We have a large Physocarpus tree in our backyard that needs an annual trimming in the early summer, after cold breezes are no longer blowing off the ocean. This year, I woke up early to prepare for the tree trimmers, moving my potted plants and tree orchids out of the way of the imminent falling branches.
As I sleepily walked around the garden near a waterfall we recently installed, I heard a loud splash of water and noticed a large opossum had fallen into the pond. She must have been startled by my early morning chores, and in her attempt to escape and hide she accidentally fell into the water.
Luckily, her early morning swim did not seem to harm her and she leisurely climbed out of the pond and took refuge in a nearby tree. As I approached the rocks, I looked down and noticed a tiny baby opossum shivering in the cold morning air. I assume the baby must have fallen off her back and into the water as she tried to escape. The mother opossum stayed nearby, high above on a vine-covered arbor, and carefully watched my every move.
I decided to go inside to see if the mother would return to her baby, and after a short time she went down the tree and nuzzled her baby, encouraging it to climb up onto her back. The cold, wet baby was still coiled in a ball, and even with its mother’s persistent urging he was unable to attach himself to her. After a while, the mother retreated into the garden, disappearing into the shrubbery.
As I looked down at the tiny, helpless opossum, I feared he would die without his mother but I was afraid to touch or move him.
The tree trimmers arrived and we waited to see if the mother would return.
When she didn’t, the work began. Although my tree trimmer, Greg Wood, does not use noisy equipment (which is one of the reasons I use him, besides the fact that he is a true artist), the activity of the day must have been too much for the mother opossum and she stayed away.
The little opossum was still alive, so I decided to intervene and move him to a warm, safe place. Warming up a heating pad, I placed it in a flowerpot, put on my garden gloves and nestled the baby inside. After a few hours, the baby was dry and began to move about, but he seemed content to stay in the safety of his flowerpot, especially after my two cats got quite close to check him out. It’s funny about cats and opossums ” even though one of my cats is a great hunter, she ignores opossums, even the babies who clearly resemble rodents.
My plan was to put the baby back in the garden that evening to see if his mother would come back for him. If she did not return, plan B was to call an animal rescue center the next day to pick him up, since opossums are wild animals and should not be kept as pets. Around 8 p.m., I took the baby into the garden and placed him where I had found him. I wrapped him in a towel to keep him warm and he seemed content to stay in his warm little enclosure.
Around midnight I fell asleep, but awoke minutes later when I heard the familiar “clicking” noise that opossums make. I ran downstairs and looked out the window and what I saw brought tears to my eyes: The mother opossum had returned and her baby was happily riding on her back. As she walked about the garden with her baby clinging to her, the two of them gleefully “clicked” away, happy to be reunited. After awhile, they disappeared into the garden.
I’ve enjoyed knowing that opossums visit my garden, mainly because they eat snails. Over the years, they have diligently worked to keep my garden virtually snail-free and it is not unusual to hear crunching sounds at night as they munch away “” it almost sounds like they are eating potato chips. Other then knowing they eat snails, I realized I knew very little about these nocturnal creatures and decided to learn more about them.
Introduced to California in the 1890s, the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial (pouched mammal) found in North America. Known as “nature’s sanitation engineers,” these solitary omnivores help to keep our environment free of pests and eat snails, slugs, spiders, cockroaches, lizards, rats, mice and snakes. They also eat rotting fruit, nuts and berries that have fallen to the ground.
Opossums are generally the size of a cat and have five fingers on their front and hind paws, with claws on each toe except their “thumb-like” digits. Their tails are prehensile, used for grabbing, hanging and holding small objects, almost like a sixth finger. The female has a fur-lined pouch on the underside of her abdomen where her underdeveloped young live before they are able to go out into the world. After giving birth, the tiny, hairless, fetus-like babies, who are about the size of a navy bean, crawl up their mother’s furry belly and into her pouch. The warm pouch will be their home for the next 50 to 60 days and after that, they will live on their mother’s back for the next four to six weeks.
When placed in a fearful situation, the opossum will play dead or “possum.” This coma-like state can last for up to four hours and is helpful when the opossum evades its predators. However, it can also lead to their demise. Opossums are known to eat “road kill,” and this can put them in a precarious situation since they freeze and play possum in the middle of the road as cars approach.
The opossum is not closely related to rodents and it is not known to transmit rodent-related diseases, especially rabies. In fact, information I read states that dogs and cats are likely to carry more transmittable diseases than the opossum. A true survivor, the opossum has adapted itself to urban environments and will eat garbage and pet food, if it is left outside. To keep opossums working as beneficial animals in our environment and not pests, keep openings to your home secure and do not keep pet food or uncovered garbage outside. This way the opossums can roam around and eliminate unwanted pests on their nightly excursions. If you should find an orphaned baby or injured opossum, you can call Project Wildlife, (619) 225-9202.
” Linda is a local realtor with Coldwell Banker who specializes in historic and architecturally designed homes. She is one of the co-founders of the Secret Garden Tour of Old La Jolla and enjoys working in the garden of her historic La Jolla home. www.LindaMarrone.com.