8 little opossums need help

[Sarah_Spencer]

So I just got back from meeting my uncle who found some baby opossums in the road on his way to work. Their mother was hit by a car, and 3 of their sibliings had already gotten hit. So I met him and come to find out, there are 8 babies that are still alive and seem okay. They seem to have some motor skills and are fairly active. They all have fur and it looks like their eyes have been open for a few days now. Sorry I don't have any pictures because my camera died on me and I haven't gotten a new one yet. I found a few posts about opossums under the rehabber's section. I was wondering if this recipe is still current:

1/3 cup Esbilac powder
1 cup of water
1/2 egg yolk
200 milligrams of calcium with no added A or D vitamins
7.5 grams brewers yeast
2 tsp of apple juice
1 tsp nutrical


I have them in a cardboard box lined w/ towels w/ a heating pad on one side w/ right now plus my rooms is pretty warm to begin w/ because I have a few spot lights going for my beardeds and my savannah monitor. I was just wondering if there was anything else I need to get when I go out to buy all the ingrediants for them. Or if anyone had any suggestions, comments, or advice on raising these little guys. I've raised a gray squirrel to adulthood a few years back, I handfed all my flying squirrels for 2-3 weeks, I also own sugar gliders that were handfed nectar for a few weeks, and I handfed a kitten last spring, so I don't think I'm completely clueless as to what to do.

Thanks in advance,
Sarah

[Buddy'sMom]

Sarah, I see Loopy Squirrel is here -- she is relatively new to TSB, is a FL rehabber and has a great deal of experience with possies. :thumbsup

Good luck with them. :grouphug

[Loopy Squirrel]

They sound small but they probably have the ability to lap but you will have to check bellies if you don't know how to tube. The formula receipe is current...just went over this this morning w/ another person on this site. The only thing I would do is to get some pediatric amoxi drops to put them on. All opossums should be put on prophylactic antibiotics due to their poor immune systems. If you need help w/ the dilution and dosages please pm me.

[Sarah_Spencer]

Thanks for all of your replies so far. Their mouths are completely open, atleast it looks like they are to me. It looks like one of them peed by itself in the box shortly after I picked them up. What caught my uncle's attention was that one baby was running around like a nut in the middle of the road and then off to the side of the road, and he already saw that 3 babies had gotten hit, so he parked his jeep infront the mother's body and stood there and watched the babies until I got there. I think I got most of my nature loving side from him and my grandmother, just my uncle was too afraid to touch them. I wore plastic gloves and used towels to get them because I wasn't sure about what they could transfer to humans or other animals. I read that they have a higher tolerance to rabies than other animals. I was just wondering if anybody knew what else I have to look out for, so I don't transfer anything to myself or my other animals. I do wash my hands before and after touching or doing anything w/ any of my animals, but I just want to know as much as I can about them. About the prophylactic antibiotics, where would I buy those from? and yes, I would like you to pm me the dosages. The other thing I thought of is how do I measure the calcium? I have 2 types of calcuim that I thought I might be able to use but correct me if I'm wrong. I have a container of Rep-Cal: no phosphorous and no vitamin d3 (the label says that its 100% natural phosphorous-free oyster shell calcium carbonate) and I also have a liquid calcium supplement called calcionate syrup but thats all it says on the bottle, so thats probably not good for them. So please just let me know if I could use either calcium or if I should just go buy some, what do I buy, and where can I get it?

[Loopy Squirrel]

You can buy the amoxi drops from a vet if you have a contact. Most of them won't give you a hard time because amoxi drops are not that big of a deal. You can use the calcionate syrup. Each tsp contains 115 mg. of calcium so if you double (maybe a tad bit less) it you should be in your range of 200mg. It does contain sugar as opossed to just regular calcium but I have used it w/out a problem.

