A rescued baby echidna has outgrown her separation anxiety and is all grown up after being left alone in a hospital overnight.
Weja, the furry mammal named after the central NSW town where she was found in October, was a tiny puggle that a veterinarian nurse appropriately nursed back to health.
"I'm happy with Weja's progress over the last few months. It's growing really lovely spines and fur, and it's putting on weight," said Elizabeth McConnell, a Taronga Veterinary Nurse who rescued her from the wild.
"It's a big day for both of us. It's exploring a lot more, it's more active and it has begun digging. It doesn't need to be at home with me anymore," said the proud nurse who reared her over the last few months.
To prepare five-month-old Weja for the next stage of its life at Taronga Wildlife Hospital, Ms McConnell moved the echidna into a bigger tub filled with dirt and leaf litter.
"I'm feeling a little nervous. I guess like mums do when they leave their young ones overnight for the first time. But I'm happy.
The main concern as a caring mother is that Weja doesn't have a "belly full ... of milk as they need to have fully digested the previous milk feed before the next one".
A conoisseur of formula milk, Weja once drank nearly 40 per cent of her body weight in one hour.
She has now progressed to ingesting some food of an adult echidna diet.
Once she is completely weaned off the echidna milk formula, the Taronga Veterinary Team will prepare the echidna for her release back to the wild.
