Habitat Plants to have morning tea on our friends Herbert and Sally's new deck.

Mark found time to paint a little.

But the highlight probably has been a visit to our friends, Iris and James, to meet two wombats they are caring for. 

Bindi is only four months old, still on four feeds a day, still living inside the house. She was orphaned when her mother was run over and killed by a motorist.

Ben is a little over a year old now. he'll be coming to Onemilebridge at the end of the summer. As you can see he's getting to be quite a big boy.

Our guests are on their way down to Hobart now. They'll be back here next week for the last few days of their time in Tasmania.

Wombat Ben

It's been many months since there was an occupant in the Onemilebridge wombat Hilton. So long in fact that today Farmdoc and I opened the door to allow wallabies to come in and graze on the grass there. It's about waist height.

Yesterday we had a little preview visit with its next occupant, wombat Ben, who'll be coming to us at the end of this year. For now he still has some growing to do. Until he comes to us he will live with his foster parents. There he has the run of the house, with occasional supervised visits outdoors.

This visit was a special treat because by the time wombats come to us they are too old and too large for cuddles and human affection, and for their own sake we don't encourage them to bond with us. Our job is to prepare them for the wild.

But at eight months wombat Ben is still young enough to need cuddles and affection in order to develop properly.

He weighs six kilos right now and is still bottle fed several times a day. 

And, like any toddler, he  takes his naps in a sleeping bag in a cot surrounded by snacks and toys.

My brother and sister-in-law came with us so they too had the rare privilege of a cuddle with a young wombat.

Keep growing, wombat Ben. The wombat Hilton will be ready when you are.