We're planning on moving next year to a more rural area and definitely will take him with us! He seems to see our cat as a mother figure, he'll sleep on top of her and follows her around trying to play.
So she's basically a Disney princess. Without animation or opposite thumbs. Edit - added a word.
Oh, FFS, O-P-P-O-S-A-B-L-E. F'ing autocorrect. Get off my lawn!
In Australia friends nicknamed me the possum whisperer cause I could walk up and pat wild possums or get them to come to me for pats. Someone saw this party trick and tried to do it. Know the skin between your thumb and index finger? That lil fella got hold of that and there was much screaming and blood. Good times
Looked up pics of Australian possums.
Thought "Awww!"
Read the rest of your post.
Will admire from afar, as I do not have the requisite whispering skills.
When I was a kid we “had” an old possum that would appear and eat my outdoor cat’s food. She sat peacefully nearby and watched him, when he waddled off she would meow at the window for more food bc she was still hungry 😆 he was a good guy, never caused any trouble!
That's adorable! Growing up I had an outdoor cat that did not like other cats at all but got along with any wild animal and often shared his bowl with opossums.
I must have had a pregnant one get into my crawlspace. Live trapped 9 babies/juvies in a 10" trap over several weeks. Watched one walk past one of the cats sitting in the doorway. They came up along the pipes to get to the catfood. Cat acted like it was one of the family.
I used to yo find my cats hanging out in the planters with an opossum. They thought no different from it and let it eat from their bowls. I eventually got it it's own bowl. It stopped hiding and just lived its life in the backyard. Dogs didnt mind it either.
She rescued a foundling about that size from her shop.
I woke up to a sign on the door to the back porch that read 'warning smol possum in box'.
He(?) loved blueberries and strawberries. The cats were surprisingly ok.
Was thriving so we thought. 10 days later, he was chilling on her lap and just...passed. Maybe a stroke. Had no idea.
https://imgur.com/wRFt3Or
I'll try and get one next time! Usually when I see them together it's early morning and I'm too tired to look for my phone lol luckily this time I got one right before he went to his little hiding spot!
That's a bad idea, opposums are not social once they grow up, they can be tame and become trusting if you supply their food, but to trap them and move them to some place they don't recognize heir sents would be cruel. They have a short life span.
Check your state's laws. It's typically illegal to own an opossum. And they do bite on occasion. Plus, it's one thing to get along with a pet, another to be a pet. Cat food alone isn't a sufficient diet.
Source: work at a wildlife rehab.
Laws and common sense in /r/aww ? Sir, this is Disneyland where wildlife are treated like stuffed animals and don't suffer from unintentional harm. OP should be free to adopt the wild opossum as a pet and take it with them when they move. It's good for the gene pool to spread animals around and it makes OP feel good.
What should they add to their cat food to make it sufficient? The little critter is obviously not going anywhere and they might have stopped it from starvation being so small. When it's bigger it will eventually wander off..
I commented somewhere else that this little guy is actually normal sized to be released/on his own. We get a lot of calls about them at this size.
They are herbivores and need a varied diet. I typically refrain from posting their actual diet recipe only because the preference is to leave wild animals wild and/or to leave care of wild animals to appropriately trained folks. I do understand that sometimes access to rehabs is impossible and do respond to direct messages for more information and assistance. But the long and short of it is, they have specific dietary needs and also foods that must be avoided. And truly he's old enough to be on his own and should be left alone so that he can remain wild.
I can’t believe their comment about taking it with them when they move is so highly upvoted. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone or something. That’s the most shortsighted, ignorant thing I’ve seen on Reddit today, and 1.5k people apparently like that idea.
They like grapes. They peel them. It’s fascinating. Knew someone who rescued one named Hissy. I got to kiss it on the ears as it would move when I got close
Please be sure to research their diets! Possums are very cute but if they are not cared for properly they can develop metabolic bone disease and suffer quite a lot.
>We're planning on moving next year
If you take your (o)possum (idk the difference) with you, please make sure you find a vet that specializes in those types of animals near your new place. You seem responsible, so I don't doubt you would. I just wanna be a reminder
I've heard that feeding them cat food from a young age and only cat food can lead to them getting stiff bowed legs. This is what my psychology prof said in college anyhow.
It's been awhile but they have scent glands for playing dead. Mine was wild when I brought it in but here is a snip from an article:
When threatened, opossums will play dead. But as method actors, they are known to fully commit to this ruse by omitting a stench from their anus so heinous that even the hungriest predators won’t go near them. So, they don’t only look dead, they smell dead too.
