Earthling84

Not a rodent, but figured best choice of forum for this thread.

My Brazilian short tailed opossums, Lucas and Suzanna, had 11 babies on December 2005. I sold/gave away most, but kept two of them, Bighead and Lucy.

Bighead became I'll a couple weeks ago. And after racking up some major vet bills and thinking he was doing better, we found him dead one morning. He had been eating and drinking and seemed to be doing better so it came as some shock. He was a wonderful opossum, the sweetest one could be.

Please view this small picture tribute I made for him.

www.tabsite.net/bighead.JPG

^You may have to click and zoom in to read the small writing.

Lucy

They're so ugly, they're cute.

I'm really sorry you lost Bighead.

Your pics are really cute, I didn't know they would do so well in captivity.

Earthling84

aww they aren't ugly.

Thanks for your kind words.

If you are interested to see more pictures of the little ones growing up(I picture documented their growth with pictures about 3 times a week). I also have some more pictures of Lucy and Bighead when they were about 2 years old.

http://www.tabsite.net/animals/pethome.html

^All the 'Picture' links are different, and bring you to different picture sets.

Lucy

They're so tiny! Tennessee possums are a lot bigger than that.

lol, and I did say they were cute.

Thanks for sharing the pictures, they're very sweet.

Earthling84

Well, he had an amazing life and living situation. He became ill with a respiratory disease that vets said was quite common with the species. His sister is doing great, and I plan on purchasing a new male so I can breed these wonderful animals again and have 'bighead jr.' ... I've had 3 'speedy's' also(siberian dwarf hamsters), all from same bloodline.

Back to their living conditions. I provided them with an extra large cage(one might consider the cage more meant for a ferret). Along with their large living space they had wonderful food variations.
Foods included:
Dry Foods: - Usually a mixture of all, but on my lazy days maybe just 2 or 3 types.
Cat Food
Dog Food
Ferret Food
Hedgehog food
STO food (can only really get online, I used seldom)
Sugar Glider Food
Live Food
Crickets
adult mice - yes living adults - the STO's actually eat the WHOLE mouse,bones, fur, all of it, there is no cleanup.
baby rats
mealworms and basically any insects/larva stores sell
'Human' Food
Chicken
Beef
Pasta
Fruits/Veggies
Milk
hot dog

There really isn't much information about how long opossums live in captivity. And when I was breeding them, I almost did it 'blind' as their is also almost no information available about that. And they breed in a very aggressive manner(think of betta fish mating - kind of like that). I hope Lucy lives a much longer life. I am scared to breed her kind of as she is a runt. It will depend on the size of male I get. I may just end up getting 2 new opossums to breed, but I really do want to continue their bloodline as they are wonderful opossums.

Lucy

I didn't know you could buy them, how interesting.

Looking at the pics, you can see how well you took care of them.

Earthling84

Yea, they are just very rare and you will almost never see them in a store(if they are in a store they will be sold out the same day). The new ones I am going to buy I am going to have to have them shipped to me. They ship them by airline same day and I pickup from airport.

One reason I do want to breed them is they sell for about $125 as NON hand fed adults. Mine are nice hand fed teenagers when sold . I have about 5 local pet shops around here that know me that are waiting for babies. I need to get going on that ;o Bighead was going to be the dad, and I was going to get a new female for him, but now I guess new plan.

Not a single one of my baby opossums ever bit. Bighead and Lucy even let you pull open their mouths(vet was scared to do it when he needed to look in mouth so I did for him, but then on the next visit the same DOC did himself )

ShaynaB

Your opposums are so cute! The ones out here where I am do not look that cute...

I'm so sorry you lost bighead. That's so sad.