#or the obese pet opossums

[shrimplovercat]

i think the worst part abt being a furry and therefore being surrounded by furries is the lack of knowledge of animal welfare that the majority of the fandom has. nooo raccoon sona friend dont share that video of a raccoon being fed chips by a human person 😭😭😭

#the big cat petting videos as well #or the obese pet opossums #its not great out here!!! #i guess one pro to having a sona that is based off of an extinct animal is i literally will never see my sona animal being abused LOL

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

One of the worst wild animals people like to keep as pets, Opossums. I’m pretty sure even professional facilities have trouble giving them a proper balanced diet because these animals are trashcans and tick vacuums. Like, at least they’re not likely to spread rabies, but they’re just gonna get fat and dont even have a good lifespan. Want a similar animal that is domesticated and can actually be raised right? Get a rat, they live just as long.

Indeed. I have worked with ambassador virginia opossums before and trying to keep them from becoming obese is a constant losing battle, especially ones that were confiscated pets.

[green-torsos]

in regards to your tags on your recent reblog: every other animal i agree with not being able to own besides capybaras and opossums. capybaras are regularly farmed for meat and do alright in captivity (they need a ton of space, however, as well as access to large bodies of water for swimming), while opossums are an extremely common rescue animal as they are extremely common in general in the US. opossums are also a lot less prone to zoonotic diseases as well as a lot less feisty compared to raccoons and other wild mammals also local to the americas

While I can't speak so much about the Capybara farming, I'm still of the opinion that nondomestiated animals should not be kept as pets. Tame is not the same as domesticated. Neither animal is domestic, and a majority of exotic pets are obtained through illegal means by black market purchase or being taken from the wild. This also extends to more normalized pets such as parrots, which need far more space and care than is really applicable for the common petowner. If you encounter a lost baby opposum, take it to your local wildlife control, it will be taken care of much better than by an inexperienced guy who's just looking up "how to take care of opossums" on the internet. Obesity is also VERY common among those raised as pets, those pictures of them chubby and with big bug eyes is a symptom of that.

#im not mad at you or trying to dog on you but i just disagree #please stick to domestic animals as pets

[gameonoverdogcom]

#IFTTT #Gameonoverdog

[rxttenfish]

what if i just

entirely stopped rbing/sharing images of what are obviously pet opossums

#which tbf i have been mostly doing! #but making a promise to myself like this is just that extra bit of motivation #but yeah its animal abuse. you are abusing wildlife. #and i think im just fucking done with how normalized that is on social media! #(this is what those opossums with crossed eyes/lots of eyewhite are. thats not the eye. thats fat.) #(they are obese because they are pets and they are being abused)

[boozye]

Fuck u bcs of u i now have an obsession w wanting a pet opossum 😭

THEY'RE NOT PETS.

PEOPLE WHO KEEP THEM RESPONSIBLY ARE ANIMAL REHABILITATORS, WHO TAKE IN FELLAS THAT CAN'T BE RELEASED, OR BABIES JUST UNTIL THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH TO BE RELEASED (with minimal interaction so as not to make them used to humans)

THE PHOTOS I POST ARE RESCUES THAT CAN'T BE RELEASED, OR WILD

THEY HAVE VERY SHORT LIFESPANS NATURALLY (3 YEARS, 4 AT MOST) , AND ARE PRONE TO OBESITY WHEN KEPT BY PEOPLE

#the office gif #NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[zooophagous]

I would absolutely love to have 101 different little critters like your opossum or a rat or a chinchilla or even a snake or sething but im so terrified because i know these animals aren't 110% 'domestic' so im always thinking oh lord these animals want to be in the wilderness or in the oceans or flying around and i want to know if youve got advice on empathizing woth your animals so they feel at home despite bot being in nature P.s lopers are great and i luvem

For sure!

A lot of the tricks with exotics is that many people have a frame of reference as if an animal is a dog, because dogs and humans co-evolved to a degree and dogs are the default animal to us.

With exotics, you sort of have to stop thinking of their care the way you think of a dog. For example, I see a lot of people rehome pet reptiles because they feel bad that the reptile doesnt get played with enough and think its depressed.

