u/Powerful-Career-6357

Vet thinks Lucky has a small pouch and is a girl! Should we rename her to Luanne? (King of the hill reference)

I am still doing my best to rehab the last baby possum I was able to save a couple weeks back from the litter attacked by a raccoon. He seems like he is doing ok but I joined the fb OCAR group and they kind of bashed me for having him outside (that is my only option) and feeding him the wrong stuff at first (bananas and cat food). I am now feeding him the diet they recommended but felt so discouraged by the group that I left it, leaving me with a lot of unanswered questions. I was really nervous he wasn’t eating enough so I’ve been trying to hand feed him which I think is making him nervous. I left the rest of the food in his cage last night and it seemed like he finished it though, so I’m feeling a bit better.

Anyway, I am just second guessing my decision to try to rehab this guy on my own a lot. At the same time I am enjoying watching him so much. I can’t believe how adorable he is!

I guess I just needed to vent that a little.

He has grown a bit which is good. But I don’t know how fast they normally grow…

Photo: I made him a hammock for his cage and he enjoys looking out into the yard at night.

I initially gave Lucky a bath and picked all the fleas off but he was covered again two days ago. I repeated the process, but it’s a lot for him. I’ve seen that they can have frontline, but I’m worried he’s way too small for it. Any other ideas?

We have been through a whole saga trying to rescue a litter of orphaned joeys. Sadly, this is the last one due to raccoon attacks. All surrounding rehabbers have told me they are at capacity, so instead of releasing him to get hunted, we built him a little enclosure in our yard along his mom’s scent trail. His name is Lucky, obviously.

I don’t feel like he loves captivity, but it must feel safe enough to him. A raccoon dug a hole into it to grab some food the other night and Lucky later escaped through the hole. We were sad but felt we tried our best. However, that evening he came back and was sniffing around the enclosure! So we put him back in and secured it more.

Before the escape the other day, he seemed like he was adapting better and I noticed he was pooping normally and identified a little “latrine” for himself. We gave him a cardboard box and T-shirt for a house, which he likes.

I have a lot of questions, because I’m new to possums, but I’m really hoping he can make it. We just want to keep an eye on him until he is big enough to not be raccoon food. Also, I love him.

Questions so far:

1. I’ve tried wet and dry cat food, fruit and veggies and seeds, and just bought some opossum food (kibble) for him. The only thing he really seems into is the wet cat food. How can I get him more into the solid foods?

2. I initially gave him a bath because he was infested with fleas and hand fed him for two days to make sure he was eating. Now I’m mostly leaving him alone so he doesn’t get too familiar with me. But since I’m not sure if he’s eating, should I do more hand feeding to be sure?

3. At night he is climbing back and forth in the cage a lot. Is this normal activity or is it distress?

I found remains today of one of the possums and was losing hope but right around midnight tonight one appeared! This time I’m not messing around and it will be rescued!

Captured all the babies to get them rehabbed but they escaped again overnight and my neighbor told me he saw a raccoon eating them this morning. I was able to get one rescued because it came out during the day so animal control was able to pick it up. That is the one in the second photo.

I’m trying to hold onto hope that at least one made it but I haven’t seen any tonight so far. Usually they come by by now. 😞

Found two baby possums in the yard. Neighbor said he found mom dead in the street yesterday. Lb animal care is closed and doesn’t take them. What should we do?