Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the people and rescues making a difference in the lives of animals. Today I am thrilled to be joined by Jenni Johnson of Opie Earth. Jenni is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, and she does the tireless work of rescuing, rehabbing, and releasing possums. Jenni, thank you so much for being here to talk about Opie Earth today.

Thank you for having me.

I'm interested in learning how you got started with Opie Earth and in wildlife rehab.

This is my third year as a licensed rehabber, but I signed on as a sub permitee way back in 2019, I think it was. And I just found a couple of baby squirrels in my yard and I called and called and called, and I could not find. One single person in my area to help me with them. I had no idea what to do. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna try to fix that. So I made some more phone calls and I think I pestered the director of permits at that time,. But she got me in touch or gave me a list of people to call to try to get signed on as a sub-permitee. And then I just went from there. I got signed on. With a licensed rehabber and did some training with her and just went from there.

How was the training? What did you learn as a sub permittee?

Oh man, as a sub permittee for me, everything, because I started, I didn't know what anything was. Nothing. Zero an alack. I'm like, what's an alack, what's a miracle nipple? What's, any of this. So it was all learning for me, everything from. Like triage to how to feed 'em, how to hold an animal, how to do anything from start to finish. It was all new for me. So pretty much everything was a learning experience when, I guess the most that I learned right in the beginning was like proper caging and feeding. And then, just little things from there how to prepare 'em for release their diet based on different species and everything. Pretty much everything. At the time it was just squirrel. It wasn't possums back then. I didn't start doing the possums until maybe two years after I first started, and that was a whole nother thing. 'cause possums are nothing like squirrel. So it was like I had to start learning all over again. Their diet and their care and how, to get them set up for. Release into the wild. Lots of different things. But being a sub permittee, I learned, just the basics I guess until I got set up here at my house. And then as I got more comfortable. She let me do things, more on my own.

You started with squirrels and then you got involved in possums, and now your organization is called Opie Earth. Is that because you primarily do possums now?

Yeah, that's it. I broke it down to just the possums because they're a lot harder to find placement for, especially the Joey's, the ones that are under 30 grams because they have to be tube fed. A lot of rehabbers, they work full-time jobs too, so they don't really have the time schedule for the little tiny babies. And I'm a stay at home mom, so I. Decided, I have the time, I can, take 'em here. And everybody wants to do squirrel. Every single person wants to rehab squirrels or raccoons or those species. So it's a lot harder to find placement for possums. So I just decided I would, I'd stick with that species 'cause they're the hardest to find placement for. That's how Opie Earth came about. I just decided to stick with that.

Did you like possums before this or did you just come to learn to like possums through the rehab work?

I really didn't know anything about 'em at all. Same thing with squirrels. I hadn't really thought about any of it until I found them in my yard. And then the Joeys, I just. I had a soft spot for 'em because for one, they were telling us in our class, they said that they're not viable at a certain stage because, they have to be tube fed and not to mess with them. And I was like wait a second. It's not that they're not viable, it's just difficult. So I was like I'm just gonna focus on that then, to make sure that they can have a place to go. 'Cause they're not as lucky to find a rehab as some of the other species.

Do you find that people have misconceptions when it comes to possums?

I do. Yeah, I hear that a lot. A lot of the time people think they're nasty or they're mean, or, they dig holes, which is a big misconception. They don't, they're not gonna dig up your yard. They have rabies, which is another misconception.

I notice a lot of people don't like 'em specifically 'cause they do that smile at you. And I've always thought possums were cute. I've never had a problem with a possum. I know there's a lot of people that think they're a really ugly animal, but I know they can look a little bit scary when they do that smile thing, but it's mainly to just scare you off. It's not even anything like they're gonna come, lunge at you and attack at you like a dog would.

Yeah. And they have that, when they say play dead, they don't do that on purpose. It's like a form of narcolepsy where they're in so much fear that it literally makes 'em pass out. So I feel it bad for 'em, imagine being so terrified in that moment that you literally pass out, it's called thananosis, so it's not that they're playing possum, it's like they're seriously that terrified that it knocks 'em out cold. I feel bad for 'em.

I didn't know that. I thought that they could intentionally do that, or that was like

a, a defense mechanism.

No, I didn't realize it was like a fear induced thing. That is sad.

