Bikergirl
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2004
- Messages
- 126
Hi WebSailor,
I know you have a big post in your who''s who topic about baby opossums....so I thought you could help me with mine!
DH and I were working in the yard on Saturday, and he came running over. Told me to be very quiet, and we snuck across the alley to the house behind us. There were two baby opossums wandering around the yard, digging up little grubs and flossing with leaves! We live across the street from a VERY deep irrigation/overflow channel, and often see all kinds of critters wandering around our neighborhood. We figured the had a den somewhere close, and the mother was probably nearby. Even though they looked really cute and fuzzy (and the were kind of tottering around on bity little legs - so cute!) we left them alone. I didn''t want them to think people were nice, only to have them killed by a person who isn''t quite so friendly.
Well, Sunday afternoon led to more time in the yard. This time there was only one, but he had settled down into our ground cover! He had dug a little burrow down under a shrub, in the middle of a patch of ground cover. I went out this morning to water some flowers, and he peeked up at me from the same spot. He seems quite happy there.
My question - is it about time for the mother to be turning babies loose into the big world, or should I be concerned the he doesn''t know how to fend for himself? He appeared to be OK, but he just looks so cute and tiny! When I saw him on Sunday, at first I thought he was a mouse. I heard rustling in the ground cover, and just saw his little ears stick up. Looked just like fuzzy little mouse ears! Then up came his nose and I realized he was my little friend back to visit again.
I have no depth perception, so I''m *really* bad judging things like this, but I would say his body was probably only about 8 or 9 inches long. Like I said, he was small enough that I thought he was a mouse at first. So roughly the size of a full-grown field mouse.
I haven''t tried to do anything - I don''t want him to become tame then have somebody hurt him. Any input please?
Thanks Websailor!
BikerGirl in Dallas, TX
I know you have a big post in your who''s who topic about baby opossums....so I thought you could help me with mine!
DH and I were working in the yard on Saturday, and he came running over. Told me to be very quiet, and we snuck across the alley to the house behind us. There were two baby opossums wandering around the yard, digging up little grubs and flossing with leaves! We live across the street from a VERY deep irrigation/overflow channel, and often see all kinds of critters wandering around our neighborhood. We figured the had a den somewhere close, and the mother was probably nearby. Even though they looked really cute and fuzzy (and the were kind of tottering around on bity little legs - so cute!) we left them alone. I didn''t want them to think people were nice, only to have them killed by a person who isn''t quite so friendly.
Well, Sunday afternoon led to more time in the yard. This time there was only one, but he had settled down into our ground cover! He had dug a little burrow down under a shrub, in the middle of a patch of ground cover. I went out this morning to water some flowers, and he peeked up at me from the same spot. He seems quite happy there.
My question - is it about time for the mother to be turning babies loose into the big world, or should I be concerned the he doesn''t know how to fend for himself? He appeared to be OK, but he just looks so cute and tiny! When I saw him on Sunday, at first I thought he was a mouse. I heard rustling in the ground cover, and just saw his little ears stick up. Looked just like fuzzy little mouse ears! Then up came his nose and I realized he was my little friend back to visit again.
I have no depth perception, so I''m *really* bad judging things like this, but I would say his body was probably only about 8 or 9 inches long. Like I said, he was small enough that I thought he was a mouse at first. So roughly the size of a full-grown field mouse.
I haven''t tried to do anything - I don''t want him to become tame then have somebody hurt him. Any input please?
Thanks Websailor!
BikerGirl in Dallas, TX