Survivor of a long and very cold winter. Her occasional appearances to our porch was a testament to the wonders of life during such a hard period. She has a warm personality, carried a litter of little ones to maturity this Spring.

I'm no stranger to handling some 'wild things'. Worked at wild animal drive-through park for a season; saw and did things an ol' farm boy had only dreamed of. Over the years, that helped me learn how to deal with the occasional little one that had needed care. Possums, as it has turned out, are among the most noteworthy of my experiences.

Edit: Something that I came to notice since posting the photos is that if it is enlarged on the screen, you can get a glimpse into her being by looking at her eyes. Seems to be quite a 'soul' present there, not what one would ordinarily expect to see.

Bella revisited us night before last (July 7th). I easily picked her up off the porch and brought her in for some attention.

She now has a new brood of teeny ones in her pouch and showed some stress with the advancing of the season and the heat. She had acquired a number of fleas and was pretty thoroughly bitten and her fur was notably worse off than when she was here in June. I sprayed her back and sides with a wonderful, all natural product from Vet's Best to rid her of fleas and other parasites which she thoroughly enjoyed while I worked it into her fur and onto the skin.

She ate a hearty meal of bread and butter and raw egg then went under the table and rested for several hours, cleaning and grooming herself from time to time. After about four hours or so, she went to the door and I let her out, went to the water bowl on the porch and drank well, then sauntered off the porch and headed to the thicket behind our house.

No pictures this time but maybe there'll be another chance later on.

Bella visits again, 8/18/14. Looking worn but still perky and friendly, I picked her up to bring in for a quick meal of yogurt, bread with butter, and a whipped chicken egg which she snarfed with great joy. Her babes weren't with her and her back showed the signs of them having ridden on her and pulling out tufts of her fur. For the past few weeks, out latest arrival feral queen cat and her kittens has dominated the porch and quite nasty to the possums and raccoons so all have stayed mostly clear. I have since found the cat adjusting to our care (she was nearly starving when she first showed up) and we'll be getting her spayed, as we've done with all the ferals that have come to our door.

Summer ending 9-12-14 - Bella visits showing off an unusual change in her coat.
While her skin has been white under her fur, after losing some of it around her shoulders, presumably from her babies holding onto it, there is new growth coming in that is black. Hard to tell what it will develop into if she keeps on surviving as well as she has. She's always had a minor limitation in her hip mobility but she has managed to just keep on "doin' her thing" and staying relatively healthy. I bring her in off the porch and after she gets a bit of a snack, the goes to her favorite spot behind our recycling containers and lays down for a rest. She usually stays for ~3 hrs. before asking at the door to go back out.

10/30/14 It's turning Fall now, albeit about three weeks later than usual. Bella continues to come and see us virtually every night for some chow and care, if need arises. She has recently hosted a large infestation of fleas and has been bathed and treated with a spray and a monthly vial of pesticide for them. She has become much less desperate for food and now relaxes more than ever to be with us and isn't put off by the cats around her and they are more accepting of her as well. She has a slight problem in her hips that makes her a little clumsy and slow and I built her a ramp to get onto the porch easier which other possums use as well.

We have become the defacto sanctuary of sorts for the feral cats in the park and now host about 16 of them whose owners have gone and didn't take them; follows that there are resulting kittens who need care and attention which we gladly can give to all. Most of the time, they find suitable shelter from the elements outdoors but as many as 10 or so will filter through the house, especially in the mornings for filling the food and water sources.

11/15.14 - It's been about 10 days of a pretty brutal (for thes time of year) cold snap. Bella comes to the porch a little earlier each evening and I've been dropping two fish oil capsules into and along with the cat food dish outdoors and she's been staying out for the most part. Tonite, something a little different, she took the fish oil caps but after a few more bites of food came to the door, she actually wanted in..! That's bold move for any possum. It's a very penetrating, damp cold out there right now so glad to help her out.

11/19/14 - In the few days from the last report, Bella's condition with her hips turned out to be a nervous system breakdown and it progressed rapidly causing her to barely be able to walk and loss of her bowel control. I was able to give her the comfort of the indoors and when the weather broke to warmer, she asked to go back outside and slowly made her way off the porch and patio and on to the woods behind our house where I'm sure she laid down for the last time. It was inevitable, sadly, and I could see it coming but nothing one could do. Her visits were a sweet participation with the wild around us -- her spirit now with the angels.

Possums don't really prey on anything, they basically just browse along at night to follow -up on 'possum business' and find food and water.

After a hard winter or when the environment has little to give, they'll travel until something turns up. In the process, they can become quite drained and weakened and get quite a burden of parasites.

Enter 'Jules', a male who wandered into our yard uncharacteristically during daytime and was having a meal at the cat food on the porch. I managed to grab him securely, take indoors and proceed to see how he'd been doing. Without hardly any protest, he let me pick around 30 ticks off of him and wash his tail of the remains of who knows what.

After the attention, I let him to the floor where he wandered to the cat food dish, had a meal, got some water, then found the 'possum crash-pad' box I happened to have under our kitchen table. I think he slept there for the most of the next 36 hours or so, recuperating. A couple nights later, he wanted out and was gone.

Took this snap as he changed positions to snooze.

This was a heartening read and I thank you for sharing it. Bella's disposition almost comes across as downright domesticated, and it had to be tough to see her health deteriorate.

I hope you still get to see more of Jules from time to time. I've not been fortunate enough to encounter opossums since I moved from a neighborhood in the big city years ago, oddly enough.

Originally Posted by phoam

This was a heartening read and I thank you for sharing it. Bella's disposition almost comes across as downright domesticated, and it had to be tough to see her health deteriorate.

I hope you still get to see more of Jules from time to time. I've not been fortunate enough to encounter opossums since I moved from a neighborhood in the big city years ago, oddly enough.

Thanks for this note. I'm not very attentive to check my blog regularly so this surprised me some.

Bella was very calm and had hardly any 'wild' responses. I've cared for quite a few opossums over the years and this does occasionally turn up. They sure get a bum rap most of the time from humans though I'm heartened at the number of videos that can be found on YT about other's experiences.