Yeah. Yeah. It's completely involuntary, so I do have a soft spot for 'em. And then the tiny Joey's too, if you were to call me and say you had an adult that was injured, I'd be like, oh no. I have no idea. Don't you know I can't help you with that. 'cause I really can't. I don't know anything about an adult possum or an injured one, or a medical case. I don't deal with those things at all on a regular basis. In that area. I would refer you to somebody else that would specialize in that. I'm more focused on the little tiny ones, but if it's an adult like that, I raise, I know what to do, but I wouldn't really know what to do with, an adult medical case.

Do the Joeys ever play dead?

I haven't really seen 'em before. Not the tiny ones. I don't think, 'cause I think of when they're here, they're used to their routine before that, that kicks in. I haven't when they get older and they're in the back, and if I come in and spook 'em, they'll do that open mouth thing like, oh geez, you gave me a spook. And they'll open their mouth at me when they're little. But I've never really had any do the pass out thing from being scared. But they can, I'm sure the little ones like in the wild, if they're running around in the wild and they're small, I'm sure that they can.

Explain. What a Joey is. And then when you say that you don't do any that are past a certain size, when they reach that size, at that point, what do you do with them?

When they can eat on their own. So the mom. I don't know where exactly to start with that because she's only pregnant for about 12 days and then they come out the birth canal and they're about the size of a jelly bean. They're like super tiny, and they wiggle up the birth canal and they get into the mom's pouch and they latch onto a nipple and they swallow it. And then their mouth will start to fuse around the mom's teet and that's where they'll stay essentially. And finish developing in her pouch instead of in the womb, let's say the mom got hit by a car and the little babies are in the pouch still, they're still essentially being tube fed. That membrane that fused around the nipple is still there. Their mouth is sealed, it is not a squirrel where you can just put in a nipple in there and nurse 'em. They have to be tube fed because they have that membrane right there. It's about two or three months it takes for them to be able to come out on their own. Their eyes don't open until about 70 days or so. All their development is essentially done in the mom's pouch, the Joey is just the baby and I specifically just take them smaller ones, because a lot of people just don't want to tube feed. It's very time consuming. And people just don't have the time for it. Around a certain gram weight, when they can start eating on their own, it's a lot better. 'cause they just start lapping out of a little dish,. So they're a lot easier to take and care for other people. You can get 'em cleaned up and set up and they're eating on their own. You don't have to make sure that they're on that feeding schedule at a certain time every day.

Once they reach that certain gram weight where they are actually lapping up the food on their own, do you give them to a different rehabber at that point until it'd be time to release

no, I finish it out here. Each one, I cycle 'em out. They start out on a heating pad and a little tote and like a little neo center. And then once they do start eating on their own, I move them to the back in the rehab room. I have a whole separate room where they go in and then once they age out of a tote they go in cages and then they cycle through, the cages to the pre-release outside. And then they get released after a couple weeks. So I finish out, from start to finish here, I don't do any kind of transfers or anything.

People sometimes they will find a possum, and I have heard that if the possum is say eight inches, that's long enough to be on their own. At what size do you release them back?

I release at in between one and a half pounds and two pounds. And they have to meet a certain criteria, if I have a one and a half pound possum or a two pound possum, that is. Not eating solid food yet, or refuses to wrap up nesting material with his tail or, it's just not checking them boxes off or being a good candidate in the wild. I'll hold it for a little longer, if I got a possum that's a pound and a half and, eating on his own and it's climbing and showing all the signs where. It does have its defense where it is showing its teeth at me when I come in, I'll go ahead and put 'em out in pre-release or if they're already out there, I'll go ahead and release 'em. So it just depends my rule of thumb is if you call me and you found a baby and. It's as big as a Coke can. The body with, without the tail. You have to have the tail on there too. The just the body has to be bigger than a Coke can. And then to put a tail on it, then it probably fell off mom and was ready to try to start on its own in the wild. I know it looks small and it is, tiny, but they fall off when they're pretty little. I would say that it would be on its own adventure or just starting out on its own.

When you take 'em, do they have fur or do they not have their fur yet?

No, they don't. Sometimes like painted, we call it painted fur, like it's just barely coming in.

Can you walk us through like a typical day of taking care of 'em?

All it is feeding. That's mostly the babies. I make the formula and then it's just feeding babies one after another over and over again. I wait for the little milk line. I go by their belly band. You can see the milk in their tummy when you put it in there, and I wait and see when that is dissolved. Or gone and feed 'em again. And it just depends. It's usually in between two or three hours. Sometimes it's every 90 minutes. Especially if you get one in that's critical or that, let's say, been without for a while, a day or two. I do a every 90 minute rehydrating before introducing formula. And that's pretty much it for the first part of it until they get to where they're eating on their own or lapping on their own. And then it's just cleaning up and making sure that they have their food or formula.

