Emergency Prep · Wildlife
Opossum Joeys
The Pouch Rescue
The opossum on the road is dead — the babies in her pouch may not be. 10 modules on checking a pouch safely, why pulling a joey tears its mouth, the artificial pouch, why rehabbers tube-feed, low-lactose formula, lapping, metabolic bone disease, fleas and anemia, typhus hygiene, and why a 'pet' opossum dies at two.
About this course
North America's only marsupial carries her babies in a pouch — which means a road-killed female often has a dozen live joeys sealed inside her. This course is the roadside protocol: hazard lights, heavy gloves, find the marsupium, feel for movement. Then the step that injures more joeys than cars do: never pull a joey off a teat (the teat swells in its mouth and locks), snip the teat instead. It covers the fleece pouch in a heated tote that stands in for a mother, why hairless joeys can't suckle and must be tube-fed by a rehabber, the low-lactose formula rule, the moment they switch to lapping, the calcium disease that cripples 'pet' opossums, flea anemia, murine typhus hygiene, and why the gentle, docile joey everyone wants to keep dies young in a house.
What you'll learn
- Roadside pouch inspection: secure the scene, heavy gloves, locate the marsupium, palpate for live joeys
- The locking-teat adaptation and the snip-the-teat detachment that spares the mouth
- The artificial pouch: fleece pocket inside a heated tote at 92–95°F with high humidity, dark and quiet
- Why hairless joeys cannot nurse from a bottle and rehabbers gavage-feed them with a flexible tube
- Low-lactose marsupial formula, the lapping transition at 70–100 g, and calcium-balanced weaning
- Metabolic bone disease, flea-induced anemia and manual removal, murine typhus and wet-cleaning hygiene, soft release
Who this is for
Drivers who stop for roadkill, animal-control volunteers, anyone who has found a hairless joey crawling on the asphalt, and the people who've been told opossums make great pets and want to know why that ends badly.
Course outline (10 modules)
Quiz & Certificate
Knowledge quiz
After completing all lessons, take a short quiz to test your understanding.
Go to quiz →Completion certificate
Pass the quiz and earn a shareable certificate of completion.
View certificate →Frequently asked questions
Ready to get started?
$9.99 · Lifetime access · 10 lessons