What should I do if I find a nest of baby opossums?

Sadly, it is possible for baby possums to become orphans. This happens in case that their mother was killed, or run over, but they were left alive. By all means, it is humane and justified to nurture and rescue a nest of baby possums. Regardless of what you know about the possum count or the way they can raid human household, these little infants deserve a chance to live, but, what is the right way to nurture a baby possum? Before we move to the instructions, your first need to know several important facts about the conditions baby possums need in order to survive being orphaned.



The most important advice is to hand over the babies to someone qualified to handle them immediately, like any animal welfare expert. While your wait for assistance, possum babies will need the same conditions they have in their pouch. They need to be hydrated and fed with milk, and they need to be constantly warm. Their genitals need to be stimulated, massaging towards their tail gently using a napkin, in order for them to exert their feces and urine. If you don’t stimulate their genitals well, chances are that the babies might die from a ruptured bladder. Taking all this into consideration, you can understand that possum babies need a round-a-clock care. This is a serious responsibility, which you should approach with maximum devotion. What your task is going to be is to imitate the conditions that possums babies would normally have in their pouch, in order for them to survive.

The first thing your will need to is to lay the babies into a box that shouldn’t be too wide for them, as they need to feel tucked in. you should fill the box with a soft fabric, like a cut out t-shirt. The fabric shouldn’t tare, and it shouldn’t be too thick, so that the babies wouldn’t overheat. Babies should feel warm when your touch them, but not too warm. You are going to need a source of head to place inside the box, underneath the cloth, and the best solution for that is to use warm bottles of milk. Now, let’s get into the feeding and care of the babies.

Possum babies need to be fed regularly. Your will recognize their crying by resembling the sound of sneezing. You should use the smallest bottles possible, like a dropper, to offer them milk and 1:2 dilution of Pedialyte and water. Never force-feed the babies, as they may inhale the fluid and choke.

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