You have made me a fan of possums when I used to find them gross...... I must admit that i wish they have prettier tails. The babies are really cute!

Over 100 litters.. wow! That is a lot of work, I can see how you might not like it so much.

Has there been any articles written about you and your rehabbing in the local papers? I'm thinking that that might get some other people interested in helping the possums... people that you could train and take some of the load off of you.

Those babies are so cute! Skeeter looks much better in her 'after' photo too. Bless your heart for helping these critters.

It was 100 baby possums...not litters. There are usually 6 to 10 in a litter. I get the possums from animal shelters and people who drop them off at my friend's house who rehabs raccoons.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want anyone helping me. For one thing, the part that most people can't do is use the stomach tube. It is easy if you know what you are doing. It takes a little knack. I don't have patience to teach anyone to do it though. I tried to teach my raccoon rehabber friend and she was so awkward at it, it made me very uneasy. There are a couple of people who have taken little possums and raised them, but they always send them back to me to release...so it is just as easy for me to do that too. Also I have a hard time getting people to realize the importance of feeding them correctly. For example, baby possums should not have fruit and they need yogurt every day. Once they get a little size, they can have tiny amounts of fruit. In the wild they do better because they eat so many bugs, snails, etc., so they get the calcium they need. I don't have a lot of patience with people. It is easier for me to do it than to try and teach someone to do it and when people come here, all it does is increase the amount of time it takes me to take care of them. I'd rather do it and be done with it and not have to have someone underfoot. I know that sounds mean...but I have a lot to do and I get tired. I just want to get it done and know it was done right, so I can go in the house.

That's quite brood you have there. I read with interest about their food requirement when infants. That did not surprise me, but I did not know it was so specific and I did not know about the 'forbidden' foods while they are sucklings. You have aquired vast knowledge about the care of these critters. I encourage you to record this information in writing so that others may be educated.

Zoologists believe that Opposums are ancient animals little changed in the last few million years. They are survivors from bygone eras.

Thanks for the update on the possums. that is what endeared you to me in the very first message that you posted long ago.
Minnie

Marilyn you changed my view on possums years ago. I even rescued a baby from its dead momma after she had been hit by a car. I would have never known about babies in her pouch had it not been for you. Baby went to possum rehab and was later released out where I live. It was a neat experience.

Okay, so have you ever thought of becoming a writer of "standing operating procedures" on how-to's for any type of animal. That may be a bit different than a hands-on approach of teaching somebody how to do it.

You sure do know a heck of a lot more than most on "what to do if.....".

Love 'ya Marilyn.

((((Marilyn)))) and all her ((((critters)))).

I adore possums and always have. I saw a dead one in the middle of a busy road and all I could think of were there babies in her that I could save. It was raining and too much traffic. I was afraid I'd get hit.

you just amaze me, marilyn. i never tire of your stories and updates. wish i lived closer so i could come see your menagerie!! god bless you for taking care of all these little critters!! ;)

Who knew ..... another informative and interesting post Marilyn. Thanks you.

June

Justlinda....here is a funny for you. There are some yahoo groups for rehabbing possums. The one that I was the most interested in joining...National Possum Society, I think it was....wouldn't accept me as a member. They had too many members or something. Anyway, it was funny because I probably rehab more possums in a year than most people see in a life time. Before the Wildlife Center in Houston opened, I got far more possums than I do now. I used to get all of them from the Houston Pound, the Galveston Humane Society and who knows where else. I would get 10 or 15 adults at a time to "be released"....but always most of them had something wrong with them, whether it was an injury (from being left in a trap, I have seen them chew the bars until they completely erode their bottom jaws down to the bone...you can see teeth sitting on the jawbone....takes 6 mo. to recover from that)...or maybe fleas. Odd thing about possums. They will either have no fleas at all, or be covered in them...depending on where they come from. I would get literally hundreds a year.

Now the Galveston Humane have got their animal control workers to quit picking up possums....they are trapped when they are trapping feral cats. Release them. Only bring them in if they are orphans or injured. So that has helped, and the Wildlife Center in Houston now take 100s of them.

The possum society is so afraid people will want to keep them for pets....they don't like to give out info on how to raise them. I don't raise them according to their guidelines anyway....although I follow fairly close. I've found out that yogurt is my friend....so good for them and keeps them in good shape and calm and not so likely to chew on each other.

Possums don't make good pets...like jemdandy said, they are primitive creatures and they aren't cuddly like a pet should be. Maybe in a hundred babies, you might find one that tolerates being handled, but they are nocturnal, so you don't want a pet running all over your house when you are trying to sleep. And it is cruel to keep them in a cage.

If I remember correctly, when you tube feed, you have to be very knowledgeable so that you don't put the tube into their lungs......that alone would be reason enough for me to want to do it like you, by myself.

When we lived in Hempstead, TX...I would see them often. They liked to sleep in the nest boxes in my hen house or I would see then at night sitting on the porch.....Very funny little creatures.

