RANGE | The Virginia opossum can be found in most of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and along the West Coast. It is also found in Mexico, Central America as well as British Columbia and Ontario in Canada. The Virginia opossum lives in a wide-variety of habitats including deciduous forests, open woods and farmland.

FUN FACTS | Possums are found in Australia and opossums are in the Americas but this kind of opossum—the Virginia opossum—is the only marsupial in the US. Like kangaroos and koalas, they have a pouch to carry their young. The kangaroo and koala has a pouch with an opening that goes horizontal, or side to side, and they carry just one or two babies at a time and typically very different ages. The opossum pouch is vertical, going down the center of her abdomen, and they can carry up to 13 babies at a time. When opossums are first born, it is only their front legs and mouth that are fully developed. They must travel into the pouch to attach to the mom to drink milk and will actually develop inside the pouch. As the babies grow, the pouch becomes too crowded and the babies eventually begin to venture out of the pouch and climb on to their mom’s back to quickly learn how to survive since they become independent at just 3–4 months old.

These omnivores primarily scavenge, eating carrion, which manages the spread of disease and contamination but will also catch and eat small insects, grubs and worms. They consume different kinds of fruits and vegetables, berries and other plant material and deposit—or disperse—the indigestible seeds. In addition to these important jobs, opossums eat lots and lots of ticks.Ticks can spread Lyme Disease to animals and people.

Clover was still with her mom when her mom was hit and killed by a car. Clover was unharmed and found in the street, on her mom, the next morning. Rather than taking her to a wildlife hospital, the person chose to take Clover to his home, despite it being illegal and not kind to the animal. Clover was fed people food and cat food, and carried around in a blanket for weeks. When the dog barked, or a door would slam, Clover would instinctively play dead. Eventually, the person acknowledged it was the wrong choice and surrendered her to a local wildlife center but, by that time, she was too comfortable with humans to be released and they reached out to us.

Our opossums always loves their fleece beds and blankets and Clover is no different. She curls up in them, between the layers, to stay warm and cozy. She uses small play structures and really likes tubes and plastic boxes. For our opossums we created a series of wide, sturdy ramps—similar to cat bridges, but with a railing—and that really expands the space for her. Additional structures like that would make her enclosure more stimulating, and could increase her engagement and activity in that space.