Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A New Home For The Little Guys

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Awww, isn't he cute??? What a sweet little face.
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Awhile back, I wrote about the 9 surprises we found in our basement. You can read about it here. 8 of them lived. These little guys were so small back in April- about 5 to 6 inches long (nose to rump). They  have grown and are now about 10 inches and yesterday we released them into the woods. When we found them they would all fit in a third of the  little house that Mr. Fanatic made for them back in April. As you can see they fill up their entire house now...
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and are now large enough to live in the wild on their own and it was time for them to have a new home.
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So, we all went  out to say goodbye to our furry little marsupials. We picked each one up & took their picture ... but don't ask me who's who!

Look at those feet trying to grasp for anything! This one is Lulu who turned out to be a BOY! Lulu was very sweet and would never try to nip at us and was very adventurous and not afraid to come out of the little house when we were feeding them.
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Here I am holding one of the more aggressive possums. The aggressive ones would nip at you if you put your hand close to them. But, we always wore gloves, so it didn't hurt when they did. We didn't discourage the aggressiveness because it would help them in the wild.
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 We placed each one into a plastic container & carried them far into the woods near a little tributary of the creek behind our house. Two of our cats started to follow us so they were locked up until we returned.
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We brought the possum's little house and set it in the woods in case they needed a safe place to sleep. The container was turned over so they could get out. At first they were all very timid, but of course as one went out (I think it was Lulu), the rest followed.
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They went to their little house for safety.
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But Lulu had other plans and went off into the woods toward the creek. :' (
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This little guy climbed up a twig of a tree (behind the larger tree in the foreground) about 15 ft high. He climbed up to the top and it started to sway, so he backed down a little. Then he peered down on us from atop his perch.
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After we released them it was difficult to let them go off into the woods, but we resisted the urge to pick them up one more time. We spread out some food for them on the forest floor before we left. We hope they will be alright until they get a little bigger. I am sure that we will go out to the place we set them free to drop off some more food. We will probably do this for a couple of days. 

I'm glad we had the opportunity to take care of the little opossums. They are interesting little creatures.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam
Here's the previous story of how we came to care for the sweet baby possums.
Click HERE.

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7 comments:

  1. Oh My! We have possums that adventure around our home all the time! Thank goodness I've never had to care for them! I am going to have to go back and check out the beginning of this story when I have more time. This is an amazing story! They look like they are going to be just fine! Thanks to you and your sweet family!

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  2. Pam do not be surprised if some back to visit you...they where adorable, I bet you felt a little sad to set them free...that was cool you guys did that though for them!

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  3. Oh how cute! I have not seen many possums here, but we do have the bears. One has four cubs running around. Thanks so much for stopping by my DDay post! Thanks to your dad also:-)

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  4. I'm betting they will be back! Did you talk to a wildlife rescue about feeding/releasing? I'll have to look back in your blog and read more about them. Sort of cute, in a weird way. lol

    Dropping by from Outdoor Wednesday (post #3). If you haven't registered for our glass vessel sink giveaway, it's open until 5pm EST Wednesday.

    Allison
    Atticmag

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  5. What an adventure! It sounds like you prepared them for independence, too.

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  6. How fabulous that you rescued, cared for and released them! Thank you! Sadly, I know there are many people who would not have done what you did. I missed the first part of the story so I will go back and read it.

    Have a fabulous day!

    ~ Tracy

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  7. Hi Pam,

    Good for you on taking care of the babies til they got big enough to have a chance...hopefully they will all make it. I think their natural instincts will kick in.

    I'm sharing some wildlife that visits me if you'd like to take a peek.

    Have a lovely day,
    Stephanie ♥

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