Many of our Facebook friends have been following the story of Mr. Wiggles, a baby opossum that came to the Nature Center on July 20 after his mother and all his siblings were killed by a car. Mr. Wiggles was the lone survivor.
The couple that saved him as he was trying to crawl away to safety contacted Lori Edwards, one of the Nature Center’s licensed animal rehabilitators. At about 56 days old, Mr. Wiggles should have still been the mother’s pouch, safe and warm. Lori immediately created a warm place for the baby, with a heat lamp, and commenced to feeding him every two hours to keep him alive, one drop of puppy formula at a time.
Mr. Wiggles, July 20, 2014.
Over the last 6 weeks, Lori has cared for Mr. Wiggles around the clock, teaching him to suckle from a syringe, keeping him warm and dry. Under her care, he thrived!
Mr. Wiggles, July 27, 2014
Everyone has obviously grown attached to Mr. Wiggles, and we are unsure if he will ultimately be releasable. Lori pulled together some opossum facts — they are a fascinating and misunderstood species!
- Opossums are one of the oldest surviving mammal species. They have been around for 70 million years (since the age of dinosaurs).
- Opossums are the only North American marsupials.
- When they are born they are about the size of a honeybee and immediately make their way to their mother’s pouch.
- Once attached they remain there for approximately 60 days.
- Opossums are scavengers and omnivores and will eat almost everything, including carrion (dead animals), insects, grass, bird eggs, frogs, fruit …
Thank you to everyone for your support and love for Mr. Wiggles! We will continue to keep you updated on his progress on Facebook!
