Words For Wildlife by State licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, James Orr
BABY OPOSSUM RESCUE
I was just about to leave for a Sunday dinner when I received a rescue call for orphaned baby opossums. The mother had been hit by a car and a passing motorist had collected four surviving infants from the side of the road clinging to their mother’s carcass. He called The Arkansas Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Association who in turn choose to disrupt my dinner plans by giving me the call.
When I picked up the infant opossum “joeys” they were extremely dehydrated. I gave them fluid injections on the spot to help them stay alive until I could get them to my rehabilitation facility. They were very small 28 grams and had only just started to open their eyes. You could easily hold all four in one hand.
The first week was extremely touch and go. One of the four died the second day. The others required constant fluid injections to keep them nourished until they finally recovered enough to start nursing from an eyedropper. Opossums require a very specific formula to avoid bone disease. Too much protein for example will cause deformities, too little calcium can cause bone degeneration. I made a daily mix of puppy milk replacer, apple juice, Nutrical, yogurt, calcium powder, egg yolk, and brewers yeast. They kept me occupied with feedings every four hours for three weeks until they finally started eating on their own and I was able to sleep. I supplemented their formula with baby food and mashed fruit. A few weeks later I weaned them off the formula altogether and started feeding them Purina cat chow and solid foods.
Being a certified wildlife rehabilitator is not exactly glamorous. I had to take the place of the mother in more ways than simple feeding by teaching the babies when and where to relieve themselves. They have a natural instinct not to go in the nest. Unless stimulated to relieve themselves they become constipated and deathly ill. The mother would normally take them outside the nest and lick their privates to stimulate the elimination activities. I elected to utilize a warm wet towel in lieu of my tongue. After a gentle massage they usually took care of business. If they did not, a warm bath would trigger the desired response.
They were quite easy to paper train which greatly simplified my chores. That also made it possible to let them roam the guest house I kept them in. Possums are one of the few wild animals that are not terribly destructive. Squirrels and raccoons for instance have a tendency to shred furniture and curtains if left unattended indoors.
It is important to keep rehabilitation animals as independent as possible and avoid overly domesticating them. They need to retain their natural fear of people and predators. They also have to learn to identify their own food sources. I would usually hide food around the the guest house (“Possum Kingdom” as my neighbors referred to it) so they would learn to hunt for it. Adult possums eat almost anything, plants, fish, eggs, insects, carrion, insects, birds, sticks, leaves, mice, fruit, vegetables and crawfish to name a few. They are largely immune to poisonous snake bites and have even been known to eat venomous snakes.
Although generally slow moving they can be quite fast in catching prey. It was always a thrill to put them in an empty tub with live crickets and watch them switch into super drive catching all in a few seconds. (I am easily entertained)
Possums are also very resourceful in finding food often stealing pet food or raiding trash cans. A friend once told me about waking one night to see shadows on his curtains that looked like something from a horror movie. It turned out to be a cleaver opossum hanging upside down by its tail from a flood light catching bugs attracted to the light.
If you startle a possum “doing lunch” in your trash it will probably pretend to be vicious hissing and showing all 50 teeth (more teeth than any other land animal). Although it is largely a show and unlikely to attack unprovoked it can and will bite if it feels threatened. (Translation: Don’t try to pet a hissing opossum) Of course a startled possums may just faint “play dead” an involuntary reaction due to an underdeveloped nervous system.
I once fell asleep on the guest room floor while observing my possums during a 4 AM feeding. I awoke to find them nestled in my arm pit sound asleep themselves. The young male had blessed me with a large wet spot of his scent on my sleeve. Opossums mark their territory scent secreted by scent glands. It’s nothing as bad as skunks but not exactly the sort of cologne you would want to wear to church.
The hardest thing about raising any wildlife baby is not imprinting them or getting too attached. Like all babies they can be pretty lovable. As they mature it is necessary to give them lots of alone time so they stay independent and do not loose their fear of people prior to release.
A Word About Rescuing Wildlife Babies
With all the new babies coming into the world in the Spring I get a lot of orphaned wildlife calls this time of year.
Remember that many wild animals leave their babies unattended for long periods of time while they gather food. It’s easier to disguise a nest of tiny babies in daylight than a nest with a large mother on top. Animals like deer and rabbits that nest in the open often spend most of their time with their young at night.
Do not pick up “rescue” infants unless they are in immediate danger or you are sure they have lost their mother. More times than not the mother is nearby. If you want to find out if the mother is visiting a nest you can sprinkle a circle of flour around the nest. If the mother returns during the night you should be able to see her footprints in the flour.
DONATIONS NEEDED If you would like to help any donation amount it is greatly appreciated. Donations should be made out to Witter Wildlife Refuge and can be sent to P.O. Box 1118, Huntsville AR 72740.
See web page under "HOW YOU CAN HELP" for specific ways you can help us help wildlife
