Animal Rescue Inc.

02/22/2026

UPDATE: Adopted

This guy is adorable! He’s got a silky lab like coat and the cutest underbite. He can be playful or just content to sit by your side for pets and hugs.

Come meet him at
Lee County Domestic Animal Services
5600 Banner Dr. Fort Myers, FL
www.leelostpets.com

02/22/2026

Before judging an opossum, know this:
• They rarely carry rabies
• They eat ticks and pests •
Playing dead is fear, not aggression
Opossums are nature’s quiet helpers.
They deserve respect—not hate.

02/22/2026

Check your livestock water troughs tomorrow morning. You might find dead animals floating—it's a serious issue! 🚨

Livestock water tanks (50-300 gallons) are deadly traps for wildlife. A survey found that each trough can lead to 150-300 drowned animals yearly, including songbirds, small mammals, amphibians, and bats.

Here's how you can help without spending a dime:

OPTION A — The Cleat Board: Use a 4-6 inch board with cleats attached. Lean it in the trough for animals to climb out.

OPTION B — The Branch: Place a rough-barked branch diagonally for some grip.

OPTION C — The Float + Ramp ($5): Create a floating platform with a mesh ramp leading to the rim.

Placement Tips: One ramp per trough, ensuring it doesn’t block livestock.

By adding these simple solutions, you can save bluebirds, barn swallows, bats, frogs, and small mammals from drowning while keeping your livestock's water cleaner and healthier. 💧

💡 Pro Tip: Attach hardware cloth (6x6 inches) inside the trough rim for a permanent solution.

02/22/2026

Hi. I know seeing me out during the day can worry people.
But daytime doesn’t mean danger.
Cold nights change when I look for food, rest, and move around.

Rabies is rare, and a healthy raccoon like me—with clear eyes, clean fur, and calm behavior—is just adapting to the season.

Please don’t panic.
Please don’t harm.
Just give me space, and I’ll quietly go on my way.

02/22/2026

Right now, in garages and garden sheds across North America, opossums are raising the smallest babies you've ever seen.

Virginia opossums breed from late January through March. After just 12-13 days of pregnancy — the shortest gestation of any North American mammal — females give birth to up to 13 joeys, each the size of a honeybee. Blind, hairless, and smaller than a dime, they crawl into the mother's pouch and latch on for the next two months.

That slow, hissing opossum waddling through your yard at night is almost certainly a female with a pouch full of developing babies. She's not aggressive — she's terrified. The famous "playing dead" response is an involuntary stress reaction she can't control. She passes out from fear.

This is the season when homeowners make the call to animal control. They see an opossum in the garage and assume disease, danger, mess. A relocation in February separates a mother from pouch-bound joeys too small to survive alone. They die within hours.

What most people don't realize: a single opossum eats up to 5,000 ticks per season. They're nearly immune to rabies — their body temperature is too low for the virus to survive. They eat venomous snakes, dead animals, and overripe fruit that would otherwise attract rats.

The animal you find disgusting is cleaning your yard every night while carrying babies smaller than your thumbnail.

Leave her alone. She'll move on in spring.

02/22/2026

Hello. I'm the opossum under your deck.

You saw me last Tuesday night. You screamed. Your
husband grabbed a broom. You called me disgusting.

Let me tell you what I did for you last Tuesday night.

I ate 47 ticks off your lawn. 12 of them were deer
ticks. 4 of those were carrying Lyme disease.

Your kid plays in that yard barefoot.

I ate them. Every one. Because I groom myself
obsessively, and every tick that touches my fur goes
into my stomach. I consume 95% of all ticks that
contact me. Scientists have measured this.

5,000 ticks per season. Per opossum. From YOUR yard.

You spend $120 on tick spray every spring. It also
kills butterflies, fireflies, and the bees pollinating
your garden. And it wears off in 3 weeks.

I work every night. For free. Year after year.

"But opossums carry rabies."
Almost never. My body temperature is 94-97°F. The
rabies virus needs 98°F+ to survive. I'm one of the
LEAST likely mammals in North America to carry rabies.

"But they're aggressive."
I have 50 teeth. More than any North American land
mammal. I show them when I'm scared because it's all
I've got. I have never chased a human. I have never
attacked unprovoked. If you corner me, I'll faint.
Literally. I'll fall over, drool, and go catatonic for
up to 4 hours.

That's not "playing dead." It's involuntary. I can't
control it. My body shuts down from fear.

You think I'm terrifying. I'm actually the most
terrified animal in your yard.

What I also eat:
Mice and rats. Copperheads and rattlesnakes (I'm
largely immune to pit viper venom). Cockroaches. Slugs.
Snails. Fallen fruit that attracts wasps. Carrion that
attracts flies.