What kind of tube is it that you have to use to feed them when they're that little?

I use a couple of different kinds. I use a Utah Medical for really tiny babies. And then I'll use purple possum brand tube for maybe 15 grams and up. So it just depends on the baby. If they still have that mouth, membrane that I was talking about, I'll use the tiny little lumen tube 'cause it's smaller diameter. And it has more of a tapered end on it. So it seems to work better for the super small babies.

Does the tube actually go into their stomach?

It goes all the way down into the stomach and then I'll push the plunger on the syringe and then pinch the tube off before you pull it out. And then that's it. It's a easy process. possum moms. They never have just one or two babies. It's always gotta be like nine. When you get a call for 'em. It's usually between seven or nine. So it's a lot I get, i'll take probably in between 25 to. Maybe 40 at a time. I think. I try not to take 40 babies at one time, that's a lot of feeding, it goes quick sometimes, but usually by the time I get done feeding one group, I'm starting right back at the beginning of feeding another group. So it's a lot, When you have several babies it's very time consuming sometimes.

Yeah, I can imagine. I do bottle feeding for kittens I know the routine on 'em, when we do the kittens, it's really, maybe critical for the first week and after that first week. When the kittens, eyes start opening, you can start extending those feedings out and you can actually start getting a little bit of sleep. But when it comes to, sleep deprivation with bottle feeding kittens, really it's maybe two weeks. And then once you reach two and a half weeks of bottle feeding, then you can get some kind of sleep at night. So how does that work with possums? Like how would that be similar with you feeding that many of 'em? Like how long is it that critical that they have to get that food every 90 minutes, every two hours?

I'll do at least one overnight feeding up until they're eating on their own. And that can vary between groups of babies but for me during baby season, it never really ends. Once there's always joey's it seems that come in that need overnight feedings so it's hard to say. 'Cause usually usually if I get a group of, we call 'em Lappers at that stage, when they finally start, eating on their own, I'll get, let's say two or three groups. Lap it on their own. I'll get a call and then I'll get nine or seven more babies that are right back on a tube feeding schedule again, where you're right back at the, every couple hours. So it's pretty much the next several months here, starting any day now., I probably won't sleep a full night. Until next February maybe. So it's a kinda never ending for us. But that's why I do it though, that's a huge commitment. Some people have, their jobs that they do and it just, it never ends. It really doesn't, like the nighttimes and I'm nuts, cuckoo. Come June, I am like, who am I? Where am I? Is this my house? Do I live here? 'Cause it's just babies. Feeding feeding. There really isn't an end it seems and then finally you get a little break, and then the second heat. Starts again. It's like they have two different heats, so you know, you catch you maybe a little bit of a break, but it's pretty much, all night, at least one overnight feeding, usually two right in the beginning probably for the next several months for me.

With kittens, we also have to stimulate them to go to the bathroom. Do you have to stimulate the possums as well?

Sure do.

And is that after every single feeding?

Yeah. I do it before too sometimes. Just 'cause it's easier, I feel like it's uncomfortable for them to fill 'em up when they have to go to the bathroom, like I wouldn't wanna eat food if I had to pee really bad. So I'll try to stimulate 'em before I feed 'em.

Yeah, I tend to do the same thing with the kittens. I like to do it before I feed 'em. I find they eat better for me. I know you know it's a little bit different what you're saying with the tube feeding because with the tube feeding, you put the tube in, you basically are squirting the food through the syringe. Whereas with the kittens, we actually have to get 'em to suckle, which is a pain sometimes. 'cause sometimes

they just

do not wanna do it.

They don't wanna latch on. I know I was just telling somebody that yesterday, I am like, it's so much easier to tube feed. 'cause I can tube feed 10 possums in 60 seconds or, it's just bam. It's done. If you're feeding, let's say kittens or puppies, you have to. Wait for him to latch on and then take a break. Or if he falls asleep, you gotta wake him up. There's a lot of hands on there. It's not just, real quick and done and then you potty 'em and then they're finished for, the next hour or two. So my hat goes off to all the hand feeders that do that. It's definitely a different world. I wish I could tube feed everything because it's easier. I think

How do you know when they're weaning? Because for kittens and puppies, they usually will start chewing the nipple. And so that's when we know that it's time to go to a gruel. Then you try to start letting them lap it off of your finger or a shallow dish. So with a possum. With a joey, how do you know?