Again, thanks so much for the information. We don't have possums her in ND, guess it is too cold. But in Inglewood CA where a friend use to live many years ago, she had a huge Bella Portugal Rose, that had grown up over the roof of the garage and possums did live there. Don't know what happens or if they every had babies etc, as she just remembers seeing them. I thank you for the information and yes it is much easier to do something yourself instead of trying to train someone, regardless of what the project is. Now, if you had my one DD near you I know where she would be, as she has your ability to rehab critters and take care of them She had done several over the years and is so good with hurt animals. Again, thanks and keep the information coming
Marie

Oh, the cuteness!!!

Hi Marilyn, do you have all these stories in one spot like a blog, or book, lol. I'm here, there, everywhere at the moment but would like to take my time and read them in peace.

Are you on FB? If you are....you can friend me Marilyn Stout Collins, and look under notes and the Bayou Tails are there.
The updates are just updates mostly. I have a couple more of them to do. I think there are about 8 Bayou Tales....not sure without going over there to look. I wanted to do an Update called Chicken Ranch but I need to take some pictures and I haven't felt up to it the past few days. So I will probably post another Bayou Tail tomorrow. Or I may do an update on something else....whatever I can come up with pictures of.

Thanks Marilyn, I am on Facebook, for now. I'll have to look you up!

Marilyn, It is wonderful to hear from you and see how busy you've been. God Bless You for looking after these babies.

Love your stories they in themselves paint pictures. I alsofound one of your old Possom Christmas Cards last night

I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading your stories, Marilyn! And I also wonder a couple of things: how did you ever figure out yogurt was good for possums? And how do you get any rest? I can't imagine there are nearly enough hours in the day to do all that you do!! I don't suppose you ever get to take a little vacation? I do hope your husband is feeling much better now. Thank you so much for posting. I have reasons for not joining facebook, even though I know I'm missing out on so many interesting things, so I appreciate you posting here.

Thank you, sjerin and everyone who has said such nice things.

About the yogurt. It is in one of the Bayou Tales...I will eventually post it here...but one of the first possums I got had metabolic bone disorder. I called a possum expert in California and consulted with her on what to do. She told me to mix a portion of all kinds of chopped vegetables with a portion of Purina Cat Chow....had to be that brand...stir it together with enough yogurt to moisten it. I hand fed the possum for weeks and she never got any better and eventually died. I found out though that all possums love yogurt...most animals do. And I started giving them all some, since it is a good source of calcium and they have high calcium requirements.

The possum...well "opossum yahoo group" wouldn't let me join, but I became good friends with one of their members.
If any of you ever received one of my possum Christmas cards, she designed them.

She truly loved her possums...had just one at a time, but one was quite elderly....they have short life spans...at 4 yrs. old and she even took it to an acupuncturist to relieve her arthritic pains. Anyway, she was telling me about a possum she was helping rehab and they couldn't get him to take the medicine they had for him. Their method was to take one of those little Baskin Robbins Ice Cream sample spoons and try to give him the medicine from that.

I told her....that's not going to work. Under the best of circumstances, possums will gape their mouths open. It is a common behavior...even tame possums will do it....it is a response to show their teeth and growl, feign they are ferocious...if that doesn't work and they can't escape, they may play dead, or even bite you.

Anyway, the way to give possums medicine, you mix it in a little yogurt. They eat every bit of it. (So see, I could have taught the experts something.) :-))

I like giving it to little possums because it is very filling and even fattening. They are much less likely to chew on each other if they are full and sleepy. I have never had a possum develop metabolic bone disorder, out of the hundreds that I have raised. Meanwhile, back at the possum yahoo group, the original possum expert...the one who taught the one that I had the phone conference with...a vet in Orange County, California, who spent 17 years studying possums, died. The possums group was beside themselves because Purina changed the regular cat chow recipe in some way, and now they were afraid to use it any more. Some of them decided not to ever feed meat based foods to their possums ever again.

It made me so glad that I wasn't a member of the group. I am sure I would have made many enemies because don't tell me that an animal with 50 razor sharp, triangular teeth should not eat meat. People who can't figure out simple things like that....get on my nerves. So I am not a member of their group but I am going along without them. ;)

No. I don't get any vacations. In a way I don't mind because I have traveled quite a bit...but there are a few places I'd love to go again...mostly east of the Mississippi. If my husband is home, I can go like to the iris convention for Louisiana irises in Lafayette, La. It is just three days. I haven't been in awhile but would like to go next year to see my old friends.

I really don't mind staying home....I love it here. I have a million things to do...I don't ever get bored. Sometimes I get sleepy though.

We do plan to do some work on the place, as soon as my husband can get back to work. If I was better set up to take care of all the animals...chickens, horses, possums, pigs...it would be a lot easier.

My husband was very sick with a UTI about two weeks ago. I didn't sleep well because every time he woke up, I woke up, and he was so very sick and it was so stressful, and I felt so run down when he finally did get well. I am just now getting my strength back. I felt so wrung out. But I am much better now.

I am glad you enjoy hearing about the animals. I don't think my rehab group likes us talking about them because it is their fear that someone will think they make good pets, but I always tell people, they aren't good pets, but I think by writing about them, it helps some people to understand them a little better.

Marilyn you're absolutely correct ~ writing your stories does help. You call it exactly like it is - no sugar-coating. But even when one of the animals passes on, we (or at least I) have learned something, whether it is about death & dying process and WHY they died, or maybe something about what could have been done differently.