The animals usually arrive with health problems or injuries. Health problems: from poor diet (they are force feed corn meal or sometimes gravel mix) to make them gain weight- they are sold by weight); dehydration; stress from the conditions they have been enduring. Injuries: paw injuries are common, usually from snare traps or trying to hold onto tree while a hunter is prying them off.  Some animals are so injured (neck wounds, tails being snapped off) they have to be euthanized.

Once immediate injuries are tended to, they are placed in the quarantine enclosure for 30 days, to ensure they are disease free and in good health. They are weaned from fresh ants (which are time consuming to resources) onto a diet of frozen ant eggs and larvae and pulverised silkworms which we buy from Ho Chi Minh City. Just prior to release we introduce them back onto to live ants.