When we want to take our family on a trip, what do we do? We throw the kids into the car and head out. Opossums obviously don’t have vehicles, and they only spend 2-3 days at a den before moving on. So when they want to travel, they throw their kids onto their backs or carry them in their pouches. Opossums are their own minivan, transporting their family as safely as they possibly can as they adventure through our neighborhoods.
One morning in May a few years ago, I looked out my window to see a large lump in the road. Given our proximity to a state park and the fact that fellow residents in my neighborhood think they’re training for the Daytona 500, I’m unfortunately used to seeing little critters in the road. I always go and move them to the median or if close by, I will take them back to my house and bury them.
As I approached the lump, I could tell it was an opossum. Opossums have a defense mechanism where they essentially pass out and play dead when they feel threatened; hence the phrase “playing opossum.” This isn’t exactly the best strategy if they feel threatened by a couple tons of metal rolling at them while they’re in the middle of the street. It’s always good to move opossums out of the road in case they are indeed in this catatonic state – you’ll save them from actually getting hit.
Unfortunately, this opossum had wounds and I could tell she probably was deceased. However, I never bury an opossum until 6-8 hours have passed, just in case, so I got a shovel and carried her to the side of my house. As I laid her on the ground, I noticed a thick pink worm moving on her underside. I leaned closer and parted her belly fur to see two little feet and the pink worm disappear inside her belly folds. I’m not going to lie – I freaked out. She clearly had a baby and I didn’t know what to do. But I wanted to help so bad.
My animal whisperer spouse was at work, so I frantically called them and was calmed and coached on the situation. I pulled it together and moved Mrs. Opossum closer to my garage, which would be my workstation, put on gloves, and got an empty box. I tentatively felt inside the opossum’s pouch and felt wriggling. I cradled a little furry ball in my hand and pulled it out. It hung on… it did not want to come out! I didn’t want to be too forceful and it was sliding in and out of my hands like butter. During my repeated attempts to detach it from its mom, I saw more squirming and another pink worm. Two babies!! My adrenaline skyrocketed.
As I tried to place the first baby in the box, it held on to my hand tightly with its tail and its paws. I could feel its warmth and its fear, and I felt an intense connection to this tiny little being who was put into an awful predicament because of a neighbor’s careless driving. My heart swelled as did the tears in my eyes. And I committed to it, its sibling and to their mom, who was now at the rainbow bridge, that I would protect them and get them help.
I got its sibling out of the pouch and into the box, which I had lined with a towel. They immediately cuddled together and hissed at me; I didn’t take any offense. I called a local vet who works with wildlife and they said bring them in, so I did.
I felt so strongly about these babies and their poor mom that I posted on the neighborhood Facebook page about my morning adventure and to encourage people to check opossum pouches if they see them in the road. Several neighbors reached out to me saying they saw the hit and run happen and the babies get scattered on the road. One of my neighbors picked up one baby [he didn’t see the others] and took it to a wildlife rehabber. No one knew to check the pouch for others and no one else stopped, they just drove on.
The vet let me know they got the babies to another rehabber and that they were doing good and likely to be out on their own very soon. All in all, we saved 3 opossums that day.
If a baby opossum is 7 inches or larger [not including the tail], it should be ok to be on its own. I think these babies were fairly close to that size. An orphaned opossum smaller than that should be taken to a certified rehabber or veterinarian who works with wildlife.
All wildlife faces an uphill battle every time they choose to cross our roads. The opossum, carrying its family with it, not only puts its own life in danger but that of its babies too. If we can drive with more caution, we could prevent unneeded deaths. And if we do see an opossum in the road, especially between February and June which is baby season, and if it’s safe for us to do so, moving it to the side and checking for babies can mean the difference between life and death for these precious critters.