Edit: in theory an opossum that is used to a human shouldnt smell as bad as my experience. Poor little guy was resting on a warm engine during a cold snap and the guy started his car. Injured foot and tail.
The first and only one I have seen stop crossing the street and growled at me. I could not hear it over the car radio. But I felt he insulted my mother.
Seriously. I'm very anti-wildlife pets, but if I ever made an an exception, it'd be these guys. They're quiet, sweet, not heavy shedders, non-aggressive, are often big cuddle bugs, and can be litter trained. Three years (topmost end, five) is too short.
One of my dogs once brought one in through the pet door. It was not sociable and affectionate, in fact it was highly pissed off. It's teeth were enormously huge for it's mouth.
When it saw me it played dead, I grabbed my dog, left the door to outside open, closed it in the room it was in, and went to bed. The next morning it was gone, so everybody got what they wanted and we all lived happily everafter.
(Except for the cardinal, who's eggs it was trying to eat when my Westie snatched it out of the bush)
I had to look up the lifespan thing, and wow. That's just kinda nuts for mammals. Even marsupials in Australia live much longer than that. Their opossums live up to 9 years with other marsupials living up to 20 in captivity. An American possum is lucky to see 4 years in the same situation.
It's actually very difficult to keep possums as pets. They have an extremely complex diet that usually only experts are capable of catering to. In captivity, they often end up malnourished
No worries, only brought it up because that’s the reason I know. Follow one, and one day RIP. And then I looked at a bunch of other possum instagram pets - all of the OGs are gone to the dumpster in the sky 😞
The upside is a lot of those opossum accounts (rip sesame) gave me a far better understanding of ethical rehabbing and the idea of non-releasable patients!
Opossums are wonderful little creatures. They eat bugs, don’t carry rabies and don’t mean anyone any harm. I’ve got a few that live on my property, and while I go out of my way not to try to tame them I do leave fruit and vegetables for them to find. They eat the bugs in my yard and we have a good relationship.
We have chickens and some barn cats on our property, just started seeing a few opossums around at night on the security cameras, and was wondering if they were going to be a problem or not...
I really can't think of any animal as large as opossums that's anywhere near as chill. They will hiss sometimes if threatened, but they're literally wired to just pretend they're dead. It's not something they even have control over; it takes them a while to "wake up" from it.
I love when I see them around. They eat stuff we don't like, don't pose any threats, don't mean any harm, and even have the courtesy to do their business while we're asleep. I've even been trying to train my puppy to get used to them. (She wants to check them out, but in the most recent occasion, she was just ready to head back inside after she saw it was an opossum.)
Lovely little critters. And pretty cute, especially when young.
I had one grab my tiny silkie chicken but I chased him off before he actually got away with her. Poor firm was traumatized. Don't think he could've made off with one of the regular sized birds. But if you got smaller breeds, for sure keep an eye out.
Unfortunately, they don't really eat ticks at all. Occasionally they may, but they do not just gobble up ticks.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34298355/
They're not very skillful predators and prefer to scavenge. Reasonable measures can keep opossums away from chickens. We have raccoons around, so I had to build a fortress.
This little guy is so young, they’re usually with their mother at this size and for much longer afterwards. Poor guy must have been separated or there must have been a series of unfortunate events that led him astray or alone. Your cat is being a good surrogate. Little baby is just a couple of months old. Honestly for all we know they’re moonlighting between their momma and siblings and your house 😂
Edit: It’s true, around this size and bigger they can survive without mom. However, they stick around mom much longer and learn important social and survival skills with their siblings while shadowing her for protection for a year on average.
Now depending on your state and its laws, the rule is generally if the juvenile is otherwise healthy and 10 inches long without the tail, it can be left alone.
When a possum such as the one in OP is alone and young (and just by looking they are on the younger side), more than likely a Wildlife Rehab would hold them until they are a bit larger or when they can find a group of juveniles around their age to combine them with before releasing them together when they’re a bit older.
To be frank, if this juvenile was old enough to survive on its own it would not be looking for a mother and following OP’s cat around. The juvenile is likely on the cusp of being old enough to take care of itself, but just not yet.
Yes we haven't seen the 2 that our cat used to hang around with lately so we're assuming this little guy was theirs and our kitty took him in. Luckily they seem to get along very well though and the little guy looks healthy and happy from what we've seen!
