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- #11
- May 2, 2008
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WHAT TO DO IF YOU FIND ORPHANED OPOSSUMS:
It is popular with some people to joke about dead 'possums on the highway.
Besides the obvious, there is another reason that it is no joke:infant opossums are carried in the mother's pouch,and often, one or all of them (up to thirteen!) can be left initally unharmed by the impact of the car. If you can, check the body of the possum that got hit by a car for living infants. If there are none, at least move the body from the rode to keep from endangering another animal that may utilize as food, as well as out of the respect for the creture.
If you plan on keepind the orphans alive, you should feed them lukewarm goat milk with an eye dropper and they should be kept in something that resembles a pouch, such as a folded towel. Hold them against your body so they will warm up gently. Then, after they are warm set the towel in a box on an electrical blanket. Set plastic bottles of warm water next to the towel. Allways make sure the possums are not in direct heat. Monitor the temperature frequently to make sure the babies are just slightly warm to the toutch. Do not use terry cloth because of the danger of the little threads getting wrapped around toes or tails.
It is popular with some people to joke about dead 'possums on the highway.
Besides the obvious, there is another reason that it is no joke:infant opossums are carried in the mother's pouch,and often, one or all of them (up to thirteen!) can be left initally unharmed by the impact of the car. If you can, check the body of the possum that got hit by a car for living infants. If there are none, at least move the body from the rode to keep from endangering another animal that may utilize as food, as well as out of the respect for the creture.
If you plan on keepind the orphans alive, you should feed them lukewarm goat milk with an eye dropper and they should be kept in something that resembles a pouch, such as a folded towel. Hold them against your body so they will warm up gently. Then, after they are warm set the towel in a box on an electrical blanket. Set plastic bottles of warm water next to the towel. Allways make sure the possums are not in direct heat. Monitor the temperature frequently to make sure the babies are just slightly warm to the toutch. Do not use terry cloth because of the danger of the little threads getting wrapped around toes or tails.