In all actuality the majority of reptiles only tolerate human company and don't actively want it, and 'playing' with them tends to be neutral at best but mostly at least a little scary. The same is true for tons of other small exotics too, even things like domesticated mice and rabbits don't necessarily want to be picked up or petted and trying to pick them up makes them panic, because their instincts tell them they're about to be eaten by a bird.

It's a lot of unlearning things like "how would YOU like it if you had no friends?" And learning things like "if I were a bearded dragon, how would I feel about having to share my territory with another bearded dragon?" You cant necessarily put yourself directly in an animal's shoes because you can't think like they do by default.

From there it's a matter of managing needs. Like "this animal is very smart and needs to use its brain and also needs exercise, how can I give it that in an area smaller than its usual wild range?" Or "this animal needs to be able to thermoregulate, how can I provide that without natural sunlight in an air conditioned home?"

One thing I will say is tricky almost no matter what exotic pet you have is diet. Modern dog foods have been extensively tested in actual laboratories, and while rat and mouse food is also pretty down to a science, most other exotics are prone to deficiencies and obesity.

Those diets become more studied over time, and the rise of the internet makes new information easier than ever to share, but in my experience the worry isn't so much that they're specifically missing the wild, more that they're not eating right and their humans don't understand their emotional needs (and often, that need is to be given more space than attention)

[funnynewsheadlines]

Twitter Page Shows Another Side To Possums By Uploading Adorable Photos Every Hour

When people hear the word possum many words probably come to mind – scavengers, creepy, dirty. – but adorable is usually not among them. Well, the Twitter page #PossumEveryHour might have changed all that, by encouraging people to share photos of their pet marsupials with the internet, and it really shows the critters in a new light. Released every hour, the photos showcase the animals, not as nocturnal trash burglars, but instead cuddled up in towels, wearing party hats, lounging in mini-beds and perched on their owners – and it may make you question everything you ever thought about them.

Possums aren’t the most loved animals, some see them as ugly, other’s hate them for their characteristics

Image credits: LtCabbitsu

Image credits: Alycianini

Image credits: cornerwallmi

Possums get a really bad rap, but why? Some people like to cite the fact that they are dirty and carry rabies, but this is actually extremely rare. All mammals can get rabies but because of these animals low body temperature, it is very difficult for the virus to survive. Another complaint is that they knock over trash and spread it about – the truth is it’s the opposite. Possums are very clean and are ‘opportunistic scavengers’ who clean up after others. They not only clean up your trash but eat unwanted visitors such as cockroaches, crickets, beetles, rats, mice, and snakes. They even clean up animal remains.

Seeing the public hate on possums someone decided to start changing people’s minds one pic at a time

Despite having rat-like features, possums are marsupials – “pouched mammals” like kangaroos or koalas. They are distinct in North America because they hold the title as the only North American marsupial. In total there are over 65 species of opossums, however, the Didelphis virginiana or the Virginia opossum is the only one native to North America.

The average lifespan of this animal is only 1 to 2 years because of predators. Despite having 50 sharp looking teeth, these animals are not aggressive. We all know the famous phrase playing possum (playing dead), the response these animals have to a predator. Well, don’t give these little guys an Oscar just yet, this is an involuntary response, in which they fall into a comatose-like state and cannot control how long it lasts.

As cute as these possum pics are – the account pinned an important PSA about how these creatures shouldn’t be kept as pets

Image credits: PossumEveryHour

Along with a detailed manifesto on why these creatures aren’t meant for domestication

In the possum briefing, acquired from the National Opossum Society, they explain that these animals are very high maintenance and require a very particular diet that, if not followed, can lead to metabolic bone disease, the breakdown of their internal organs or obesity. Females are very prone to urinary tract or genital tract infections. Unlike with dogs or cats, if your opossum gets sick it is very difficult to find a vet specialist who knows how to treat them. The NOS explains that even if you have the resources to say raise an orphan possum the ethical thing to do is to then release it back into the wild.

One of the members of the society even shared their heartbreaking story in the PSA to drive the point home. The contributor said they had rescued an orphan opossum, after the mom had been hit by a car, and thought she could help it using her wildlife experience. Instead, she goes on to say it was the most, “heart breaking, stressful, confusing and selfish mistakes I have made in my whole life.”

Lots of people in the comments were happy to see possums finally getting so public love

Image credits: sbrynn32

Image credits: TH3_GAM3

Image credits: kamsterboi

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