New pet

[2cool4you]

This is my new short tailed opossum Oscar.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

lol funny i was talking about getting one of these on byc chat before

 

[2cool4you]

I have 2 now. Germs my little girl. She's high strung and not cuddly. And now Oscar who is very cuddly.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

and they get along what kind of cage do you keep the in ? what do u feed them ?

 

[justbugged]

Very cute. Thank you for sharing.

 

[2cool4you]

Oh no they don't live together. Germs hates Oscar. In fact they are hard to breed because they tend to try and kill each other while mating in captivity. You have to give them a big cage with lots of hidey places to keep them from being too violent. And the females only come into heat when they are with the males. So they have to be with a male for like 2 weeks or so for a successful breeding to occur.

Germs is in a large rabbit cage that I covered with hardware cloth so she can't squeeze out through the bars. It's 3 feet by 3 feet. It has curly willow branches in so she can climb and she has a chinchilla wheel mounted on the side. She lives in a little birdhouse my neighbor made for her with toilet paper for nesting material. The substrate is aspen. Pine tends to cause hair loss in STOs.

Oscar is in a 55 gallon tank with a wooden top secured by velcro tabs. It has holes drilled in the top for ventilation. His tank again has aspen and he has curly willow branches to climb and a large piece of driftwood to climb on. His house is a coconut shell with toilet tissue. I like to watch them gather the tp pieces in their tails and take them back to their houses. Oscar also has a mouse wheel. It's really too small I think but it came with him and he likes it. I'm going to try and get a larger one for him so he has more room to run.

As for diet I have them on blue buffalo dry cat food and a teaspoon of wet catfood a day. Then I have a mixture of sugar glider kibble and fruit and seeds. But their favorite foods are insects. They love roaches, superworms, meal worms, crickets, earthworms and will eat pinkie mice. I only feed mine crickets and super worms because roaches creep me out and meal worms are too high in chitin and I worry about blockages. They LOVE watermelon. They go nuts for it. They are omnivores so I try to offer a balanced diet of munchies and crunchies.

 

[stumble_n_mumble]

i have been thinking seriously about getting one! i have a 40 gallon breeder tank which is wider than a normal 40 gallon. would this work out for one of them you think?

 

[2cool4you]

I'm sure a 40 gallon would be fine. I know some people that keep them in 10 gallons. I like to offer as much room as possible. They are arboreal animals and like to climb and hunt. I tuck superworms into hidden treat rocks and crevices in their branches for them to find. They have great fun.

 

[stumble_n_mumble]

that is awesome. i live in ny. where could i possibly find them?

 

[2cool4you]

I've seen them in some pet stores, craigslist, and I adopted mine from the humane society. Some people label them as a Kachita. I've seen some ads on Hoobly. Some people will ship them but I don't know that I would trust that.