I'm your yard's night janitor. I clean everything.

What to do:
Leave me alone. I'll move on in a few weeks.
Don't trap, poison, or relocate me — it's often illegal
and another will move in anyway.
Secure your trash cans (I can't resist garbage, sorry).
Tell your neighbor I'm the reason their Lyme disease
risk dropped.

I eat ticks, snakes, rats, and roaches.
For free. Every night. In the rain. In the cold.

You don't need to love me.
But you should probably stop trying to kill me.

02/22/2026

02/22/2026

You see an opossum in the backyard. What do you do?

Scream? Throw water? Try to kill it?

Stop. Look again.

That animal on your wall is a MOTHER.

A female Virginia opossum can give birth to more than a dozen babies at a time, though usually only as many survive as can fit in her pouch — typically around 8–13. After growing in the pouch, the young ride on her back as she forages at night.

They’re tiny. They depend completely on her.
Opossums are solitary animals — the mother raises her young alone.

Just her. The babies. And the night.

And what does she do in your yard while you sleep?

Opossums are omnivores. They eat:

Insects, including cockroaches
Small rodents
Carrion (dead animals)
Fruits and plants
Occasionally small reptiles and amphibians

They may eat ticks while grooming themselves. Some studies suggest opossums can consume ticks, but claims that they eliminate thousands per week are not strongly supported by field evidence. They are not a guaranteed tick-control solution.

They can help reduce certain pests — but they are generalist feeders, not specialized pest exterminators.

About rabies:

Opossums can contract rabies, but cases are rare compared to many other wild mammals. Their lower body temperature may make infection less likely, but they are not immune.

If you see an opossum:

Do not hit it.
Do not pour hot water on it.
Do not poison it.

Opossums are typically non-aggressive and will avoid confrontation. If threatened, they may hiss, show their teeth, or “play dead” — a stress response called tonic immobility.

Most will move on quietly if left alone.

If you find a baby opossum alone and it is very small (less than about 7–8 inches long excluding the tail), contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Young opossums that are larger than that are often old enough to survive on their own.

A wild mother raising her young alone.
No applause. No help. Just instinct and survival.

She isn’t disgusting.
She’s a wild animal doing exactly what nature designed her to do.

02/22/2026

You see an opossum in your backyard. What do you do?

Scream? Throw water? Try to kill it?

Stop. Look again.

That "disgusting thing" on your wall is a MOTHER.

She's carrying up to 13 babies on her back. Blind,
tiny babies, clinging to her — because she's all they
have. She has no safe nest. No partner helping. Nobody.

Just her. And her children. And the night.

And do you know what she does for your yard while
you sleep?

She eats cockroaches — up to 5,000 per season.
She eats ticks — a single opossum eliminates up to
4,000 ticks per week.
She eats rats.
She eats scorpions.
She eats the snakes you're afraid of.

The opossum is the best pest control that exists.
For free. Every night. In your backyard.

And it doesn't transmit rabies. It's nearly immune.
Its body temperature is too low for the virus to survive.

When you see an opossum:
Don't hit it. Don't throw hot water. Don't poison it.
Just let it pass. In 15 minutes, it'll be gone.
If it has babies, NEVER separate from the mother.
If you find a baby alone: box with cloth, warmth, and
call a wildlife rehabilitation center.

This Valentine's Day, let's talk about a love nobody
celebrates:

The love of a mother who carries the entire world on
her back. Every night. Alone. Without applause.

She's not disgusting.
She's extraordinary.
💜
You see an opossum in your backyard. What do you do?

Scream? Throw water? Try to kill it?

Stop. Look again.

That "disgusting thing" on your wall is a MOTHER.

She's carrying up to 13 babies on her back. Blind,
tiny babies, clinging to her — because she's all they
have. She has no safe nest. No partner helping. Nobody.

Just her. And her children. And the night.

And do you know what she does for your yard while
you sleep?

She eats cockroaches — up to 5,000 per season.
She eats ticks — a single opossum eliminates up to
4,000 ticks per week.
She eats rats.
She eats scorpions.
She eats the snakes you're afraid of.

The opossum is the best pest control that exists.
For free. Every night. In your backyard.

And it doesn't transmit rabies. It's nearly immune.
Its body temperature is too low for the virus to survive.

When you see an opossum:
Don't hit it. Don't throw hot water. Don't poison it.
Just let it pass. In 15 minutes, it'll be gone.
If it has babies, NEVER separate from the mother.
If you find a baby alone: box with cloth, warmth, and
call a wildlife rehabilitation center.

02/22/2026

They’re not aggressive.
They’re misunderstood.

Opossums don’t fight — they freeze in fear.
They eat ticks. They help quietly.

Kindness costs nothing.
Let them live.