Wiggles the Baby Opossum

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I spent the last two weeks as a foster mom to a baby opossum. We have a great love/hate relationship. I love him and he hates me. It sounds sad but it is actually wonderful. One of things rehabbers have to worry about is imprinting. If you treat a wild animal like a pet, it will have no chance once released. You will end up wasting your time and end up sending the animal to its death.

Feeding this baby opossum was harder than I thought it would be because he spent half of his feeding time trying to wiggle out of his pouch and the other half calling for his real mommy. Baby opossums don't cry for their moms, they actually make a sneezing sound.

The best part about rehabbing a baby opossum is the chance to educate people on the species. I'm far from being an expert on them but if I can prevent one person from shooting their slingshot at them because they are 'mean' looking, then I am that much happier.

Here are some fun opossum facts for you:

• Only marsupial in North America
• Most teeth of any N. American mammal (they have 50!)
• Nocturnal
• Opposable thumbs on its hind feet for holding onto branches
• prehensile Tail... they need it for grasping branches, balancing & carrying nesting material...but don't hang upside down on trees with it, unless you are watching a Wonderful World of Disney movie
• Plays dead as its defense mechanism: Involuntarily falls down, opens mouth and foams, HR/BR/Temp drop, excretes green liquid from its ass that smells like rotting flesh (so others won't eat him, of course!) Here is a great link to check out: http://www.opossumsocietyus.org/opossum_defense_mechanisms.htm
• If you find a dead on the on the road, there is a chance that it has babies in its pouch still that will die if not rescued.
• Opossums can't climb up a trash can to get in it. The climb other things so they can drop into your trash can. So, to prevent them from getting in there, move the trash can away from the fence, etc.
• They very rarely get rabies. Their body temperature is too low for the rabies virus. The only mammals that are prevalent to rabies in California are the skunk and the bat. Rabies is not transferred via a bite... big myth... it is transferred via saliva. If you find a bat on the ground, DO NOT TOUCH IT. Call a wildlife center ASAP.

Here are some fun opossum facts for me:

• Fox Valley formula - 1:2 ratio
• Don't microwave (warm with a hot water bath)
• Keep in a dark (any light will break it down)
• For malnourished babies (like Wiggles), feed 5 times a day, rather than 4
• 6 hour maximum break at night (feeding times used= 06:00,10:30,15:00,19:30,00:00)
• Start weaning around 100g with fox valley and soggy kitten chow (important for taurine)
• 4/13/05 81g, 4/19/05 92g, 4/28/05 139g

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