pregnant lactating nursing

Peak mating with black, grey-headed, and spectacled flying-foxes occurs in April, so whilst many females arriving into our care in winter and early spring are pregnant, there are often no tell tale signs to tell us so. As pregnancy starts to move into later stages however, females arriving into care are visually, and quite obviously pregnant to our eyes by about early August. Little reds are of course six months out-of-sync to the other three species.

As pregnancy draws towards the later stages, there are some very obvious signs to indicate that the mature female in your care is "with child" so to speak:

1. Fat bellies: the most obvious sign of advancing pregnancy is an ever-growing belly. Until birthing, the developing pup is sitting transversely across the belly, which gives mum a distinctive pear shape (see photo below).

2. Constant weight gain: if the flying-fox has been in your care for a while (and if you have been weighing regularly), there will be a slow and steady weight gain, which escalates as the birth draws closer.

3. Enlarged nipples: as pregnancy develops, nipples will become enlarged.

4. Feel: sliding your fingers around the belly above the rib cage, you will with practice, be clearly able to feel the pup - particularly if you slide your fingers around towards the back where body meets wing membranes. On one side will be a definite rounded shape (the head), and on the other will be more pointy bits (the hips and elbows) as clearly seen in the x-ray below.

5. Lactation: at approximately one week before normal birth, lactation begins. This can be checked by gently squeezing the nipple upwards from the base to express milk.

Note that sadly, she had a broken spine from motor vehicle collision. Caesarean section was performed under anaesthetic before mum was euthanased, but despite baby having a heartbeat, our vet just could not get him to breath.

After witnessing many births, I am convinced that mother flying-foxes start to exhibit subtle behavioural changes just prior to birth, and act quite differently once they have a tiny pup on board. Before baby is born - apart from being fat - she will just be like any other flying-fox in care, doing her favourite batty things such as sleeping, washing, and eating. As the birth approaches, she will usually start to get restless - not content to just hang around all day by one foot. She will usually also be observed spending an increasing amount of time "investigating" and washing her vulva, and may sometimes go off her food a little a few days prior to birth - perhaps preoccupied or distracted by other matters?

Stress is the single biggest cause of stillborn abortion, so once we realise that mum is indeed pregnant, we should do our utmost to keep her in as stress free environment as possible. Mothers coming in from entanglement from barbed wire and fruit netting are most at risk, and whilst we need to give medications, and treat damaged wings several times daily - do what you have to do, and then leave her alone. Mothers that are going to abort usually do so within 1-5 days of rescue, so this is the crucial period in our care.

It goes without saying that stress climbs into the stratosphere with an injured flying-fox kept alone all by itself. This should not be done at any time with these social animals, let alone when pregnant2. All our injured flying-foxes are initially housed in a dedicated room (not outside in a cage), a system yielding a very high success rate for a whole variety of reasons. These animals are by nature injured, or they would not be in care. Injuries require constant medication and treatment, and this system allows for a very clean and safe environment without the need to constantly chase them round a large cage six times a day for oil and massage treatment for damaged membranes.

Make friends (gently) - a flying-fox used to hand feeding does not freak out every time you enter the room or cage. I have heard "purists" maintain that this in some way humanises them. If so, I would suggest that the purists actually try this system and then note the 100% lack of humanising upon release... This is all about treating injuries in the most appropriate way to bring about speedy recovery - not misguided semantics. These injured animals eat out of my hand, allow me to medicate freely without running away (lack of stress), and even climb onto me. Are they humanised? No - once released, you do not see them for dust. The apparent humanising is actually nothing more than an intelligent animal simply exploiting its temporary environment, and has nothing at all to do with humanizing or imprinting. To the purists that I can hear going "tsk tsk" out there - I would suggest a study of actual (not theoretical) flying-fox behaviour (both feeding and territorial systems) is in order. Try this system, and increase your success rate.

