Opossums!

AND SO IT HAPPENS.... You find yourself driving down the highway early one morning - and yes it happens to ALL of us - when we swerve to avoid hitting a dead Opossum laying in the roadway (I'll call them "possums" from here on out!). Some are just "hit and DEAD", still pretty much intact....... while others are not quite so! Well the purpose of THIS page is to let you know that the dead possum you just drove past can possibly bring you endless hours of JOY - in the form of adopting a most unusual pet (or a bunch of them!) Here you will see how to care for them, and even keep them into adulthood!

Adopted babies!

Here I am with a litter of eight babies, rescued from the mother. Possums never heard the rule "Look both ways before crossing"! In fact, some possums even try to scare away the cars they encounter by standing perfectly still on the roadway, and showing their teeth! Guess what. This doesn't work! Also those that try and "make a run for it" don't realize that those cars go by mighty fast........ and sometimes this can prove fatal for them, as we all have seen! However from the death of ONE can come the life of many OTHERS, if the following instructions are followed closely!

I'll be the first to admit I may be no "total EXPERT" at this, but I have been doing this for a good number of years now, and have (and have had OTHER) very tame adults (plus the babies!), and the adult I have now I have had for four years! This information is strictly my OWN, from my own experiences in possum rearing/keeping.

When you see a dead one on the road... there's a decent chance it'll be a female, and during the period of time from March - July, there's a good chance she'll have babies! Now shortly after she's been hit and killed, the babies will leave her pouch and wander off, unless the babies are very small (I have never had success with tiny babies, that is ones who don't have their eyes open yet, and the tiny babies are still usually inside the pouch). However the larger babies (fully-furred, with eyes open) will usually wander to the roadside, and can be found there in the grass and weeds, usually a few feet away from the road itself. Often their sound will give them away, which is best described as a sharp, exposive, almost-metallic-sounding short "Pssssh!" or "Kssssh!". Keep in mind this may be hard to hear with cars whizzing by, but their little white faces looking up at you also make them easy to spot. Keep in mind they are entirely harmless at this age, and can be safely picked up. I carry an old sock to put them in when I find them, and after tying the sock to keep them "in", they will probably sleep, and sleep....... and sleep some more! They will all pile together in there, and will be quite comfortable in there, but eventually they will become hungry, and this is the purpose of this Website, to help you to get them started in "captive" feeding, and bringing them into maturity....... or to at least be able to get them to a "safe" size for a safe release back into the wild. Anyways once you have found them and gathered them up, it's best to get them home and untie the sock, look them over, and please DO handle them! At first every little thing will frighten them - such as the sound of a sneeze, crinkly plastic, or other high pitch sounds. However talking, the radio or TV are fine........ and after a few days they will get used to "human" sounds! In fact I carry the sock with me as I go about my daily duties, as this way they get used to the way I move, sound, etc, and this helps to adjust them for captivity around people, and of course, being handled. However if your goal is to release them, you may want to handle them very little instead perhaps. As for ME, I like mine to be "teddy bear tame and cuddly" so handling them becomes almost as natural as breathing for them! I make it a point to handle mine at all hours of the day and night...... and will even allow them to curl up on my lap for a snooze while I'm sitting there watching Animal Planet on the TV! In other words they become almost like "my KIDS", and soon become part of my everyday life! Those that are lovingly treated will STAY this tame - even as adults - and after a month in captivity, they will have the same personality when they grow up! Several years ago at the West End Fair, near Allentown, Pennsylvania, I carried my adult female with me throughout the fairgrounds, and people all around were drawn to her........ and most folks thought she was a Ferret!

One of my joys -

- is to come home from work, and have them all wake up from their slumber when they hear me come in at the end of my workday (yes, they sleep a lot!), and crawl up onto my arm when my hand is placed into their box! You are looking at feeding time in this picture, and foods/feeding will be covered shortly!