The call came in early in the morning. A friend had seen a couple of baby opossum next to their dead mother alongside a busy road. It took me some time to get to the area, but I did see the dead opossum and with some searching found two baby male babies crawling around alongside the road.
Baby opossum are cute in that they look something like a cross between a rat and a squirrel. These two guys were already old enough to be weaned and had a soft coat of new fur.
At home, Nancy, the lady I lived with asked what we should call them. She had earlier told me about a radio program she liked called the Bob and Bob show after the names of the two hosts. So Bob and Bob became the names of these two opossum.
They thrived and grew quickly, but because they had become so acclimated to humans I decided that I could not release them. Normally opossum do not live very long anyway. In two years after birth most have died of old age.
Anyway, the front porch of my house was elevated with lots of vacant room underneath. I decided to enclose that area with wire fencing to house Bob and Bob. In addition I constructed a sort of wire area from their enclosure up to the porch itself so they could climb up to show themselves on the porch and where I could take them out so play with them. This worked perfectly. Bob and Bob could feel comfortable in their home underneath the porch, but if they heard Nancy and I sitting on the porch they could come up to visit. Friends were always amazed when after we all spent some time sitting and talking on the porch they would see two opossum climb from below to their place on the porch itself. I would then take them out and show them off to whomever was there.
Bob and Bob thrived. After their second year they were still going strong and even so after their third year. By their 4th year they had slowed down and had begun to have some tumors. These growths became larger and by year 4 ½ they were not doing so well. I knew that they no longer had a quality of life and that they were beginning to suffer so reluctantly I euthanized them.
Of course they still have a place in my heart. They were so gentle and fun. And they brought joy to many who did not know much about opossum. I am pleased that they outlived all of their wild cousins.