It's the same thing. They open their eyes and they start. I call it the wobble stage. Where they find in their feet and finding their legs and they'll start taking little steps and wobbling around when they hit that wobble stage. I know I'm really close. I'm like maybe a week you'll be eaten. But I don't even try to get 'em to start until they're not. Wobbling anymore. 'cause the aspiration, I don't want their head to fall in the little lap pad. Do y'all use the little lap lick mat things? The like little lapi pad? It's got the grooves and stuff in it.

I do not. In fact, I've never heard of those. I'll have to look it up. 'cause I always look for something that's easier. For me personally, like what I like to do. Is I will always let them start, like by licking it off of my finger.

Yeah. Yep.

And then that's

a good sign.

Yeah. Sometimes I have a very shallow dish that I use. Or even I'm gonna say the height of the top of a baby food jar. It's a very shallow dish. Yeah, sometimes they'll take to that right away, but the kittens, they swim in cat food is what we call it basically. And sometimes they'll take to it real easy, but then you get these other ones that won't. So at that point, what I'll do is to teach them to like actually like lap outta something. I'll get a baby spoon. And I'll hold up a baby spoon. Oh yeah. And then they'll be able to, that's a good idea to lap it out of that. 'cause I know like with the kittens, a lot of the times it's the head orientation for them because when you're bottle feeding them, you're bottle feeding them when their head is upright. So then when they start eating food, they have to go from upright to down in the dish. Yeah. And a lot of 'em have difficulty with that orientation. So you'll get some that take to it right away. It's not a problem. And then you'll get other ones where you really have to struggle to show 'em,

Right where they

have to go. So

Yeah, it's the same. Like I'll use my finger and show 'em. 'cause lapping isn't a natural instinct type thing for possums. Like mom doesn't, show 'em, like how to lap either. So I'll take the little lapping pad and I might put like the tiniest little smear of yogurt on it because the yogurt's a little bit more stable. It's not, fluid, like the formula and going all over the place. It's, they can touch it and lick it off of their hand. So I'll use, just a little touch of yogurt on the mat and show 'em where it is or on my finger too. I never thought about using a spoon. Now that's actually a pretty good idea. It's mostly just the lapping pad and when they start being curious and walking around. Good. I'll show 'em, where their little lick mat is and it doesn't take, it doesn't take 'em too long to figure it out. They got some pretty good sniffers, and they're very food motivated. And once they get going, it's good to go from there. They don't, they don't really object to it,

yeah, I know the kittens can be stubborn sometimes you'll get one of 'em that will wean right away or actually wanna get off the bottle right away. And then you get these other ones and it'll be like five weeks. And it's y'all should not be on a bottle anymore.

I try not to still be tubing babies. If they have teeth in there. If they have teeth and they're chewing on the tube and they're fighting me, they're turning their head back, left and right trying to fight the tube. I'm like, Nope you're gonna have to start finding the lap and pad. You can call it tough love. I'll have to spend, extra time making sure. Trying to get 'em to self feed. 'Cause I find I make more mistakes if I'm trying to tube babies and they're fighting the tube and they're moving their head and they're struggling and they're biting it. A lot of mistakes can be made, you putting a tube in the wrong. On the wrong hole, 'cause they're moving around so much. I feel like it's better to get 'em started earlier. So if they got teeth starting and they're starting to walk around real good, they should be lapping by then and here for me anyway. As to not make any mistakes with them with the tube.

Let's say somebody finds a small baby possum. It's got fur on it. It's not the size of a Coke can, like you had mentioned and it's got teeth at that point. If you took that one in, would you be offering it food in a dish or would you have to do some kind of bottle or tube feeding?

They probably would be eating on their own. I'd probably would still be doing formula, but they're probably ready for solid food too, or at least a semi solid diet. Some rehabers make like a smoothie mix where they blend everything up for 'em. I do that sometimes, but not so much anymore 'cause it's very time consuming. Now I'll just chop everything up really fine, or I'll use a cheese grater and shred everything for 'em and offer 'em that mixed in their formula. So it looks really nasty. It's like a bunch of wet vegetables, and milk to give them that. I try to get 'em started on solids too pretty early. I found that using the either chopped really fine or shredded the earlier they start that, the better. And then you can just keep increasing the size of the vegetables as they grow. And eventually they should just be eating, big salad, normal chunks at home. But if I that would probably be too big for me if I saw the picture. It's probably gonna be over 30 grams, so I don't get very many babies that already have teeth and stuff that come in here or, they gotta be pretty tiny but if they're that big, they should probably be eating solid food for sure. At that stage.

