Joel Alves, [25 Jun 2024 at 07:40:09]: Morning all. I have a porcupine stuck in a snare. Does anyone have a combination or dose for me? Also, are there any other intricacies in terms of handling if any? I haven’t darted one before Luis Amaral, [25 Jun 2024 at 07:49:44]: For a 50 kg animal, use 2.5 mg medetomidine + 7 mg butorphanol and 7 mg midazolam or 20 mg azaperone. Gareth Hunter, [25 Jun 2024 at 07:58:58]: Medetomidine 0.04 mg/kg plus ketamine 4mg/kg has worked well for me in captive porcupines, Joel. You might need to go a bit higher on the dosages in wild, stressed individuals. Maybe above the above combination is better if you are planning to release straight away? Their skin is very prone to tearing at the dart site. I’ve only ever hand injected/blow darted. So don’t be alarmed if there is a nice big wound at dart site. Ours adults have been around 12-14 kgs in weight. Jonas Spruyt, [25 Jun 2024 at 08:51:36]: Hi Joel, use semi-long needle. The quills often act as a cushion. I use 30mm needle and aim for lower thigh. Agree with all else Gareth said. Good luck! Joel Alves. [25 June 2024] Thanks all for the insights. The animal was properly trapped in the snare but fortunately only minimal wounding on the dorsum. I managed to dart in the triceps with a 1cc 0.5” needle on a low pressure! This worked very well! I used 0.15 ml BAM (Thanks Hayden & Chris). It was down at around 5m30s but was very light. I left her and was able to manipulate and treat the wound at around 14 minutes. She weighed in at 19.6 kg, so this explains why she was light throughout. Reversal was with atipamezole/naltrexone, and it was a very smooth wake up after 12 minutes. As Gareth mentioned, I was surprised at how friable the skin is and a bit of a hole was formed by the barb on the dart. I tried to place an intravenous catheter in the cephalic vein just for practice but did not manage. Fascinating species to work with for the first time!
