Short Tailed Oppossum

I find them so interesting, does anyone on here own one? I am very curious to see what they're care and temperament is like.

I heard those are awesome but unfortunatelly because they are Marsupials... they are prohibited as pets in NYC.... even if they are used as laboratory animals for reserching cancer cells and posible anticancer drugs :-/

I have one. Bad Bart.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...umscale005.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...rMiriam003.jpg

They're a bit less sociable than a rat. Most aren't biters, but they will almost all defend their house. I love Bart to death and I enjoy having him but he's mostly a pet to be observed. Yeah, I can drag him around and he wouldn't bite me but it makes him very nervous. If you're OK with that kind of pet they are great to have.

Bart eats Mazuri insectivore food, mealworms, occasional bits of meat, likes to chew any kind of bones, likes cooked vegetables and many raw fruits, and goes bonkers over pinkie mice. He grabs them out of my hand and runs into his house to eat them--I guess he's afraid he'll have to share.

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Originally Posted by Redneck_Crow

I have one. Bad Bart.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...umscale005.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...rMiriam003.jpg

They're a bit less sociable than a rat. Most aren't biters, but they will almost all defend their house. I love Bart to death and I enjoy having him but he's mostly a pet to be observed. Yeah, I can drag him around and he wouldn't bite me but it makes him very nervous. If you're OK with that kind of pet they are great to have.

Bart eats Mazuri insectivore food, mealworms, occasional bits of meat, likes to chew any kind of bones, likes cooked vegetables and many raw fruits, and goes bonkers over pinkie mice. He grabs them out of my hand and runs into his house to eat them--I guess he's afraid he'll have to share.

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Thank you for that, I was hoping to find something a little more sociable but not as common as a rat. Besides rats should be kept in pairs. I want something small that can perhaps chill on my shoulder if I need to walk around the house. A rat will stay where as a mouse would probably fall or jump off lol.

STOs don't do well in pairs. The only time they can usually be put together is when you pair them up to mate, about 90% of the action is fighting, and STO romance pretty much consists of rape. If you do ever get them and decide to breed them then for the love of your sanity, do not keep the breeding cage in your bedroom. They will make the nights hideous with their hisses and thumps.

If you're going for small and sociable, it doesn't get a whole lot better than a rat.

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Originally Posted by Redneck_Crow

STOs don't do well in pairs. The only time they can usually be put together is when you pair them up to mate, about 90% of the action is fighting, and STO romance pretty much consists of rape. If you do ever get them and decide to breed them then for the love of your sanity, do not keep the breeding cage in your bedroom. They will make the nights hideous with their hisses and thumps.

If you're going for small and sociable, it doesn't get a whole lot better than a rat.

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I don't want more than one, which is why I am staying away from rats. Rats do well in pairs and I don't want to deal with 2 at the moment.

Hmm.... STOs kinda sound like their native cousins in personality and social habits.

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Originally Posted by aldebono

Hmm.... STOs kinda sound like their native cousins in personality and social habits.

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Having had one of their native cousins in my care while it recovered from dog wounds, I can say that they are similar in some ways, different in others. The native cousin doesn't try to bite as quickly. The native cousin, like the STO, is very catholic in it's food acceptances, and both love mice. The Virginia opossum is a little more sociable with people. Both STOs and Virginia opossums show their displeasure by omitting a smell I would describe as four cylinder skunk--it's there and it's effective but it doesn't have the "whomp" behind it.

Possums will sit on your shoulder, though. This is a wild possum. She was brought into the house two months earlier because I thought she was dying from a dog attack. No good deed goes unpunished--the possum lived.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...w/Possum-1.jpg

Lol but the size difference between that possum and STO's is what makes one shoulder safe and the other one maybe not so much.

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Originally Posted by Redneck_Crow

Having had one of their native cousins in my care while it recovered from dog wounds, I can say that they are similar in some ways, different in others. The native cousin doesn't try to bite as quickly. The native cousin, like the STO, is very catholic in it's food acceptances, and both love mice. The Virginia opossum is a little more sociable with people. Both STOs and Virginia opossums show their displeasure by omitting a smell I would describe as four cylinder skunk--it's there and it's effective but it doesn't have the "whomp" behind it.

Possums will sit on your shoulder, though. This is a wild possum. She was brought into the house two months earlier because I thought she was dying from a dog attack. No good deed goes unpunished--the possum lived.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...w/Possum-1.jpg

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I have a female Virginia Opossum now who injured by a dog bite when she was very little. The dog crushed her pelvis when it bit her. She is happy and healthy with me now, even though she does not have use of her back legs. She has full run of my apartment and is definitely my baby.

Definitely not a pet for everyone, but I am definitely an opossum lover. :P

That little girl looks so sweet. I try to educate people about them whenever I can.