What kind of solid food do you feed them?

It's a balance of fresh vegetables and a little tiny bit of fruit and a little tiny bit of protein. They get metabolic bone disease like squirrels do. So it's a very balanced diet. It's critical. The ratios are critical to make sure that it doesn't pull out all the calcium out of their bones. So it's mostly vegetables that I do. It may be like a couple little pieces of fruit. Not very much fruit at all.

What is this metabolic bone disease?

It's when the calcium is just completely depleted and it, their bones turn brittle and they get all bent and bowed and broken and even moving, just a small, tiny little bit can break their bones. It's horrible. It's life-threatening. It's a slow, miserable, painful death that a lot of people don't know about, especially with squirrels. Everybody thinks squirrels eat nuts and they do, their diet's primarily vegetable based. So same thing with possums. A lot of people think they eat this and they eat that, or they eat trash and all this. Which they do. But in rehab, we have to make sure to follow a very specific calcium to phosphorus ratio to make sure they don't get metabolic bone disease. 'Cause once you get it, it's debilitating. I stick to a MVD diet protocol sheet where it's pretty much the same thing, the same vegetables and fruit, little bit of fruit. And then they get they get protein, added with that. They get their daily protein and then they get extra protein a couple days a week. When they're adult or when they're older. So not tiny babies.

What would you say is

the

biggest mistake that people make when they find a baby possum?

It would probably be the diet. A lot of Google information is wrong, the formula is wrong and Google's not ever been my friend in this rehab thing. A lot of Google information diets have been more harmful, than helpful. A lot of the time people wanna feed kitten formula to possums. And it's not what I would feed them. As far as a little tiny Joey I've had people, try to rip their mouth open 'cause they weren't aware of that little membrane and try to shove a syringe in their mouth because, they're trying to help hydrate it. It's, they feel bad and know that it's probably dehydrated. So they'll try to offer water with a syringe and they don't realize the mouth membrane is there and it'll be torn. That's the most common mistake for a little one. If they did that,

would that cause them to aspirate as well?

For the baby, yeah. It does. 'Cause a little tiny Joeys don't nurse like other mammals do.

Right.

It would probably just get all over their face.

Wow. I didn't know that people would actually try to open their mouths if they had a membrane there closing it. That's crazy.

Oh, you don't even, oh girl. I've had so many, I've had people use weird objects to try to tube feed possums before, and then I've seen like the back of their throats torn out and

Oh my god.

Like a, yeah, like milk abscesses pushed. The skin from people poking through the back of their throat and it's, please don't feed babies if you find them it's heartbreaking. I had two litters last season that were they had the ripped mouth where, you know, and they're like we were trying to help. And it's I know, but you can't. You can't rip the mouth open. They have to be tube fed and it's not anybody's fault. If they don't know, they just, they don't know. A lot of the time people have such great intentions and they really do wanna help. But, the best thing to do is just keep the baby's warm. Get 'em in a box in a quiet place or the heat source and call somebody

yeah, definitely contact a wildlife rehabber 'cause there is a proper way that it has to be done. Because if you don't do it that proper way, then you are really not helping the baby that much. No. When it comes to getting your possums. Do you find most of them come from people who find like the mother's hit on the side of the road and they dig in the pouch?

Yep. Yep. 98% of my intakes are hit by a car. The other small percent is cat attack or a dog attack. Either the dog shook the mom and the babies come out 'cause possum moms don't come back for their babies either. Like a squirrel, you can reunite. Squirrels and raccoons and most other mammals with their moms, if they get separated, possum moms are like, Nope, I'm outta here. And she'll take off. She won't come back for her baby. So if you find a baby possum, it needs help. It's the mom's not gonna come back for it. But yeah, most of the time it's from the Joey's. Being on the mom after she got hit by her car.

Would you recommend to people when they see a a possum hit on the side of the road to check the pouch for babies?

I do. Yeah. If it's safe to do if you're on an interstate or something, or in a busy. Part of town, don't, 'cause I would hate for somebody to get into a serious car accident or get hit by a car themself trying to, help babies in the pouch. And there's a certain way too that you have to take 'em off because the nipple is probably close to three inches long when they swallow it, it goes all the way down into their stomach. So if they're bigger babies. You know that nipple's gonna be long. So if you just try to pull the baby off, it could tear the nipple right off the mom and the baby could swallow it. It takes a long time to break the suction around the little mouth and pull gently back and forth. Try to gently slide 'em off. You can bring me the whole possum. I'll pull 'em off. You can put the whole mom in the box and everything and just bring all that to me. For safety, if it's not safe to be on the side of the road, pulling 'em off. If anybody needed instructions, to better understand how to get 'em off the mom at the time, I can always call too. I can walk people through it.