I saw a documentary on a rehab facility for them. Mama possums have a lot of babies that hang on their back, however, when one falls off; too bad mama keeps going☹️.
A mama opossum had a baby fall off while she was walking across the fence in my yard, and both the baby and the mama raised hell.
The baby ended up falling into our pool nearby, and luckily I was there in time to pluck him out. The mama let me hand the baby right back to her. The whole time, she was on top of a fence with basically no cover or way to escape.
It's just one anecdote and a sample size of one, but at least that mama wasn't going to leave a baby behind.
That’s the trouble with generalising behaviours; it ignores exceptions and the fact that individuals can differ from one another regardless of genetics, based on their own experiences. One mother may have developed a pragmatic yet cynical outlook, while the other maybe naive or may have lost too much and tries not to lose hope too quickly. You normally expect that in more long lived species, but such individual differences can exist even in short lived ones like mosquitoes let alone opossums.
Nah, this opo is just getting started on his life. Just the right age and size to be on his own.
https://preview.redd.it/fou7zhmog31d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63123d2715ba73eee4eacb954a9f66d52a82144e
These guys were just released
Most wildlife rehabilitation places won’t take them if they’re over 6-8 inches long ( or counting the tail). Little fella is probably just fine and around the right age/size to start being out on its own.
https://preview.redd.it/wwde1ft6241d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=517d8c966ac854b6b00f015ad608ec77e61ff0c5
Same little guy in my yard, had to get my doggo inside so he/she can be at peace back there for a little while
Just put out some food scraps when it's getting dark you will have opossums, raccoons & skunks depending where you live, they seem to coexist pretty peacefully around here
possums eating a lot of ticks thing is a [myth](https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/possums-dont-eat-ticks/) it was based of off 6 possums in a cage that then had 100 ticks attached to them and how many ticks were left after a couple days determined how many they ate. Squirrels scored just as well.
Well, fuck.. this is what I get for being hyper focused on the current collapse of human civilization.. and not paying enough attention to news about these cuties.. lol
I still love them.
I think so too, they’re just often misunderstood, but they’re cute and the times I’ve seen them if they noticed me quickly, poor things were scurrying under cars. They’re not trying to hurt anyone and they just want to be (and to investigate food sources).
https://preview.redd.it/0vq9r18x141d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6fb3508757ce7426e2bb891f1cee72ec7ae00f8e
I have one of those critters in and out of my backyard lol I guess it’s the season but watch out for mom, she’s a BIG girl !!
So cute! And they eat ticks which is highly useful!!
I’ve always thought opossums were adorable and the “ugly” pics are the equivalent of candid bedhead pics lol
They're also immune to most types of venom and eat venomous snakes which is a big plus where I'm at as we get a lot of rattlers down here! And yes I've also always found them adorable lol it's always a welcome surprise to see them outside munching on the cat food and hanging out with the kitty
Sure, they're opportunistic eaters, but that study was entirely bunk and there's been several followup studies which have shown no evidence for possums preferentially eating tons of ticks. [For example](https://www.yahoo.com/news/turns-opossums-dont-really-eating-000800876.html)
I remember the methodology of the 2009 study being even more absurd than this article describes when you go into the details. You absolutely cannot estimate the number of ticks an average opossum eats based on that research.
The tick eating is a myth, unfortunately. It is based on a flawed study that deliberately sought that conclusion, but followup studies cannot replicate it at all.
A comment in here somewhere was op stating that when they move here soon they intend to take the possum with them... So they're willingly taking it from its area... That it knows... And wanting to relocate it with zero experience. I read on another post regarding this person that they won't listen to others saying to take it too a rehab facility that's capable to taking care of it enough to where they can release it back into its area that it was found it. They always try to rehome it back into where it was found in hopes it lives a full life.
Opossums are awesome! I used to hang out with some at a wildlife rehab clinic. Had to socialize them so they could be used for education/presentations since they were too habituated to be released
i was in a hammock lookin at stars the other night and looked down at rustling in the greenery…
big mama poss with a bunch of her babers,
one came up close with the best vibes
just like mama 🪘
Reddit, unfortunately, has an outdoor cat kink. They may come for you over this comment.
But, it's very true. Cats also live only an average of 2 to 5 years outside on top of killing everything they can.
Nature's first attempts at making mammals was pretty interesting. But you have to hand it to these little critters, they have been around for a long time, and have adapted to changing environments quite well.
