Virginia+opossum

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//Didelphis virginiana// Order: Marsupialia

=**__Husbandry Information__**=

Housing Requirements

 * Blank Park Zoo - tall, rolling cage 3x3x6 with shelves and a crate or box for a hidey hole. Our female liked to curl up in blankets and towels.
 * Zoo Atlanta- We house our opossums outdoors year round. We have one 10x10x8 enclosure and one 9x6x8 enclosure. Animals are housed seperately.
 * Heat lamps are provided at temperaturs of 25 F or lower. At temperatures of 35 F we provide extra bedding material (towels for our off exhibit animals, leaves for our on exhibit animals). Our opossums are provided with a nest box that is about 4 feet long to enable to choose to sleep directly under the heat or away from it.
 * We provide a frozen water bottle wrapped in a towel at temperatures of 85 F and above.
 * We provide mulch substrate that is turned 3-4 times per week depending on weather.
 * They consistently use a litter box with mulch in it as well which reduces the need for frequent substrate changes.
 * All food is offered in feeder toys for our younger opposums.
 * Climbing structures are priovided and utilized regularly.

Diet Requirements
>> **__Monday, Wednesday & Friday AM & PM__** >> 18g Science Diet Light Adult Dog Food >> ½ of a Capelin >> 1 Cricket AM; 1 Mealworm PM >> 1 tsp Canned Dog Food (Science Diet Light) >> 3g Kale >> 5g Banana or Apple >> 5g Melon or other low sugar fruit >> 2g Cucumber
 * In the wild, Virginia opossums eat lizards, frogs, mice, rats, rabbits, invertebrates, carrion, fruits, nuts, seeds, and grasses.
 * Diet at Happy Hollow Park and Zoo:
 * 3 oz. maintenance (i.e., low fat) premium brand dog food (like Nutro) and 4.5 oz. chopped mix daily. The mix is whatever is available at the commissary, and can be any combination of fruits and veggies.
 * 3 mealworms or crickets and half a hard-boiled egg three days a week
 * 1 mouse once a week
 * Diet at Nashville Zoo:
 * Mazuri omnivore -- 30 to 50 grams, total. In the past, we have given Mazuri exotic feline small and dry dog food as well, but omnivore is preferable
 * variety of produce, including turnip greens, sweet potato, papaya, grapes, melon, broccoli, kiwi, apple, and any other seasonal produce available, offered in small amounts, for variety -- 70 to 90 grams, total
 * nightcrawlers
 * Enrichment food: small amounts of egg, crickets, wax worms, or mealworms
 * Training food: VERY small amounts of Bird of Prey mean, peanut butter, honey, crackers, cereal -- 2 to 10 grams for both training and enrichment foods
 * If we have young animals that are growing, we will also offer fish and yogurt
 * Diet at Zoo Atlanta
 * Mazuri omnivore chow (18%), frozen crickets (15%), squash and zuchini (15%), and sweet potato and carrots (50%). We also offer about 1/4 can of science diet cat food two times per week.
 * Our younger opossum finishes his food daily so we use his regular diet for training. We use the insects, omnivore chow, and cat food for training for our older opossum.
 * Diet at Blank Park Zoo
 * **0.1** **Virginia Opossum**
 * **Same diet on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday** except replaced banana or apple with 10g Romaine lettuce and replaced cucumber with 2g carrot
 * **ENRICHMENT** – 6 g of vegetables 3X a week, Once a week boiled egg (if given, do not give canned dog food), Fruits and Vegetables - cantaloupe, orange, coconut, onion, tomato, watermelon, pumpkin, yam, strawberry, broccoli, corn; other enrichment items - jello, honey (very small smear), night crawler, mixed nuts(if given do not give canned dog food), pinky, 1 grape

Veterinary Concerns

 * This species has a strong tendency toward obesity so careful diet management and regular exercise are important to maintain a healthy condition.

Notes on Enrichment & Training

 * Our female loved to go outside and take long walks. Because of her weight we let her our in a grassy area behind the scenes and let her walk as we followed. She was partially or mostly blind so we did not worry about her getting away from us. We did have to watch her in the grass because she liked to find and eat rabbit poop.
 * Due to their limited vision, target training can be difficult. Some facilities have used some scent, or a rattle integrated into the target stick.

=__Programmatic Information__=

Tips on Presentation

 * Zoo Atlanta presents opossusm in the hand. We use a flat hand/arm presentation and allow the animal to stand on the forearms.
 * We do not allow public to touch opossums due to the variety of potentially zoonotic parasites they are known to carry
 * Zoo Atlanta uses a top-loading kennel for removing an opossum from the carrier so that no one is reaching toward their face. The alternative we use is to allow the opossum to leave the crate on its own and pick it up as it exits the crate (we do this only indoors).
 * Zoo Atlanta has harness trained one opossum who did not tolerate being handled when he was younger and he can now presented on leash or in the hand.

