Oh how special!

Awwwww!! I hope she and the babies stick around for a little while and eat up any bad bugs you might have around.

very cool

Wonderful. Thanks for showing us!

How cute is that??!! I usually only see them along the side of the road, "playing dead" for real :-(

Aaawww...how cute.

Love it!

Oh my gosh, how wonderful!!!

Wow. I've never seen a possum carrying babies and I've lived in the sticks for 25 years!

I've seen ground hog babies running around lost after mama was killed. Same with Fox kits and coyote pups.

What an unexpected treat to find in your yard! Great pictures. Shows that all babies are cute! I think seeing wildlife in one’s yard is the absolute proof of having created a successful garden scape that’s in tune with nature! Congratulations!

I've lived in the country my whole life and I've seen lots of possums, but never saw that !

That is really special tj! I think the pics are fabulous and well worth keeping your distance as not to disturb mom & her brood of Jacks and Jills. Thank you for sharing that, I know it brought a smile to my face.

I adore possums and you're so lucky to have them. I want a bunch in my yard. When I first moved here decades ago, there were some but none since. I love them and they are so beneficial.

WOW! that is awesome!!!! they are a little creepy looking but i would still love to see that!!

we had a family a skunks stroll through our yard about 5 years ago. Assuming it was both parents and 4 babies... it was a sight to see. needless to say we gave them a very wide berth and they strolled on by :)

What a special encounter!

Baby opossums are pretty cute, IMO. Unfortunately, it's an animal known to carry lots of fleas and the ones that live in my yard like to munch on my veggies - especially broccoli - who knew?

They leave my veggies alone, but they do love my compost pile.

tj

Nice , tj

tsuga, that must have been fun to see. Of course baby anythings are delightful. I've seen teenaged, not babies and certainly not Mom carrying them. I think I've seen only one cross this yard since moving here, they were more common in my former neighborhood. Right at the end of that block, not only was there a natural creek running through, there was a large home on a big property with fruit trees and a pretty extensive annual vegetable garden in back. Maybe those things were the draw.

OMG, so cute!!! My husband used to keep his work boots in the garage. One morning he had trouble pulling one of the boots on. Something was in the toe…a sock, maybe? He reached in and found a baby opossum trapped inside.🥴

Keep an eye out for babies. Twice I found ones who had fallen off during the night. One year, I was able to get the wee baby to the animal rescue here, but I don't know if he survived. I adore o'possums! Haven't seen one in years.

So cute!

Super nice Tj

I had one in the yard a few years ago where the babies were less than a few inches...I didn't know what I was seeing at first glance...

Nice little treat!

That's so cute the way the babies hang onto their momma like that! Good timing to get that picture of them!

I see them from time to time…..they are drawn to the cat food on the screen porch. They easily fit through the pet door! If you get close to them, they do hiss like a cat! Never seen babies through. Not something to eat.

debra

So sweet!

tsugajunkie, you're a mother!

wow how sweet is that? thank you for sharing this delight.

Opossum: The original backpacker. I'm about 200 miles northwest of tj, and I'd never seen one until about twenty years ago. One morning I opened the door and started to walk outside when I startled a possum sunning itself on the steps. It was a WTF moment and I called the DNR to ask if they had seen them in this part of the state. They had and said they were slowly expanding north. I've seen a few dead along roadways, but have not seen another live one and wonder if the recent stretch of difficult winters has taken a toll.

Thanks for sharing your photo!

I thought they were noctunal. I know they are very near-sighted. We had a mamma who would follow the outline of our house around the east side and back and west side, which is below our MBR bay window. One morning I pulled up the roman shade on one side of the bay and closed the casement window. It didn't want to close, which is when I looked up at the top of the indoor screen and saw a baby possom clinging to the screen. I'd been about to sandwich him between the screen and the glass. He'd evidently fallen off his 'ride' and scrambled up in the night. He was pretty good size, so I just put him at the creek side of our lot under cover of bushes. (I doubt a vet would do more than euthanize him or use him as fodder for a snake.)

I have always heard Possums are notoriously nonchalant mothers as when the babies fall off they are emancipated. Mom doesn't circle back. Nature is cruel but if all the babies survived we would be up to our armpits in possums. They were introduced here in western Washington in the early 1900's no one knows by whom.

Sweet pics! Thanks for sharing--and they were plenty big enough to enjoy.

Why would you say that?? As long as you can keep them out of your edibles, possums are extremely beneficial in the garden, eating all manner of insect pests, snakes, rodents (like gophers, voles, shrews and rabbits) as well as cleaning up roadkill. Just keep the pet food inside and don't toss raw food scraps on top of your compost.

The possums here are nocturnal.

And they are certainly survivors.

we have lots of possums out here and i love them! they eat thousands of ticks so they can hang around here all day, every day.

Wolf spiders and possums freak me out

It looks like your possums have longer hair than ours do. They probably need a warmer coat in Wisconsin than in Missouri.

if you have persimmons kiss them goodbye, possums will clean them up in one night.

Not many country folk here I see. possum is considered a varmint deadly to poultry, they get into the chicken house at night. Somewhere on line is a recipe for possum and sweet potatoes, not familiar with it myself.

Not many country folk here I see. possum is considered a varmint

i live so far out in the country, i should have my own zip code. raccoons and groundhogs are varmints out here. raccoons are unbelievably destructive and groundhogs will tear up a house/outbuilding foundation before you can count to 10.

possums may carry fleas but my dogs are treated monthly, year around so that just isn't a concern for me. i suffered a tick bite a couple of weeks ago that made me sick for 2 days and the itching, even now, is almost intolerable. if my dogs would leave them alone, i'd invite the possums right into my back yard!!

tj, I have no idea what I meant when I said, “not something to eat.” Lol, lol…..too much wine I guess! I was trying to count the babies——3 or 4 do you think? One winter when we had a first snow fall, our local raccoon mom swung by our deck with her babies——they were jumping and sliding in the the snow…. it was the cutest thing! Keep us posted if the family hangs around!

Debra

I counted seven babies, I was wondering what you meant and figured it had to do with momma looking for something to eat.

tj

Adorable family! Love possums. Did not see many in my woods. They welcome to all ticks and whatever else. In my previous garden they loved my pond.

Holy smokes! Seven babies……poor possum mom really has her arms full!!

debra

So I surprised a mother possum in my backyard a few minutes ago! She had what appeared to be at least 2 tiny babies clinging to her belly. We just stood and looked at each other for a good long while before she took off back into the bushes.

Must be a spring thing...😃

I can hardly wait for the flea bites 😏

I would’t worry too much about fleas, Carol. Pretty much any land mammal can have them, rabbits in particular.

tj

I get bitten when I'm working in my garden, which is next to the shed they've decided to live under ☹️

I wrote a very long (several paragraphs) about possums, but when I went to post, my phone froze up .. having trouble with my internet connection, and I lost it. If I feel up to it tomorrow, I will write it over. I rehabbed wildlife for 23 years... mostly possums. Hundreds a year.

Tsuga, thanks so much for sharing. Keep them coming.

I am in southern New England and we have them but not as many as some places. I have not seen many lately. I usedto put chix bones out for them but that has iss problems.

Marylyn, nice to see you. I am sorry your writing disappeared. that happen’s here. I try to remember to compose anything long on notepad then copypasta to KT.

I always enjoy reading your posts about your animals and environs.