If there’s life there’s hope. Sounds, from your description, that he has at least an abscessed wound with maggots. The best thing to do is keep him warm. Do this by putting a heating pad underneath only one half of the carrier. That way he can choose to be on the warm or cooler side. Let him stay there tonight and get in touch with a rehabber asap tomorrow morning.
https://www.opossum.org/states%20list.html
No problem. If you have a hard time finding a rehabber there are a couple of FB groups that should be able to help you. One is Opossum Medical and Diet Help and the other is Opossum Care and Rescue.
Okay I don’t use Reddit a ton so I’m trying to post an update here: lil man made it through the night! I was contacted by a wildlife rehab center about 3 hours ago and they just called me back with the location to transport him to. He spilled all his water overnight so he’s very stinky and there’s dirty water on the bottom of the kennel now but it will be super temporary as he’s on his way to help. He really likes oranges - I had some that had just turned bad and super squishy and he very happily ate that and a little bit of cat food this morning. I know it may not be the best thing for him but it’s all I have. I don’t have any heavy duty gloves so I didn’t think it would be good to try to take him out and dry things off, I feel like it would be stressful for him too. I would post a picture and video here if I knew how, no idea why I can’t figure it out 😂 I am going to ask the lady to keep me updated on if he recovers but the few people that have seen pics have said they think he’s got a good shot at a full recovery!
I'm so happy that a rehabber called you back! I bet you're so relieved to get that little baby on his way to help. Oranges and cat food were fine. They need calcium. You did a great job.
He probably has maggots from fly strike in the wound. If you have diatomaceous earth you can pack the wound with it and it will kill them in about 6 hours. A rehabber can remove them from inside the wound later if any still are alive. [animal help now](https://ahnow.org) can help find a rehabber if you haven’t been able to get ahold of anyone. Thank you for looking out 🙏🏼
Tina Baumbauer is in florida she is a wild life rehabber. I don’t have direct other than FB messenger contact info. Thank you for taking the time to help this little one.
Okay I think final update unless something major happens - I was able to get him over to a local rehabber on Friday afternoon. She was an absolute trip and I am obsessed with her. I learned so many opossum facts and all about the wildlife rehab org. They have volunteers all over that can take in critters and then a large preserve of land in St. Augustine where they are released once ready to go back into the wild.
A poster in here said something about maggots in the wound - you were absolutely correct. She used ivermectin on the wound to drive them out and also manually extracted so many with her fingers, it was a sight to see. Some were fairly large so she let me know it was good I came across him when I did and that she had seen worse with recovery. Once the wound was clear of maggots he got some pain medication and within a few hours he felt good enough to hiss (hadn’t done so yet even with all my handling or the manual bug extraction) and had some grapes and eggs. The lady who took him in is also drowning in baby raccoons til they’re ready for release, so once he was situated she got him over to another volunteer nearby since they don’t tend to get along. As of today he’s still kicking which means the maggots likely didn’t get too far inside him or hit his organs, so we are probably in the clear!
This is through the Wildlife Rescue Coalition of NE Florida, so if anyone is in the Duval/St Johns area these are your people! If you ever have old clothes or towels or fruit that’s about to go bad she said they can always use stuff like that. Entirely volunteer based and funded, no government funding.
https://wildlifecoalition.com
If you’re in another area definitely look into orgs near you, I’m so happy to know there’s people that do this. Faith in humanity restored!
P.S. thank you all for the nice comments
P.P.S. His name is Larry
If there’s life there’s hope. Sounds, from your description, that he has at least an abscessed wound with maggots. The best thing to do is keep him warm. Do this by putting a heating pad underneath only one half of the carrier. That way he can choose to be on the warm or cooler side. Let him stay there tonight and get in touch with a rehabber asap tomorrow morning. https://www.opossum.org/states%20list.html
Thank you so much! I appreciate this more than you know. Really pulling for him to make it 🫶🏻
No problem. If you have a hard time finding a rehabber there are a couple of FB groups that should be able to help you. One is Opossum Medical and Diet Help and the other is Opossum Care and Rescue.
Please keep us posted!
Okay I don’t use Reddit a ton so I’m trying to post an update here: lil man made it through the night! I was contacted by a wildlife rehab center about 3 hours ago and they just called me back with the location to transport him to. He spilled all his water overnight so he’s very stinky and there’s dirty water on the bottom of the kennel now but it will be super temporary as he’s on his way to help. He really likes oranges - I had some that had just turned bad and super squishy and he very happily ate that and a little bit of cat food this morning. I know it may not be the best thing for him but it’s all I have. I don’t have any heavy duty gloves so I didn’t think it would be good to try to take him out and dry things off, I feel like it would be stressful for him too. I would post a picture and video here if I knew how, no idea why I can’t figure it out 😂 I am going to ask the lady to keep me updated on if he recovers but the few people that have seen pics have said they think he’s got a good shot at a full recovery!
You did a great job!!
Yay!!!! You are a wonderful person!
Awe awesome just ignore my other post i have no idea how to delete it.
I'm so happy that a rehabber called you back! I bet you're so relieved to get that little baby on his way to help. Oranges and cat food were fine. They need calcium. You did a great job.
Thanks for the update and for taking care of the little fella!
You are such a lovely soul - prayers this little fella is able to heal and get to a rehabber asap, and blessings to you for caring and helping him 🥹💕!
He probably has maggots from fly strike in the wound. If you have diatomaceous earth you can pack the wound with it and it will kill them in about 6 hours. A rehabber can remove them from inside the wound later if any still are alive. [animal help now](https://ahnow.org) can help find a rehabber if you haven’t been able to get ahold of anyone. Thank you for looking out 🙏🏼
I hope we can get updates and pics!!! Thank you for saving this baby!! ❤️
Tina Baumbauer is in florida she is a wild life rehabber. I don’t have direct other than FB messenger contact info. Thank you for taking the time to help this little one.
Okay I think final update unless something major happens - I was able to get him over to a local rehabber on Friday afternoon. She was an absolute trip and I am obsessed with her. I learned so many opossum facts and all about the wildlife rehab org. They have volunteers all over that can take in critters and then a large preserve of land in St. Augustine where they are released once ready to go back into the wild. A poster in here said something about maggots in the wound - you were absolutely correct. She used ivermectin on the wound to drive them out and also manually extracted so many with her fingers, it was a sight to see. Some were fairly large so she let me know it was good I came across him when I did and that she had seen worse with recovery. Once the wound was clear of maggots he got some pain medication and within a few hours he felt good enough to hiss (hadn’t done so yet even with all my handling or the manual bug extraction) and had some grapes and eggs. The lady who took him in is also drowning in baby raccoons til they’re ready for release, so once he was situated she got him over to another volunteer nearby since they don’t tend to get along. As of today he’s still kicking which means the maggots likely didn’t get too far inside him or hit his organs, so we are probably in the clear! This is through the Wildlife Rescue Coalition of NE Florida, so if anyone is in the Duval/St Johns area these are your people! If you ever have old clothes or towels or fruit that’s about to go bad she said they can always use stuff like that. Entirely volunteer based and funded, no government funding. https://wildlifecoalition.com If you’re in another area definitely look into orgs near you, I’m so happy to know there’s people that do this. Faith in humanity restored! P.S. thank you all for the nice comments P.P.S. His name is Larry