Tips on Handling

 * Variation in temperament has been noted at several institutions. Some animals seem to have a more easygoing temperament and tolerate handling well while others gape and sometimes bite while being handled. This did not seem to be strongly tied with sex or if an animal had been neutered. It may be best to look for animals that are less reactive when young and then desensitize them to the presence of humans and with positive reinforcement training.
 * The bite delivered by an adult opossum is potentially very damaging. It is important to wear thick gloves if handling an animal that may be likely to bite. Even with thick gloves on, expect bruising.
 * At the Seneca Park Zoo we have had both rehabbed adults and hand raised ones. The rehabbed adults needed gloves to be handled but, rarely attempted to bite. The hand raised ones were very imprinted and tamed. There was no need to where gloves. We also found that females are more friendly than males.
 * At Blank Park Zoo we did not have a problem with biting but our vet recommended/required us to use gloves due to leptospirosis (sp?).
 * At Zoo Atlanta we use gloves to handle one animal that was a biter when he was younger
 * Zoo Atlanta offers treats to our opossums as we pick them up. We have found that they now usually wake when their names are called and aproach the handlers readily. This is not generally the case if it is very cold out and they are snuggled in their nest box though.

Potential Messaging
> pretty much all plastic and Styrofoam.) do not biodegrade. Whether items made of these materials are thrown on the ground as litter or thrown away in the trash, they tend to end up in our rivers and oceans, each piece staying in these ecosystems for decades or centuries. Large pieces of plastic float in the water or wash up on the shore, often animals. Smaller pieces are mistaken for food and eaten by many species. Please ask zoo guests to avoid disposable plastic and Styrofoam packaging, opting for re-usable alternatives: cloth tote bags instead of plastic grocery bags, filtered tap water instead of bottled water, re-useable plastic food storage (like Rubbermaid containers) instead of Styrofoam boxes. Ask them to recycle plastic rather than throwing it away and to purchase products that are made of recycled materials. Participating in a beach or river clean-up is also a great idea. [|http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/plastic-ocean/[[http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/water-bottle-pollution/]]]
 * Only marsupial in the United States.
 * Great defense mechanisms.
 * Important scavengers.
 * Plastic/Styrofoam – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Conventional plastic and Styrofoam (That’s

=__Acquisition Information__=


 * Local rehab centers. Ga law requires releasable animals to be released so we are notified of young animals that cannot be released due to human habituation, We also have aquired while caught youngsters from other states.
 * Zoo Atlanta uses both a neutured male and an intact male for presentation.

=__Comments from the Rating System__=
 * CuriOdyssey: Clear messaging (defenses, habitats, food web, adaptations); Easy to train but most "show behaviors" consist of A to B travel.
 * Henry Vilas Zoo: Large enough for large audiences to see; native mammal; native marsupial; ours are non-contact for the public.
 * Natural Science Center of Greensboro: Males can get bitey.
 * Philadelphia Zoo: Not long-lived enough to get the time investment back; tendency towards obesity; some individuals have a biting tendency
 * Zoo America: We've had biting issues with males, so we prefer females.

=__Natural History Information__=

Range and Habitat
Virginia opossums are found in North America, New Hampshire west to Colorado, southern Ontario south to Costa Rica. They prefer moist wetlands or thick brush near streams and swamps.

Physical Description
The coloration can be gray, black, reddish, or (in rare cases) white. The pelage consists of under-fur and white-tipped guard hairs. The prehensile tail is about 12 inches long. Each hind foot has a clawless, opposable thumb. Average length is 30 inches, head to tail. Virginia opossums can weigh anywhere from 4 to 15 pounds.

Life Cycle
Usually, two litters are produced each year - one in February and one in June, although young opossums have been observed as early as January 24th and as late as August 15th. Each litter can number 5 to 21 young, which are born after a gestation period of 11 to 12 days. The young are about the size of a bee when they are born; they will each crawl up to a fur-lined pouch on their mother's abdomen. Once in the pouch, each baby opossum will find a nipple and begin to nurse. As soon as nursing begins, the nipple will swell and completely fill the baby's mouth, thereby firmly attaching it to its mother. The young will stay in the pouch, drinking milk and continuing to develop, for about 2 months. Since most female opossums only have up to 13 teats, young born in larger litters need to quickly find a nipple - those too slow are left without and will quickly die. Average lifespan is 2 to 3 years.

Behavior
Virginia opossums are nocturnal, solitary, and anti-social, either avoiding others of their kind or acting aggressively towards them. Virginia opossums do feign death as a defense mechanism. Vocalizations include hisses, growls, screeches, clicking and lip smacking. The latter two are used by females to communicate with their young, and by males in aggressive displays during mating season. The lip smacking does seem to start at sexual maturity.

Threats and Conservation Status
Common predators include foxes, coyotes, great horned owls, and barred owls. Humans hunt Virginia oposums for their fur (which is not considered particularly valuable but can still be used for trimming) and for their meat (which many consider a delicacy.) They have no special conservation status.

=__Did you know…__=
 * The Virginia opossum is the only living marsupial in North America.
 * Opossums are not the same thing as possums. Opossums range from North America to southern Argentina and contain 15 genera with over 60 species. Possums are found in Australia with over 20 species. They are all marsupials, but opossums and possums are only distantly related within the same subclass.
 * Virginia opossums have 50 teeth - more than any other land animal.
 * Virginia opossums are only able to hang from their tails when they are young - full-grown adults are incapable of supporting themselves by their tails.

=__Photographs__=

=__Contributors and Citations__=
 * The Philadelphia Zoo
 * Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, San Jose
 * Nashville Zoo at Grassmere
 * Atlanta Zoo
 * Houston Zoo, Natural Encounters