Guess the pet
Keith came in holding a feed bag and asked me to guess what was inside. Snakes are always my first guess followed by my usual response, ‘If that's a snake you’d better get it out of here!’ He knows better than to bring a snake near me.
After reassuring me that it wasn’t a snake I started guessing.
Is it a bird?
No, it’s a baby animal.
Is it a mouse or rat? No.
Is it a raccoon? No, but you’re close.
He reached inside the bag and pulled out a very small opossum which was clinging to his hand with his tail wrapped around Keith’s finger. She has huge pink ears and delicate pink toes, beady little eyes, and a very prominent pouch. An opossum is the only marsupial in America. Keith found her crawling on the road, her mom had been killed. We rarely find young, wild animals on the road in the fall. I named her Irving after my mother’s uncle who also had small eyes, large ears, and gray hair. I called our local DNR agent to ask how we should care for Irving or where we should take her for care. At the moment she's in a warm box and being fed applesauce and milk.