Diet for lactating and nursing mothers is the usual assortment of fruit, with two alterations: fruit intake will naturally increase both in late stage pregnancy and after the birth, and our normal addition of 5 grams of high protein supplement should now be increased to 10 grams per day. Many people (myself included) prefer to give generous amounts of leadbeater's possum mix (with a little live yoghourt thrown in) in addition to the WOMBAROO HPS ® to these pregnant and lactating/nursing mothers. If you only have these mothers in residence, you can give this mixture in small open D-bowls, or if in mixed company - they can be fed via bare syringe. This easily digestible mix is high in proteins, carbohydrates, and calcium to help replace nutrients that these large and demanding babies place on mum. My own method is to give each mum their fruit with the 10 grams HPS, plus 20-30mL per night of adapted leadbeater's mix.

In your blender, first add some of the water, then the other ingredients, and then the rest of the water to make up a 900mL mix. We need a lovely smooth consistency, which will freely pass through the syringe. Keep refrigerated. This mixture will last for up to a fortnight in the fridge.

Flying-foxes in care very often give birth from late afternoon through to early evening, but it can happen at any time, particularly when you are least expecting it. This is a bit odd, as in the wild most mothers give birth in the colony during the day, and not when out foraging after dark.

As the birth draws near there are definite signs to look out for. She will of course be very fat, and she will often have started lactating some days before the event. She will often become restless (pacing around - looking generally unsettled - and a tad uncomfortable). Closer still, she will start frequently licking herself [probably don't need to explain where], and her pear-shaped abdomen can change shape as baby (who has been lying transversely across the belly), now enters the birthing position - which is "head-up" if mum is hanging normally - that would be "head-down" in the x-ray above. As birthing becomes imminent she will often spread the load by hanging onto airer or cage roof with all fours, and will usually start frequently appearing to invert, using gravity to help. Just like any other mammal, she will be steadily dilating, with contractions clearly visible, (and audible - as her straining often produces little pained vocalisations). Let's face it - these are really big babies. When her waters break, we are nearly there.

The first thing you will see emerge is the brownish coloured embryonic sack - looking not unlike a bizarre bubble. As the head is pushed clear, this sack will either rupture by itself, or mum will do the honours, and suddenly we are looking at the face of a brand new baby flying-fox, as mum hurriedly licks all the membrane clear of baby's airways and eyes. With the head now clear, the whole process can now go on hold - in some cases, for a couple of hours. If you have not seen this before, it can be quite bizarre to witness mum returning to the food or water bowls, while junior (head only) is quite content to look around, "talk" to mum, or just go to sleep and wait. She is gathering energy and resting for the final big push - the shoulders. This is the widest area of her pup, and if this does not make her screw her eyes up and squeak - nothing will. When all is ready, she will return to licking, hanging by all fours, or inverting, and the immense strain is obvious on her face as first one shoulder is slowly pushed clear, and then the other - with each wave of contraction.

As stated earlier, the shoulders are the widest part. Once these are clear, there really is not much left holding bubby in there, so now comes the really clever bit: the all-important big catch. Nature has produced an animal that basically gives birth upside down, and that same gravity that helped to start the process, could now see our newborn plummet to the colony floor below. Luckily, mother flying-foxes have developed a cunning strategy in the shape of those big wings - which are really just huge modified hands. Arching her back, and forming a basket with forearms and membrane covered fingers, she cleverly catches her pup, which once shoulders are clear, can literally rocket out like a slippery little jet propelled missile. She has one chance at this only, and 99 times out of a hundred produces a crowd stunning catch to make the Australian cricket team proud. If she does happen to miss, her backup is the umbilical cord, and a quick flurry of guiding thumbs brings baby back up to safety. Within seconds she has guided baby onto one of her nipples, and instinctive grasping by his or her feet see baby safely in position, as she now goes about cleaning her new baby up.

Once suckling, you can now go and make a cuppa, light a cigar, or pour yourself that double brandy. Oh yes - and you can remember to start breathing again. Well done both of you - one more precious flying-fox pup has entered the world.

Most flying-fox births in care all go off according to plan, but sometimes we need to be prepared for the unexpected. Some of the things that can go wrong are difficult births due to genital or other injury; retained placentas; and the retention of dead pups.

Sometimes, in rare cases, mum may experience a difficult birth due to complications such as genital or abdominal damage sustained from barbed wire entanglement, and may require a little assistance from us, in the form of a cotton tip, and some lubrication. Many human mothers need to be snipped and stitched during and after childbirth, so it makes sense that any birthing flying-fox with injuries to vulva or surrounding tissues (with resulting dryness or soft tissue contraction) is going to experience difficulty and pain.

