What should I do if I find an orphaned baby opossum?

There is one, very sad situation in which you can find a wandering opossum baby. That situation means that its mother is, sadly, dead. Female opossums can get hurt in numerous ways. Most often, mother possums will try to feed on another road-kill opossum, risking becoming a road-kill herself. If a mother possum loses her life, baby possums are likely to survive because they are protected by her pouch. They will be left to wander around, destined to die unless they find shelter and care. If your encounter one of these babies and don’t provide it with necessary care, it will certainly die. There is yet another situation in which a baby possum can get lost, and that is if it started to leave her mother’s pouch and wandered too far. Anyhow, the baby will need your care in order to survive.



The first thing you need to know, when it comes to taking care of baby possums, is that you should find someone train to aid these animals as soon as possible. Check if your local area offers any animal welfare services, and, if it does, let them know about the situation. In the meantime, there are some things that you can to do provide the baby with the essential care and increase its chance to survive. To provide the baby with the environment it needs to survive, place the baby in a smaller box, a shoebox, for example. Layer a soft fabric in a box to keep the baby warm, and then place the box on top of the heating source, like warm bottles or a heating pad set to low. Place the baby gently in it and cover it with a fabric. The baby should feel warm, but not hot.

When it comes to nurturing the baby until the expert help comes, offer the baby some milk and Pedialyte, the hydrating fluid, diluted in the proportion 1:2 with water using a dropper. Never force-feed it, as it can choke. After the baby is done eating, stimulate its bowels and bladder with a gentle massage towards the tail, using a wipe. The baby is not going to be able to discharge on its own, so it needs your help. This is pretty much what you should do to help the baby initially.

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