Opossum!

In March and April of this year, I decided to set our box trap in the woods down by the creek. I wanted to see what I could catch. After baiting the trap with a little dog food, I left it there for the night. The next morning, I went down to see if I had caught anything, and as I got near the trap, I saw a clump of white fur sitting in the trap! As I got closer, to my excitement. I saw that it was an opossum! I picked up the trap, then I noticed something hanging out from under the opossum. Wondering what it was I saw, I looked and to my surprise the opossum had a pouch full of babies!

I took the opossum up to the house and asked Dad if I could keep it for a while. After getting his permission, I went down and fixed up one of the rabbit cages for the opossum’s new home. After putting her in, the opossum walked right into the nest box I had prepared for her.

Every day I gave the mama some dog food and filled her container with water. I never got to see her eat because opossums are nocturnal animals and come out at night. Even though I did not see her eat, the food was still gone every morning.

Every day the babies were getting bigger. Sometimes I would go down to check the opossum, then I would see the babies out of the pouch, and some days I would not see the babies at all. Baby opossums leave their mother’s pouch after 60 or 70 days. They still go into the pouch when the get cold, or when they’re hungry. Eventually they got too big to fit in their mother’s pouch, then they started exploring their cage. That is when I knew it was time to let the mother and her babies go.

I released the mom, and her eight babies down in the woods, but I kept two to raise for a while. The two babies are now big enough to eat dog food, and other things. 

An opossum has more front teeth than any other animal. These teeth are used to hunt other small animals. I will keep the two opossums for a while, then let them go.

I am glad I caught and kept the mom opossum. It was exciting to watch her babies grow. 

I enjoyed learning new things each day, and I hope to learn a lot more as I watch them grow and change.

~Jonah

Post script-  Jonah's possums have since been released into the woods.