BUT!! What happened in the evening for me,..was the most special gift I could EVER have!!
This is something rarely witnessed in person,..up close.
I have waited since 2007 for my Red kangaroos to have their first joey. There names are Romeo, Juliet,..and his other girlfriend is BellaRoo. Some of you know I had gone through deep depression as one year,..I lost my only and first 2 new baby wallaroo joeys and then the daddy all from kidney failure...and we do not know why. I was completely and udderly clinically depressed.
We never got another stud for our female wallaroo,..and my only other hope was to have a baby red kangaroo joey someday from Romeo.
It just was NOT happening,..and should have starting at least two years ago!! I had watched Romeo 3 separate times trying to breed poor Juliet,.to her horror!! Ummm ya,..first the fishing rod would poke her into the right hip,..then the left hip,..then the poor girls forehead!! Yep,...he just never knew where to really put the fishing rod!!
The third time,...he would poke her in the hip,.stand up..look at mister fishing rod,..poke her hip again,..stand up...look again at his fishing rod!! But the 5th time..Mr fishing rod disappeared!! He casually strolls over to his sleeping spot,..stretches out on his side,..yawns,.. and its the first time that Juliet MARCHES over to him,..looks at him laying down,.and cowabunga!! Attaches his ears and starts biting them!! I was laughing so hard,..she was so fed up with him!!
On to last night...
I am cleaning their pasture,..just enjoying being with them..and I notice something is just not quite right with Juliet. She sits on her tail,.stands up..over and over again.. back legs start trembling,..bottom is shaking,..she hisses of frustration. Up and down, up and down. Starts licking down below. I sit next to her on the grass. She comes over to me,..licks me 5 times,..goes 2 feet in front of me,..and it starts all over.
I think to myself,..no,..this truly cannot be HAPPENING!! No camera!! Ohhhhhhhhhhh no!! But I dont want to leave her,..so I stay..its 7:15 A small amount of blood comes out,.she cleans up,..keeps licking,..and there it is!!!!!!!!!!!! Her fetus comes out!! For those of you that do not know,..when a roo gives birth,..it is the size of a jelly bean,..the baby is blind, bald and has no back legs yet..it has to climb up all by itself to get into the pouch!! If it falls,..it dies!!
She starts licking the path,..and it slowly climbs its way up. She stand up,..once her baby get towards the top,..loosens her pouch,..and the baby disappears!! She continues to clean herself us!!
Then at that time the baby would continue to look for the nipple and attach like a fetus and now grow!!
I was in absolute SHOCK that I was THERE for the MIRACLE,..that she let me share that with her,..AND it was Mothers Day!! The baby climbed in pouch at 7:15 The baby will be ready for (this mommy!!) to raise it at about 3-4 pounds in December!! A Christmas baby!!
This is a birth that a sanctuary got on camera in Australia..