Help Orphaned Baby Opossums Get The Warmth They Need to Survive
Michelle Milliken
Baby opossums are tiny, only about the size of a human thumb at first, and their practically embryonic state means they usually remain in their mothers’ pouches for the first two months of their lives. When they lose their mothers before they reach that age, survival may depend on a wildlife center, which may lack the best equipment - or the capacity - to provide care. You can help.
SPCA Tampa Bay cares for around 2,500 wild animals each year, from birds and small mammals to reptiles. The tiniest ones, including newborn opossums, are currently kept warm with a series of heating pads in a wooden box.
Incubators would do a much more effective job, though, and our partner Greater Good Charities is working with the organization to provide funding for that purpose. Funds will also go toward additional heating pads to handle the busy spring and summer seasons, when newborn animals that can’t regulate their temperatures come in in droves.
The organization says, “Our wildlife manager told us that an incubator would absolutely change the way we care for wildlife in need, and it would allow us to help more babies. This is particularly important during the summer because we tend to see an influx of nestlings and baby squirrels who have been blown out of trees during our afternoon thunderstorms. And you can only imagine the number of animals we get after a hurricane!”
The new equipment will help wildlife like a tiny opossum brought in by a good Samaritan who found the animal in their front yard. In addition to its helpless size, the opossum was also suffering from an infected paw.
Treatment required lots of warmth, fluids, and a drain to ensure all the unhealthy fluids could be filtered out during healing. It was a tricky procedure, but it went well.
The organization says, “It was a first for our wildlife team, and we’re happy to report, it was totally successful. The little opossum was released back into the wild, healthy and set up to thrive.”
With new heating equipment, SPCA Tampa Bay says they’ll be able to increase their capacity for incubator stage wildlife rehabilitation, like the preceding story, by 30%. If you’d like to help, click below!
