Feeding dirt to fawns

Hello all,



I'm new on the board here, trying to come up to speed on bottle raising fawns asap! I am amazed at the knowledge here from y'all--thank God I found you!



I recently started volunteering at a wildlife ranch. They are over run with babies of all kinds that are being bottlefed (skunks, kangaroos, lemurs, camels, black bears, and the list goes on), and they asked me to take care of 2 fawns. Pretty much I was sent home with goat milk powder and 2 babies and here I am.



My question is why do they eat dirt? In searching the boards here I see references to going out and digging up "good" dirt. What constitutes "good" dirt? My backyard dirt is pesticide, chemical-free, nothing's been used on it. Would dirt from my yard be fine?



They're 2-1/2 weeks old and eating like gangbusters every 6 hours round the clock. Giving them goat milk made from powder. I pee/potty them after each feeding. Their stools are somewhere between runny and gooey. They're energetic and curious and seem to be thriving. They're in my house right now and I take them outside for several hours each evening.



Also, from reading these forums, I find that I need to have pellets and grass available to them asap. I've put in an email request to Whitetaildeer.com asking how much shipping would be on their Superior Fawn Starter Pellets but haven't received a response yet. Is there something from my local feed store that would work just as well?



Thanks in advance for your help!

Janeen

Welcome to DEER FARMING !!



I can see that you have done some homework, that is a good start.



The dirt in your yard is fine, as long as it has had no chemicals, fertilizers or pesticides. Just dig up a handful and put it in a bowl. THIS NEEDS REFRESHED EVERY TWO OR THREE DAYS. Dried out dirt is of no interest to the fawns. Pieces or grass, roots and leaves are fine. The fawns may eat them or pass them over. Deer eat dirt to gain the beneficial bacteria that helps in their digestive process.



As far as stimulating them to urinate and deficate at every feeding, that is ok. Just make sure that they aren't getting raw or even straining too hard to pass something. If they wait longer they will have better formed movements. Often stimulating them on alternate feedings is better. The problem with that is they often start urinating on their own on your carpet.



Your local feed store should have plenty of feed varieties to choose from for these fawns. Calf manna is a great starter pellet for fawns. If they are a purina dealer, they should also have some deer chow. Use the green bag deer chow, not the blue bag. The blue bag is water resistant and I prefer not to feed that. Rabbit pellets are also a good starter pellet.



I hope this is helpful. Good luck and ENJOY !!

Thanks a bunch for all the good advice! I sure do appreciate it. It's very helpful to me. I put some good dirt in their pen and they were all over it chowin' down within one minute.



I'm going to try stimulating them every other feeding and see how that goes, and tomorrow I'll run down to the feed store and pick up some starter pellets.



Thanks again!!

Janeen

Get some probitics in those fawns also!!!You might want to get some scour control while you are at the feed store.I have found that deliver has worked the best for me as it has a gelling agent in it that makes them stiffen up real fast!!!!

I had tried a lot of different scour controls with very little luck the last time I bottle fed...what I found works amazing is Triodine-7 (7% tincture of iodine wound solution...doesn't HAVE to be Triodine-7 as long as it's 7% tincture of iodine...that's just what I have on hand) as was suggested here on the old forums...



When they get scours... I put 1cc in the first bottle and then 1/2cc in each bottle afterward until 24 hours after their stool has solidified again. Don't give it to them straight...always mix it in the bottle. They can have crap running down their legs...and by the end of the day, it's like toothpaste.

Janeen said:

I'm new on the board here, trying to come up to speed on bottle raising fawns asap! I am amazed at the knowledge here from y'all--thank God I found you!

Click to expand...

Same here! I've raised lots of baby critters, but never a deer - reading in these forums has probably been much more of a life-saver for my little one than they realize!! Had I not read the forums, I'd've been sure that my husbandry skills were so sorely lacking that my starving little fawn was eating dirt to stay alive!!



Anyhow, good luck with your little charges!!

Carlyn~



Edited to add: We're having such a heat wave in SC that I noticed the fawn doesn't always want to eat - I'm hesitant to bring him in the house and have him catch a cold (with the huge difference in the AC temp and outside air temp). He's spry and lively, so as long as he seems to get what he needs, I'm kindof letting him dictate how much and how often he eats. Any input?

Well, I fed them dirt 2 days ago and then yesterday--whoah! Major scary squirts! Very dark in color, like the dirt.



So I ran out yesterday and got Scours-Ease and Probios. Gave 'em each 5 gm Probios and have had them on the Scours-Ease, replacing the goat milk mixture they'd been on previously.



I also got some yogurt with live acedophelus cultures and have been putting that in their mix as well.



This morning their poo is back to more what I call "normal"...but it still doesn't have shape/form and is loose (which is what it was at when I received them). The boy has some major bowel sounds going on. I'm expecting a major blowout soon.



Thanks to everyone for all your response and help!!!

Janeen

Hi Carlyn!



Good luck with your little guy!



I've got my babies in the house with me, in air conditioning. I take them outside for a couple of hours every day in the early evening, so they're going from cool to warm/hot and muggy and back to cool. I'm in North Texas and the weather's been in the 90's, but of course I keep 'em in the shade. I know that I'll have to harden them off so they're used to being in outside temps before I take them back to their ranch.



But as for your little guy catching a cold...it's always been my understanding that colds are caught from a virus and not fluctuations in temperature . You say he's spry and lively--yay!. I'm such a newb at this let's see if any of the pro's here on the forum will answer you as to how much and how often!



Janeen

Heya, Janeen!!



I'm glad your babies are doing so much better! Post some pics when you get a chance!!



Hope y'all have a great weekend!!

C~

Heya C!

Here's a couple of pics. Let's see some of yours!!!!!!

Here's a pic I took this past weekend of our little guy. He has grown SO Much in the past 3 weeks, it's simply unbelievable!! He's looking so much more like a deer instead of a fragile waif.