Once it is obvious that she is indeed birthing (observed dilation and contractions) the procedure is to take a cotton tip saturated in warmed olive or vegetable oil, and to gently moisturise and lubricate the area. This can be done several times to soften any dry scar tissue, and then once baby's head starts to appear - you can time your applications with her contractions. Each time she pushes, lubricate the head. When she stops pushing, the head will of course retract a little - taking the oil in with it. When she pushes again - lubricate; and so on. Each time she pushes - a little bit more of her pup becomes visible, allowing you to run your cotton bud around in a circle where vulva meets pup until we get to the shoulders. Just keep applying oil to this juncture, and if all goes well, once shoulders are clear - it is all over. Many thanks to Robyn Gough for tips and procedure on that one. I have used this method very successfully with a female black flying-fox giving birth despite quite extensive genital damage, and to another female who was becoming exhausted after going into labour soon after intake. It works a treat. Both mothers were on airers, and freely allowed me to help. The trick is to get down to their level, reassure them, and don't make sudden movements with your hands. Above all - be patient, as flying-fox births can sometimes be quite protracted, but if we really aren't getting anywhere after 2 hours, and mum is becoming physically exhausted, we may need to look at veterinary intervention.

Remember that we do not actually need to intervene in most cases, and people who have never witnessed a flying-fox giving birth may mistakenly think that just because mum is straining or taking a couple of hours, she must therefore be in trouble. In nearly all cases (particularly if there is no physical damage in that area), this is not necessarily the case. We must always keep in mind that, not to put too fine a point on it - that these pups are huge - some weighing up to 20% of mum's bodyweight - enough to make anyone's eyes water.....

If mum has been straining for hours, but just cannot seem to "produce", your vet should be consulted, as they may need to induce labour. Synthetic OXYTOCIN (a naturally occurring hormone that helps to begin labour, control bleeding following delivery, and stimulate milk production) is used to cause muscles in the uterus to contract, to initiate the birthing process. This drug which has been around and used safely since 1953, is administered via frequent injections (ideally intravenously), and is of course a veterinary procedure only.

A retained placenta, which is very rare in flying-foxes, means that all or part of the placenta or membranes are left behind in the uterus during the last stage of labour. This can cause shock, haemorrhage - as the uterus cannot contract properly, and blood vessels, which are not naturally closed off, continue to bleed, or sepsis (infection). The best way to monitor that all is well, is to stay with her until the placenta is clearly expelled, but this may not be practical, as it can take from 30 minutes to several hours, and at some point, you will need to sleep. Mum will usually chew/pulp the expelled placenta to extract minerals, before discarding. An obvious lack of placenta (whether natural or pulped), or any sign of prolonged bleeding should be investigated by your vet fairly quickly. Also, flying-foxes are not human, so do not cut the cord, as this can actually cause retraction back into the uterus. If your vet diagnoses a full or partial retained placenta, he or she either will use OXYTOCIN to induce expulsion, or may opt for manual removal under general anaesthesia. In a case of retained placenta, a course of antibiotics will need to be started.

Sometimes - in very rare cases, your vet may decide that the only way forward is to go down the path of surgical extraction. This would be the case with a retained dead pup, or because inducement has not worked with a difficult delivery. Caesarean section is a fairly straightforward operation involving an incision through the abdominal and uterine walls to physically extract the foetus. If your vet decides to go down this path, be ready to immediately clean baby's airways if alive, and wrap and put baby straight onto heat until mum is sufficiently recovered to be able to take her little one back.

Care of lactating (or nursing) mothers is basically the same as the care of expectant mothers in the section above, with the following points in mind: although baby has been born alive and well, we still need to keep her stress levels to an absolute minimum. If she feels threatened all the time, she will be in a constant protective anti-predator mode, which will play havoc with her natural body chemistry, hormone levels, and emotional well-being - not to mention her milk production.