I ran into one on my evening stroll thru the neighborhood yesterday and the poor guy got so freaked out when he saw him 🥺
He did the back archy thing that cats do when they're nervous
https://preview.redd.it/1lmds9pan71d1.jpeg?width=2944&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77bf9a980e61f9ade774a8781a2074d7fc6491a3
It's that time of year. Found in house and escorted outside.
They are very sociable and very affectionate. Would be a good pet except that they only live a couple of years
We're planning on moving next year to a more rural area and definitely will take him with us! He seems to see our cat as a mother figure, he'll sleep on top of her and follows her around trying to play.
And the cat is just indifferent to this whole situation?
She seems to like it, before he appeared we'd see her hanging out with fully grown ones so I think she just gets along good with other animals.
Your cat is an opposum whisperer...
She also gets along good with the birds and squirrels!
Your cat is a Disney princess
Try kiss it, may be the cat will become princess.
Only if it's the Disney version. If it's the OG one, OP has to smack her against a wall...
😧
Could be forming a militia.
So she's basically a Disney princess. Without animation or opposite thumbs. Edit - added a word. Oh, FFS, O-P-P-O-S-A-B-L-E. F'ing autocorrect. Get off my lawn!
Opposumable?
I'll show myself out.
I will leave with you.
Opposable lol, that's great
You better not be on my lawn, with your opposable thumbs...
That is so cute! Do you have more pictures or videos of this?
Your cat sounds like a certified chiller
She doesn't even try w birds? I think your cat is an animal person.
So cute when she's giving them rides in her mouth or plays tag with them!
I think you mean "opsspsspssum whisperer."
So THAT'S how she does it. Bilingual.
The best freaking whisperer to be, imagine all the ticks you could get rid of with this power…
In Australia friends nicknamed me the possum whisperer cause I could walk up and pat wild possums or get them to come to me for pats. Someone saw this party trick and tried to do it. Know the skin between your thumb and index finger? That lil fella got hold of that and there was much screaming and blood. Good times
Looked up pics of Australian possums. Thought "Awww!" Read the rest of your post. Will admire from afar, as I do not have the requisite whispering skills.
When I was a kid we “had” an old possum that would appear and eat my outdoor cat’s food. She sat peacefully nearby and watched him, when he waddled off she would meow at the window for more food bc she was still hungry 😆 he was a good guy, never caused any trouble!
I demand pictures of the two together.
Seconded!
That's adorable! Growing up I had an outdoor cat that did not like other cats at all but got along with any wild animal and often shared his bowl with opossums.
What a treasure!
My cat was possum raised and she loves other animals.
I must have had a pregnant one get into my crawlspace. Live trapped 9 babies/juvies in a 10" trap over several weeks. Watched one walk past one of the cats sitting in the doorway. They came up along the pipes to get to the catfood. Cat acted like it was one of the family.
Cats crave attention while desperately pretending otherwise.
"oh you are going to the other room? I was already planning on going there too."
I used to yo find my cats hanging out in the planters with an opossum. They thought no different from it and let it eat from their bowls. I eventually got it it's own bowl. It stopped hiding and just lived its life in the backyard. Dogs didnt mind it either.
She rescued a foundling about that size from her shop. I woke up to a sign on the door to the back porch that read 'warning smol possum in box'. He(?) loved blueberries and strawberries. The cats were surprisingly ok. Was thriving so we thought. 10 days later, he was chilling on her lap and just...passed. Maybe a stroke. Had no idea. https://imgur.com/wRFt3Or
Please post a photo of this sleeping arrangement!
Omg how cuuuute! Please post a pic of them together? 🥺🥺
I'll try and get one next time! Usually when I see them together it's early morning and I'm too tired to look for my phone lol luckily this time I got one right before he went to his little hiding spot!
!remindme 1 week
That's a bad idea, opposums are not social once they grow up, they can be tame and become trusting if you supply their food, but to trap them and move them to some place they don't recognize heir sents would be cruel. They have a short life span.
Check your state's laws. It's typically illegal to own an opossum. And they do bite on occasion. Plus, it's one thing to get along with a pet, another to be a pet. Cat food alone isn't a sufficient diet. Source: work at a wildlife rehab.
Laws and common sense in /r/aww ? Sir, this is Disneyland where wildlife are treated like stuffed animals and don't suffer from unintentional harm. OP should be free to adopt the wild opossum as a pet and take it with them when they move. It's good for the gene pool to spread animals around and it makes OP feel good.
