I've never had a pet rat, but I understand they're incredibly smart. I adore bats and on any farm I'd have, I would build a bat barn for shelter (and for my own purposes - the guano is excellent fertilizer and as has already been noted, they're the best mosquito control). Until we get a handle on the white nose syndrome and start reclaiming bat habitat, I am very worried about our bats.
I have three possums come into my life. One was hit and stunned and lying on a road. A second was crawling across a road slowly. He had a hernia. And this fall, I found a dead mother possum with one of her babies tossed to the side and dead. When I went to move her body, I noticed movement inside her. There was a little one still alive.
I took the two first possums that I found on the road to a vet in Baltimore (where I was living) who was a wildlife rehabilitator. Both did terrifically with treatment and were re-released over time.
The baby opossum I found this fall was discovered on the road late at night. I let her stay in her mother's pouch all night in a box inside and with blankets over them both (warmth is an issue). The next morning I found that my regular vet, who is a rehabilitator, was out of town but his office referred to another vet a little farther away. The baby was still alive but not moving as much.
The other vet did take her right away and they nursed her as the mother would have and did a great job with her. I felt pretty blessed being given the opportunity to be some part of each of these stories. I don't know why the mature opossums let me touch them and move them into my car. I prayed and talked to them before I did and used a blanket. But that they trust me is one of the coolest things ever.
Thank you for this thread, Nat, and I've enjoyed the posts here. I think myself lucky to live in a world with a wide and beautiful variety of species.