Nursing mothers should (wherever possible) always be housed with other nursing mothers, as they just seem to do really well together. This can of course be in a mixed cage environment, but most people report that nursing mums tend to hang around together in a little sub-group amongst the others. Apart from imitating nature, this also gives them a chance to compare notes. Who knows? Just like human mothers who are all convinced that their baby is of course much more beautiful than any other baby ever born (even if they do have two heads and the wrong number of fingers), maybe these batty mums are looking over each other's shoulders, thinking 'God - your baby is just sooooo ugly.' Humour aside - being the odd one out in a cage is alien to normal colony life. We cannot practically bring in 500 others for company, but one or two other mums, plus the normal mixed bag of rehabilitating animals will certainly help to put her at ease.

And please, do not invite every person you can think of to come and see the new cute baby. Mum has spent time getting used to you, and does not need to be constantly terrified with a procession of other well-meaning admirers. As always - this is about the animal's well being - not yours.

As above - her dietary requirements will be an increase in fruit, and of course that all important increase in high protein supplement from 5 grams - up to 10 grams per day (if not already increased), plus some leadbeater's mix to really top her up. Of course if you have ten flying-foxes in a cage, of which only two are nursing mums, it is logistically impossible to give 5 grams to the others, and 10 grams of HPS to the mums... Just give them all 10 grams. The leadbeater's can be given individually via syringe, but be prepared to be accosted once the others smell this yummy brew.

Many people (myself included) feel that the addition of the recommended 10 gms of Wombaroo HPS just does not quite "cut it" as far as dietary needs (protein) for nursing mothers, and my own figures certainly suggest that growth rates for mother-reared pups in care are somewhat "lacking" on this supplement alone - and increasing the amount of HPS is not the way to go. We can supplement their diet with the adapted leadbeater's possum mix given above, or in the 2005/06 season I trialled the much simpler addition of yoghourt (which many groups use) after two pups on mums were growing at less-than-optimal-rate. Growth rates picked up immediately, and both pups consistently put on 3-4 grams per day from thereon in. I will certainly use this simple additional supplement for all nursing mothers from now on. As an added bonus, this also supplies the mums with extra calcium.

Make into a smoothie, and feed via bare syringe, or syringe with short length of soft oxygen tubing attached. Your mothers will eagerly lap this mix, and the only problem you face is getting mobbed by the others once they get the smell. Note: this needs to be fed individually to each nursing mother only, and not added to the diet of all animals in a communal cage environment, as they are already getting their optimal requirements from the fruit and HPS. This is just an extra supplement for lactating females. I would personally recommend using this additional supplement until baby is 4-6 weeks old, after which it will naturally lick juices from mum's lips..

A mother flying-fox is (almost) always the best mother, but for various reasons including trauma, injuries and stress, her milk output may not be enough to keep baby well fed and growing, or in some cases may not be there at all. How do we know? It used to be believed that (A) if baby was constantly transferring from nipple to nipple, it was a good indication of insufficient milk supply, and conversely, that (B) if baby was happily suckling from the same nipple for hours at a time, there was sufficient milk flow. In reality - assumption B can be fatally wrong. Cheryl Cochran from NRWC reports that babies will happily stay on one side until they die of starvation. So, with these false assumptions in mind, we need to step in and regularly check that baby is doing fine.

The first indication or confirmation that baby is gaining enough milk (and the least stressful to mum) is to just quietly and gently lift one of baby's legs, and check his or her belly. If you are used to hand-rearing pups, you may be dismayed to find that your mother-reared pup has a belly looking nothing like the little plumpers that we raise. This is because whereas we give our hand-reared babies 4-5 huge feeds a day, mother-reared pups have numerous, but very small feeds. So - when you lift baby's leg to find a belly looking small in comparison to that hand-reared baby in your lounge - do not be alarmed - it is probably not starving. The mother-reared pup will have an abdomen of roughly the same proportion, or a little smaller, than the rib cage. In other words the whole body from chest to pelvis will look like a cylindrical slightly tapered bullet. It will not resemble the little pot-bellied hand-reared guys in your lounge room, but will quite obviously look like it has been fed.

Conversely, the mother-reared pup who is not receiving adequate milk will look like it is starving and malnourished. Its rib cage will be disproportionately much larger in girth than it's wasting abdomen, and as the situation worsens, that little belly will get a distinctly tapered caved in (hollow) look, until in the extreme, its little pelvis will become very prominent.