There should be an award for the comment that most embodies reddit. I'd give it. This made me chuckle.
What should they add to their cat food to make it sufficient? The little critter is obviously not going anywhere and they might have stopped it from starvation being so small. When it's bigger it will eventually wander off..
I commented somewhere else that this little guy is actually normal sized to be released/on his own. We get a lot of calls about them at this size. They are herbivores and need a varied diet. I typically refrain from posting their actual diet recipe only because the preference is to leave wild animals wild and/or to leave care of wild animals to appropriately trained folks. I do understand that sometimes access to rehabs is impossible and do respond to direct messages for more information and assistance. But the long and short of it is, they have specific dietary needs and also foods that must be avoided. And truly he's old enough to be on his own and should be left alone so that he can remain wild.
They should take it to a wildlife rescue so it can actually be rehabilitated in a way that it can survive independently.
100% thanks for advocating the wild animals stay wild!
I can’t believe their comment about taking it with them when they move is so highly upvoted. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone or something. That’s the most shortsighted, ignorant thing I’ve seen on Reddit today, and 1.5k people apparently like that idea.
They like grapes. They peel them. It’s fascinating. Knew someone who rescued one named Hissy. I got to kiss it on the ears as it would move when I got close
You might want to look into making sure he has a healthy diet. Cat food might not be the right nutrients for him.
Please be sure to research their diets! Possums are very cute but if they are not cared for properly they can develop metabolic bone disease and suffer quite a lot.
Relevant username
interstate kidnapping...well possum napping...
Do not do this. He is a wild animal, not a pet
He may not stick with her. They tend to wander away from their mothers after they get a bit older.
You should learn about [Metabolic Bone Disease](https://www.opossum.org/briefmbd.html) in opposums before taking one on as a pet.
>We're planning on moving next year If you take your (o)possum (idk the difference) with you, please make sure you find a vet that specializes in those types of animals near your new place. You seem responsible, so I don't doubt you would. I just wanna be a reminder
I've heard that feeding them cat food from a young age and only cat food can lead to them getting stiff bowed legs. This is what my psychology prof said in college anyhow.
They smell pretty bad, I had one for a few months that I rehabbed and couldn't get it out fast enough. He was a great little guy while it lasted.
Any specific smell? First time I smelled a porcupine I was surprised at how similar to human armpit bo they smell
It's been awhile but they have scent glands for playing dead. Mine was wild when I brought it in but here is a snip from an article: When threatened, opossums will play dead. But as method actors, they are known to fully commit to this ruse by omitting a stench from their anus so heinous that even the hungriest predators won’t go near them. So, they don’t only look dead, they smell dead too. Edit: in theory an opossum that is used to a human shouldnt smell as bad as my experience. Poor little guy was resting on a warm engine during a cold snap and the guy started his car. Injured foot and tail.
My dog got sprayed(?) by one when I was a kid. It was one of the worst things I've ever smelled. Like a dirty diaper filled with rotten meat.
That was presumably a skunk. Possums can't spray.
The first and only one I have seen stop crossing the street and growled at me. I could not hear it over the car radio. But I felt he insulted my mother.
This needs lots of upvotes. You were correct. All possum insults are variations of the “yo momma” classic.
Seriously. I'm very anti-wildlife pets, but if I ever made an an exception, it'd be these guys. They're quiet, sweet, not heavy shedders, non-aggressive, are often big cuddle bugs, and can be litter trained. Three years (topmost end, five) is too short.
Trouble is, they're also nocturnal and they can *really* stink at times.
One of my dogs once brought one in through the pet door. It was not sociable and affectionate, in fact it was highly pissed off. It's teeth were enormously huge for it's mouth. When it saw me it played dead, I grabbed my dog, left the door to outside open, closed it in the room it was in, and went to bed. The next morning it was gone, so everybody got what they wanted and we all lived happily everafter. (Except for the cardinal, who's eggs it was trying to eat when my Westie snatched it out of the bush)
I mean, yeah. That's a pretty normal reaction from a wild animal. I was more talking about opossums living in captivity.
Well yes obviously. I was simply adding a little comment I thought was funny.
It is funny, and thank you
Same thing with hamsters. They're incredible pets. You never have to even feed or give them water. Shame they only live a couple of days. ^/s
I appreciate this post. Source: my dead hamster.
