1 of 5
Hannah Watts and Alicia Bell carefully administer formula to a hungry possum baby.
2 of 5
3 of 5
Evette James videos feeding by Todd Schatzman, with Assistant KOW Center Manager, Laurissa Akers looking on. The baby is so tiny its little head is barely visible in Todd’s right hand.
4 of 5
Working together for the good of possum babies!
5 of 5
Experienced teacher and rehabber, Early Mitchum; KOW Shelter Manager, Michele Galbraith, and Assistant Shelter Manager Laurissa Akers drew a crowd of interested rehabbers, people much like you and me, who came to learn how to be a volunteer, foster parent, or transporter to orphaned babies and injured animals.
Name the animal that will eat almost anything a human detests, including insects — particularly palmetto bugs — slugs, snails, rats and poisonous snakes. And because it needs calcium, this animal even eats the skeletal remains of roadkill – it is naturally immune to most diseases, including rabies. This unique creature is not territorial and is able to thrive anywhere food and water exist. Your lawn or garden will look nicer after he visits because he loves munching seeds, overripe fruits, leaves and grass. As a bonus, this multitasking animal is also cute. Can you guess? I already want one for my garden, don’t you?
The environmentally desirable and very useful opossum was the subject of a recent ‘possum rehabilitation class conducted in Berkeley County. Experienced teacher and rehabber Early Mitchum, Keeper of the Wild shelter manager Michele Galbraith and assistant shelter manager Laurissa Akers drew a crowd of interested rehabbers who came to learn how to be a volunteer, foster or transporter for orphaned babies and injured possums. Keeper of the Wild Wildlife Rescue and Sanctuary rescues, rehabs and releases orphaned and injured mammalian wildlife and serves nine counties in the Lowcountry. If you love animals, consider volunteering, fostering or donating to their worthwhile causes.
Like you, I mostly see possums lying in the street after being hit by a car, but we learned that even if the mom is dead, there might be live babies in her pouch. Possums are marsupials and bear numerous babies multiple times a year after a 13-day pregnancy. Once born, the babies make a beeline for the pouch and nurse on mom for nutrients for the duration of the incubation period. No sharing here, by the way — each baby hangs onto one nipple, and mom lies on her back several times a day to clean the babies and the pouch “house.” This fabulous mothering system obviously creates a need for a different feeding method when babies are separated from mom by injury or death. In such cases, babies must be intubated with a tiny tube slipped into their stomachs to ingest nourishment every two hours.
Because they are such high-tech garbage-foragers in the wild, baby possum formula is more complicated than that of other babies. Into the carefully measured solution can go water, Esbilac goat milk, calcium, egg yolk, brewer’s yeast, apple juice and nutrical paste. For rehydration of an injured or displaced animal, diluted Gatorade or Pedialyte is sometimes used. At the recent rehab class, the precious possum babies fought off the tube at first, but when they finally got the hang of the feeding, they chirped like little birds.
Similar to all wild animals, baby possums should always be given pre-release opportunities and, after learning the outdoors, be placed back into the wild to complete their mission as the “sanitation engineers” of our environment. Sadly, possum life is rough in the wild, and few babies make it to the adult average life span of one year. Animals with injuries frequently show up at the Keepers of the Wild Center. When it is determined they can no longer survive in the wild, they can be employed by the KOW for teaching programs within schools and communities.
What should you do if you find a distressed possum? If the animal is alive, call 843-636-1659, and carefully keep the animal safe and warm, using clean, disposable gloves for handling. If the possum appears to be dead, make certain it’s true before you explore the pouch. Gloves are important for multiple reasons — the animal may carry bacteria; it may bite or scratch in fright; and babies in the pouch have no immunity from skin transmissions. In a study of a related species, the wallaby, it was discovered that mother’s milk contains a compound 100 times more powerful than penicillin. Therefore, babies ingest immunity naturally.
If you have access to a pillow case, you can place the possum babies inside it and tie the top to prevent their escape while you are locating professional help. The babies have no natural body heating capacity, and one simple way to keep them warm is to take a partially filled water bottle heated to body temperature and place it inside the pillow case.
My own possum story has a happy ending. Our family rescued a greyhound named Patches at a time when a possum had taken up residence near our fig trees. Patches had created an evening ritual of running a small, perfectly oval racing track inside our fenced-in yard, and I feared for the possum’s safety. Nightly, the possum came out to forage the figs, and Patches would canter like a horse, circling around the creature while the possum rolled into a tight ball and looked dead in the middle of the “track.” Once Patches had run off her excess energy, she’d mosey back inside the house, forgetting about the possum. The lucky animal would play dead a while longer, then saunter off, satiated and satisfied.
Keeper of the Wild Wildlife Rescue and Sanctuary, Inc. rescues, rehabs, and releases orphaned and injured mammalian wildlife. Located at 1606 Coolers Dairy Road, Walterboro, SC, KOW serves 9 counties in the low-country. Please consider joining volunteers, to be a foster parent, donate, or just help around the shelter! Careful… You just might fall in love again as I did! www.keeperofthewild.org