Wow, I didn't know that. I knew you would check the pouch, but I thought it was like as easy as just grabbing the babies outta the pouch. And that's even with me knowing that they swallowed that nipple. But I didn't realize that the suction would be so much that you had actually pull the nipple off of the mom. Wow.

Yeah, it can tear right off. And then of course it becomes a choking hazard yeah it could be a long process, so I always, safety first. If you can sit there on the side of the road and do that,, that's great, but if not, you can bring me the whole mom I'll help here. I'll pull 'em off here just so nobody gets hurt.

So for anybody listening, if they were interested in getting involved with this and doing the possum rehab like you do, what steps would they need to take to do this?

Oh man. There's several different ways now. There's a lot of different things going on with wildlife and fisheries. I'm not a hundred percent clear on a lot of them. I would say if you're interested you can check out some of the new programs that are listed on the Wildlife and Fisheries website. Like I said, I don't really know the specifics of these things, but they have a rescuers program and they have a new way now where you can obtain a license. But if you're interested in, what I do specifically is I would, reach out to me or to another neo rehabber and just. Learn come shadow, come watch, come see. Just hands on I think is the best way to learn anything. And if you are coming into this with zero, like I did, that's how I did it. I just had to kind go and. Just visualize and see and, be hands on. I'm okay with doing that if someone's really serious about it. So if anybody would like to learn the tube or to take to care for Joey's, they can reach out. It varies with each rehabber. Each rehabber is different with what they allow and what. They want or whatever. It depends on what you're doing or what species you wanna do, that rehabber or, you would have to contact a different rehabber for that specific thing. I'm open to helping people if they wanted to reach out. To cover a few things, like I have a supply list that people would need to have before starting, which is something I wish I had when I first started. You wanna make sure you have the supplies for whatever you're getting in to be able to care for 'em. So if people are interested, I can help 'em with a supply list or. Maybe some different numbers to call for different species or just things like that. You can visit the website to see if there's a program that would fit better. I understand that everybody's able to do tiny babies. So there's different things, that would fit different people if they wanted to help. There's always something that they can do.

What is the biggest hurdle that's currently facing opie Earth?

I don't really have, time is, that's my biggest thing. I don't, I wish I had more time. But as far as in funding too, but I know, like when I first got licensed, I had to sign a waiver that I was responsible for everything. So I knew, right when I started that I had to pay for everything. I just simply can't take anything if I can't afford it, or if I don't have any funding or donations, then I know I can't take anything, which is sad. But that's how it is. I do get a lot of help though, which is amazing. I'm so grateful for it. I have a wonderful community right here in Ascension They look out for me in the little possums, which is great because, the possums are the underdogs, I think. So it's really amazing to see how many people do support me here and do help me and all over. But I have to say no at some point. There's just not enough time in the day, if I have 40 tiny babies here already. Saying no is so hard. There's just not enough time. I'm only one person,

definitely. How can people learn more about opie earth?

I have the Facebook page. And that's actually my only platform. But I try to be as transparent as possible I have a camera set up in my room and I'll share, like the room pictures. So you can see how the process works. When I start getting intakes, I'll do updates on each group or each intake and see where they're housed. And people can see where the babies go and how they grow and what stage they reach next.

I'll include a link to that in the show notes too, so that way people will be able to find you there.

I do try to keep on top of it during baby season. 'cause people wanna know, if they find babies, they wanna know like how they're doing and see their care and, see how things progress and everything. So I try to be. As transparent as that as possible with that so people can see everything from start to finish and it's a long process. It's a long process for a little tiny Joey's in rehab,

Thank you for speaking with me today. I learned a lot about possums that I didn't know

I appreciate you, talking with me too. I love them. I love the little babies. I can't wait to get some and everybody can see 'em and learn about 'em Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.

That's it for today's episode. I wanna thank everybody for listening and supporting us. If you wanna take that an extra step, consider becoming a member. We just added this to our website, animalposse.com, scroll down, look for the support tab. Our membership program is going to help us directly support animals in need, whether that be through vaccinations, food or spay neuter efforts.