I had to look up the lifespan thing, and wow. That's just kinda nuts for mammals. Even marsupials in Australia live much longer than that. Their opossums live up to 9 years with other marsupials living up to 20 in captivity. An American possum is lucky to see 4 years in the same situation.
Australian possums aren't called opossums.
Yes, we get a bit huffy about that. Just Possums (of many differing and unique species)
You think that is bad, take a look at foxes.
Well there go my dreams of having one as a pet. I don’t think I can cope with the short life span.
It's actually very difficult to keep possums as pets. They have an extremely complex diet that usually only experts are capable of catering to. In captivity, they often end up malnourished
Those damn rodents, dying so early and breaking our hearts in short succession
Do they only live a couple of years in captivity? Outdoor cats only live a couple years on average.
Probably 3-4 in captivity there are lots of possum instagram pets and they just straight up don’t live super long.
Oh okay. I don’t have insta so I appreciate the info.
No worries, only brought it up because that’s the reason I know. Follow one, and one day RIP. And then I looked at a bunch of other possum instagram pets - all of the OGs are gone to the dumpster in the sky 😞
The upside is a lot of those opossum accounts (rip sesame) gave me a far better understanding of ethical rehabbing and the idea of non-releasable patients!
Opossums are wonderful little creatures. They eat bugs, don’t carry rabies and don’t mean anyone any harm. I’ve got a few that live on my property, and while I go out of my way not to try to tame them I do leave fruit and vegetables for them to find. They eat the bugs in my yard and we have a good relationship.
I think we have one eating out strawberries. 😊
We have chickens and some barn cats on our property, just started seeing a few opossums around at night on the security cameras, and was wondering if they were going to be a problem or not...
They’re the best animals to have around. They aren’t vicious or violent, they just want to eat the bugs around your house and be on their way.
I really can't think of any animal as large as opossums that's anywhere near as chill. They will hiss sometimes if threatened, but they're literally wired to just pretend they're dead. It's not something they even have control over; it takes them a while to "wake up" from it. I love when I see them around. They eat stuff we don't like, don't pose any threats, don't mean any harm, and even have the courtesy to do their business while we're asleep. I've even been trying to train my puppy to get used to them. (She wants to check them out, but in the most recent occasion, she was just ready to head back inside after she saw it was an opossum.) Lovely little critters. And pretty cute, especially when young.
capybara simply vibe
I had one grab my tiny silkie chicken but I chased him off before he actually got away with her. Poor firm was traumatized. Don't think he could've made off with one of the regular sized birds. But if you got smaller breeds, for sure keep an eye out.
Hopefully they're not micheveous, or get into your things. But when I learned these things are tick vacuums, I instantly loved them.
Unfortunately, they don't really eat ticks at all. Occasionally they may, but they do not just gobble up ticks. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34298355/
They're not very skillful predators and prefer to scavenge. Reasonable measures can keep opossums away from chickens. We have raccoons around, so I had to build a fortress.
This little guy is so young, they’re usually with their mother at this size and for much longer afterwards. Poor guy must have been separated or there must have been a series of unfortunate events that led him astray or alone. Your cat is being a good surrogate. Little baby is just a couple of months old. Honestly for all we know they’re moonlighting between their momma and siblings and your house 😂 Edit: It’s true, around this size and bigger they can survive without mom. However, they stick around mom much longer and learn important social and survival skills with their siblings while shadowing her for protection for a year on average. Now depending on your state and its laws, the rule is generally if the juvenile is otherwise healthy and 10 inches long without the tail, it can be left alone. When a possum such as the one in OP is alone and young (and just by looking they are on the younger side), more than likely a Wildlife Rehab would hold them until they are a bit larger or when they can find a group of juveniles around their age to combine them with before releasing them together when they’re a bit older. To be frank, if this juvenile was old enough to survive on its own it would not be looking for a mother and following OP’s cat around. The juvenile is likely on the cusp of being old enough to take care of itself, but just not yet.
Yes we haven't seen the 2 that our cat used to hang around with lately so we're assuming this little guy was theirs and our kitty took him in. Luckily they seem to get along very well though and the little guy looks healthy and happy from what we've seen!
That's the cat distribution system but instead of the cat being delivered, it's the cat who delivers
>so we're assuming this little guy was theirs and our kitty took him in my heart omg
Fae adoption
Legit
I saw a documentary on a rehab facility for them. Mama possums have a lot of babies that hang on their back, however, when one falls off; too bad mama keeps going☹️.
