Call of the wild: Gaston Day helping raise baby opossums

Photo by Becca Hurd

By By Kristin Caddick/Gaston Day School

Published: Friday, May 9, 2014 at 04:31 PM.

As spring trends begin to take over Gaston Day School one pair of Jack Rogers at a time, the Head of the Science department, Anne Byford, can be seen sporting a fanny pack with Virginia Opossums hanging out of the front zipper compartment.

The Virginia Opossum, commonly misspelled as possum, are nocturnal marsupials. They have a distinctive white face, gray brown fur and a pink prehensile tail – meaning the tail serves as an extra appendage. It is a common misconception that opossums hang by their tails, however, this is untrue.

The six baby opossums were brought to upper school environmental science teacher Becca Hurd from a Schiele Museum staff member after the opossums’ mother was killed in the wild. A few years ago, Hurd obtained her North Carolina Wildlife Rehabilitator License, allowing her to rehabilitate small mammals. The babies weighed 60-70 grams upon their arrival to Gaston Day and are on a diet consisting of milk and baby food.

There appears to be four boys and two girls from the litter. After seeing the opossums, senior Melike Wilson said, “I now want to be a small mammal rehabilitator just to play with baby opossums all day every day.”

Each opossum is marked with a different color of nailpolish on their tail to identify them. Over the past few weeks, almost all of the opossums have started growing and currently weigh nearly 110 grams.

Baby opossums require specialized care. They are under constant supervision by Hurd and need nesting boxes, heating pads and specialized cages. Hurd uses old pajamas to sew pockets for the babies to nest in. Because the mammals are nocturnal, they are mainly active at night. “They climb the cage, and it’s so funny they scare each other. It’s like a boo fest,” she said.

Hurd plans to keep the opossums until the end of the year. By that time, they should reach around 453 grams, or one pound. Additionally, there is certain criteria that the marsupials are required to meet in order to be released. An example of the criteria is that the opossums should be able to eat roadkill to ensure they can survive in the wild.

As spring trends begin to take over Gaston Day School one pair of Jack Rogers at a time, the Head of the Science department, Anne Byford, can be seen sporting a fanny pack with Virginia Opossums hanging out of the front zipper compartment.

The Virginia Opossum, commonly misspelled as possum, are nocturnal marsupials. They have a distinctive white face, gray brown fur and a pink prehensile tail – meaning the tail serves as an extra appendage. It is a common misconception that opossums hang by their tails, however, this is untrue.

The six baby opossums were brought to upper school environmental science teacher Becca Hurd from a Schiele Museum staff member after the opossums’ mother was killed in the wild. A few years ago, Hurd obtained her North Carolina Wildlife Rehabilitator License, allowing her to rehabilitate small mammals. The babies weighed 60-70 grams upon their arrival to Gaston Day and are on a diet consisting of milk and baby food.

There appears to be four boys and two girls from the litter. After seeing the opossums, senior Melike Wilson said, “I now want to be a small mammal rehabilitator just to play with baby opossums all day every day.”

Each opossum is marked with a different color of nailpolish on their tail to identify them. Over the past few weeks, almost all of the opossums have started growing and currently weigh nearly 110 grams.

Baby opossums require specialized care. They are under constant supervision by Hurd and need nesting boxes, heating pads and specialized cages. Hurd uses old pajamas to sew pockets for the babies to nest in. Because the mammals are nocturnal, they are mainly active at night. “They climb the cage, and it’s so funny they scare each other. It’s like a boo fest,” she said.

Hurd plans to keep the opossums until the end of the year. By that time, they should reach around 453 grams, or one pound. Additionally, there is certain criteria that the marsupials are required to meet in order to be released. An example of the criteria is that the opossums should be able to eat roadkill to ensure they can survive in the wild.

“People bring me things they’ve killed. I have a freezer full of dead snakes and deer parts,” Hurd said.

After meeting the criteria, the litter will be released at night in various locations in hopes that the opossums will easily adjust to their new lives in the wild.