The best indication of sufficient milk flow is to regularly weigh baby: twice a week in the first two weeks, and then weekly - if baby is growing well. Of course, despite your intentions being entirely honourable, mother does not realise this, and once you start trying to remove her baby, all her protective instincts kick in. She is not going to just hang there and let you take junior without hiding him, running away, or grabbing hold of him with every free limb she has (and sometimes seems to develop extra invisible ones just for this purpose).

The trick is to be quick, and do it in front of her (in sight, but out of reach). If you remove baby and take it off to another room, you are going to have one frantic mother when you return, which is no good for her stress levels or milk production, and therefore not good for her baby at all. The technique of removing baby is to gently remove baby's feet and hold in your fingers, and then using thumb and index finger, gently prise the pup's jaws apart - quickly moving baby away from mum with the hand that is holding junior's feet. This takes practice, because as soon as you remove baby it will start chittering, which triggers mum to frantically reach out trying to protect and grasp her baby.

Warning: never ever attempt to just pull baby from the nipple - you will hurt or injure mum, and can fatally injure baby. The suction is so strong that you can cause a broken or dislocated jaw, or even cause cerebral haemorrhage.

Most mothers naturally produce enough milk for their new pup, but sometimes various factors such as stress, premature births, or incorrect diet can lead to a situation where mum produces insufficient milk for normal growth, or in even rarer cases - no milk at all. Unlike with weighing, you will have to remove baby to another room. The good news is that most mothers soon get used to their regular breaks from their littlies, and it's almost as if after a few times, mum is smart enough to realise that baby is coming back.

Alternatively, Cheryl Cochran from NRWC reports that she has had success with supplementary feeding of babies whilst still on mum. She simply wraps mum and pup on her lap, and then feeds bubby whilst he's still gripping onto mum with his feet - less stress for both mum and pup.

How much do you feed? No easy answer to that. It all comes down to experience and weighing. One mum may have no milk, whilst the next may have some milk - but not enough to grow baby at the right rate. A good starting point is 4 supplementary feeds per day, and just offer as much as baby will drink. They will let you know when they have had enough. You may not have to do this for very long, once mum's milk "kicks in", or in the case of the grey mother above, I persevered for three weeks until which point it was obvious that her milk was never going to arrive. In her case, due to other contributing factors, it was decided to remove baby altogether, and hand-rear. In another case, a little black pup was born approximately 10 days prematurely in care. Weighing and visual examination revealed mum had very little, or no milk, so supplementary feeding began. When her milk finally did arrive, it did so suddenly. After two weeks of supplementary feeds, I brought him in for his first feed of the day, and three things had changed: (1) he had a really full belly, (2) he had put on 5 grams in one day, and (3) he point blank refused the supplementary feed - because he was already full. Support feeding was stopped, his belly was checked daily, and he never looked back, as his weekly weigh-ins revealed that her milk flow was fully there.

A final tip: wash your hands thoroughly after returning pup to mum - otherwise next time you need to be in there, you will end up "wearing" a frantic mum, who although has had her baby safely back on board for the last hour, can still smell bubby on your hands, and will grab at you trying to get her pup back - again!

Something to be aware of: a condition which mainly seems to affect lactating and nursing mothers in care, (but has also been observed in males) is caused by abnormally low levels of calcium in the blood - known as hypocalcemia. Intrinsically linked to low levels of vitamin D3, which is usually sourced from sunlight acting on the skin, D3 is needed to metabolise calcium from the diet. In mild form, this condition is seen as an unexplained nervous disorder, with muscle spasms in the limbs; leading to wobbly, or uncoordinated movement, and at worst case, presenting as full hind limb paresis. Despite adequate sunlight, this condition can suddenly appear with no advance warning. Cheryl Cochran from Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers has reported that animals can appear fine one minute, and can then appear either wobbly and uncoordinated, or even semi-paralysed on the floor of the cage when next checked. This condition is easy to treat, but is fatal if left untreated - due to heart failure.

2. With the exception of such animals needing intensive bed rest such as post-op for long bone pinning, concussion or head injuries, tick paralysis, or suspected ABLV.