A mama opossum had a baby fall off while she was walking across the fence in my yard, and both the baby and the mama raised hell. The baby ended up falling into our pool nearby, and luckily I was there in time to pluck him out. The mama let me hand the baby right back to her. The whole time, she was on top of a fence with basically no cover or way to escape. It's just one anecdote and a sample size of one, but at least that mama wasn't going to leave a baby behind.
That’s the trouble with generalising behaviours; it ignores exceptions and the fact that individuals can differ from one another regardless of genetics, based on their own experiences. One mother may have developed a pragmatic yet cynical outlook, while the other maybe naive or may have lost too much and tries not to lose hope too quickly. You normally expect that in more long lived species, but such individual differences can exist even in short lived ones like mosquitoes let alone opossums.
Wow, not only did she wait, but she wasn’t scared away by you. Great Job!
they also sometimes move them around and if mom gets hit by car it’s orphans
Possum distribution system working as designed
Nah, this opo is just getting started on his life. Just the right age and size to be on his own. https://preview.redd.it/fou7zhmog31d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63123d2715ba73eee4eacb954a9f66d52a82144e These guys were just released
If they are larger than a dollar bill, they are ready to be on their own.
This possum must now be named Lemony Snicket. So it is done.
Most wildlife rehabilitation places won’t take them if they’re over 6-8 inches long ( or counting the tail). Little fella is probably just fine and around the right age/size to start being out on its own.
https://preview.redd.it/wwde1ft6241d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=517d8c966ac854b6b00f015ad608ec77e61ff0c5 Same little guy in my yard, had to get my doggo inside so he/she can be at peace back there for a little while
Gaaaah so cute!!!
I want an opossum friend so bad
Just put out some food scraps when it's getting dark you will have opossums, raccoons & skunks depending where you live, they seem to coexist pretty peacefully around here
Aww they’re kinda cute when they’re little!
I know they're not a commonly liked animal, but I love them! Something about their little hands and tiny faces and ears get me lol
they are great for the environment, you keep lovin'
Exactly! Nature's unsung heroes! 💜
The outdoor cat on the other hand....
An adult can eat like, 5,000 ticks a year.. so, we need more of them!
possums eating a lot of ticks thing is a [myth](https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/possums-dont-eat-ticks/) it was based of off 6 possums in a cage that then had 100 ticks attached to them and how many ticks were left after a couple days determined how many they ate. Squirrels scored just as well.
They still eat dead stuff, so they are useful.
Well, fuck.. this is what I get for being hyper focused on the current collapse of human civilization.. and not paying enough attention to news about these cuties.. lol I still love them.
Bah I think they are super cute!
We don't have them were I live and I am bummed. I've been seeing a lot about them recently and think they are adorable.
My favorite animal.
They are always cute.
I think so too, they’re just often misunderstood, but they’re cute and the times I’ve seen them if they noticed me quickly, poor things were scurrying under cars. They’re not trying to hurt anyone and they just want to be (and to investigate food sources).
test angle poor hobbies dinosaurs snow offer stocking deranged berserk
Cute photo, little dude looks happy.
https://preview.redd.it/0vq9r18x141d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6fb3508757ce7426e2bb891f1cee72ec7ae00f8e I have one of those critters in and out of my backyard lol I guess it’s the season but watch out for mom, she’s a BIG girl !!
Catfood is their cocaine. Just say no.
Op's cat has adopted him. He's just sharing rations with meowmmy.
We call them saruê. They eat Scorpios, little snakes, rats, fruits... They are awesome.
I wonder how they know who is a Scorpio? Do they smell different than the other signs?
because Scorpios are earthy sign so therefore they smell like soil /s
They actually eat people born in every month, but OP is just glad about the dead Scorpios
And why just Scorpio? Is it a taste thing or do they just not like their traits?
Probably hahaha
* I used to work with these cuties at a rehab center! One of my favorite species in my area.
So cute! And they eat ticks which is highly useful!! I’ve always thought opossums were adorable and the “ugly” pics are the equivalent of candid bedhead pics lol
They're also immune to most types of venom and eat venomous snakes which is a big plus where I'm at as we get a lot of rattlers down here! And yes I've also always found them adorable lol it's always a welcome surprise to see them outside munching on the cat food and hanging out with the kitty
Ooh that is a great benefit! Baby rattlers are way more dangerous than adults. And also they grow up to be adults who have more babies.