[sherbear59]

So I just got back from meeting my uncle who found some baby opossums in the road on his way to work. Their mother was hit by a car, and 3 of their sibliings had already gotten hit. So I met him and come to find out, there are 8 babies that are still alive and seem okay. They seem to have some motor skills and are fairly active. They all have fur and it looks like their eyes have been open for a few days now. Sorry I don't have any pictures because my camera died on me and I haven't gotten a new one yet. I found a few posts about opossums under the rehabber's section. I was wondering if this recipe is still current:

1/3 cup Esbilac powder
1 cup of water
1/2 egg yolk
200 milligrams of calcium with no added A or D vitamins
7.5 grams brewers yeast
2 tsp of apple juice
1 tsp nutrical


I have them in a cardboard box lined w/ towels w/ a heating pad on one side w/ right now plus my rooms is pretty warm to begin w/ because I have a few spot lights going for my beardeds and my savannah monitor. I was just wondering if there was anything else I need to get when I go out to buy all the ingrediants for them. Or if anyone had any suggestions, comments, or advice on raising these little guys. I've raised a gray squirrel to adulthood a few years back, I handfed all my flying squirrels for 2-3 weeks, I also own sugar gliders that were handfed nectar for a few weeks, and I handfed a kitten last spring, so I don't think I'm completely clueless as to what to do.

Thanks in advance,
Sarah
Wow, sounds like you've got your hands full ! Wish i could help ,,good luck! So great of you to save those baby's:wahoo

[Sarah_Spencer]

I have my hands quite full now. Luckily the babies seem to be eating, but I have to handfeed them because I haven't seem them licking the formula on their own. Not only do I have 8 oppossum babies, I'm raising 2 baby bearded dragons, and a baby savannah monitor that I bought at the NH reptile show on April 5th. Those guys are eating and getting misted down 3x's a day. Plus I have my puppy that wants the play w/ everything (including my other animals) to watch. My adult bearded dragons are starting to breed full force, so probably only another month or so before I have dragon eggs coming out my butt. I have 2 sets of twin glider joeys that are about a month out of pouch that I've been handling every night to prepare them for their new homes in about a month or so. Luckily, I have 3 finals next week and then I'm done w/ school for now, thou I plan on taking summer courses. Geez, I really do have my hands full, but its my life and if I'm gunna have my hands full, atleast it's w/ animals that I'll do anything for. I don't regret a single thing....oh another question, which I probably missed or just forgot, I was wondering if there are any feeding charts for opossums because currently, I'm just letting them drink what they will drink, but they seem a little bit dehydrated, so I think I need to get some pedilite today. That gets diluted right?...

[Sarah_Spencer]

Just popping in to give you us a quick update. All 8 babies are still w/ me. Some are licking formula on their own and a few still need to be handfed. I ordered the amoxi drops online, so they'll be here in about a week or maybe a little more (I hope the babies will be okay because that was the quickest shipping option). A good majority of them have little opossum attitudes so I guess that will be good when they go back into the wild, but thats still a ways off. I was reading on an old thread on there to try bananna baby food, so I did and they love that. A few of them are already pooping and peeing in their water dish. I guess if anyone has any other suggestions to offer them, just let me know.

Thanks for all your help

[sherbear59]

Sarah,,,,,,,,,we need pictursa:crazy Sounds like you are a very busy girl !

[Loopy Squirrel]

I give them a small t.v. dinner tray (Boston Market- its rectangular and the sides are shallow) and put just a small amt. of water in it and they'll potty in that. For the drinking bowl, I try to either use a water bottle or a small enough one that they can't get their little butts into.

[Sarah_Spencer]

I know, I know I need to get another one because my camera died on me a few weeks back. All are doing well and have opossum attutides and hissing away everytime they see me now (what a thanks to me for taking care of them lol), well all except one, which I'm getting quite attached to, but I think my mom would kill me if I have a full grown opossum in her house...I did have 2 full grown pekin ducks in my room for a few months thou...hhhmmm...well anyways just letting you guys know that they are all doing well. I'm waiting for the amoxi drops to come in, but my question was that if they were nursing on a septic mother, would they have already died??? I'm a little worried because I'm still waiting on the drops to come in, and I'd post pictures of them but like I said, my camera is broken, but they don't look like they have red points, so I think they are okay, but I'm still a little worried. I also wanted to know how long I should keep them indoors and when they can start eating solid foods or just foods other than formula and baby food??? Thanks again for all of your help