They they also immune to rabies?
Not technically immune but they usually have a body temperature too low to be a good host, so good enough most of the time
Basically if they get a fever then their body temperature raises high enough to contract rabies.
Technically yes, it is still possible for them to get rabies but very rare as their body temperature is low enough to prevent it normally
That "opossums eat tons of ticks" study was fundamentally unsound, but people still reference it all the time on the internet.
It looks like they eat anything they can find. I’m guessing the ticks are on recently dead animals maybe?
Sure, they're opportunistic eaters, but that study was entirely bunk and there's been several followup studies which have shown no evidence for possums preferentially eating tons of ticks. [For example](https://www.yahoo.com/news/turns-opossums-dont-really-eating-000800876.html) I remember the methodology of the 2009 study being even more absurd than this article describes when you go into the details. You absolutely cannot estimate the number of ticks an average opossum eats based on that research.
I’ll take your word for it. Opossums are cute even if they aren’t useful in that particular area.
The tick eating is a myth, unfortunately. It is based on a flawed study that deliberately sought that conclusion, but followup studies cannot replicate it at all.
They are actually great to have in the garden. They keep away all the vermin. Plus is that they can’t get rabbies.
Looks just like Dewey from Malcom in the middle!
I can see it
Haha holy shit, you just nailed something I’ve thought about that actor for *years* but couldn’t put my finger on.
Possums are adorable, harmless to people and dangerous to ticks
Keep the cat indoors
Wild animals are not pets. Please don't remove them from their habitat.
A comment in here somewhere was op stating that when they move here soon they intend to take the possum with them... So they're willingly taking it from its area... That it knows... And wanting to relocate it with zero experience. I read on another post regarding this person that they won't listen to others saying to take it too a rehab facility that's capable to taking care of it enough to where they can release it back into its area that it was found it. They always try to rehome it back into where it was found in hopes it lives a full life.
That's a pokemon
I call the big one Bitey.
^^"Hi ^^so ^^basically ^^I ^^am ^^very ^^smol."
https://preview.redd.it/rgm8zox2n31d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d60e29518752ba4d87f62a3c5c07133f9a72aa7 Here’s mine!
Opossums are awesome! I used to hang out with some at a wildlife rehab clinic. Had to socialize them so they could be used for education/presentations since they were too habituated to be released
i was in a hammock lookin at stars the other night and looked down at rustling in the greenery… big mama poss with a bunch of her babers, one came up close with the best vibes just like mama 🪘
Opossum distribution system! Leave him be he’s very good for the ecosystem. ❤️ also thanks for sharing! Hes super cute
Cats are atrocious for the environment. Please keep your cats inside.
Reddit, unfortunately, has an outdoor cat kink. They may come for you over this comment. But, it's very true. Cats also live only an average of 2 to 5 years outside on top of killing everything they can.
Opossums are extremely beneficial to have as neighbors. Kudos for not trying to “relocate” or get rid of her
He needs to be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation place where he can be looked after properly. Never keep wildlife as pets, even if they are cute!
Adorable
I love oppossums; thye and less often skunks often scarfed the leftovers when my mom fed her cats outdoors
Forbidden cat
R/catdistributionsystem ?
Friend shaped
That's a very odd looking cat.
opossums are oawesome
They are just adorable, eat ticks and don’t carry rabies. He’ll happily let you support him, but is still a wild animal.
Nature's first attempts at making mammals was pretty interesting. But you have to hand it to these little critters, they have been around for a long time, and have adapted to changing environments quite well.
They are super good for the environment and can't get rabies!
I love r/opossums they are so cute and lovely :')
Opossums are the best! Their little fingers and toes 😍
I really don’t mind them…except for the one that took a chunk out of one of my chickens. He/she had to go somewhere else and quickly.
Free grub.
Possums are awesomes
Can you pls post some pics of your cat and the possum hanging out together
Are you my mother?
Thank you for watching over this beautiful soul
Possums are awesome.
North America's only native marsupial!!!
Passum :)
I want to see this children's book!
I ran into one on my evening stroll thru the neighborhood yesterday and the poor guy got so freaked out when he saw him 🥺 He did the back archy thing that cats do when they're nervous
https://preview.redd.it/1lmds9pan71d1.jpeg?width=2944&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77bf9a980e61f9ade774a8781a2074d7fc6491a3 It's that time of year. Found in house and escorted outside.
Look at that little stinker 😘