Spring is settling into Texas, and with it comes spring cleaning—inside and out.

The Meeting

A couple of weeks ago, I was cleaning out the small red barn we use for storage. It’s on its last legs, so I’d bought a replacement. But before we could move the new one in, I needed to clean out the old one so it could be torn down.

I was about halfway through the job when I came across a bundle of green material in a round, clear plastic bag. It lay on top of a stack of boxes about chest high. It was on its side with the opening facing away. I pulled it toward me, then turned it upright and let the bottom of the bag slide toward the floor so I could see what was inside. What I saw was more than I bargained for. I was suddenly face-to-face with a very angry opossum!

Woken abruptly, he was as shocked to see me as I was to see him. His black eyes glared. His paws up and mouth open, he revealed sharp claws and pointy teeth too close to my face for comfort.

In the heartbeat between our eyes meeting and my brain screaming “get rid of it,” I turned and threw the bag out of the building.

It hit the ground, the open end facing away from me—thank goodness—because he immediately shot out. Scurrying down the fence about ten feet, he squeezed through a hole then zipped across the empty lot, disappearing under our neighbor’s house. After catching my breath, I had to laugh. That was one way to get my heart racing.

Did You Know…

• The green bundle was an old sleeping bag. Mr. Opossum had spent his winter in comfort.
• The opossum has fifty teeth—more than any other North American mammal.

The Facts

Though pronounced the same way, Opossums live in the U.S. and Possums live in Australia. While they’re both marsupials, they aren’t the same animal.

Out of the more than sixty species of opossum in North and South America, only the Virginia Opossum lives in the U.S. It’s the only non-primate mammal here with opposable thumbs, and the only North American mammal with a prehensile (capable of grasping) tail.

Though opossums have migrated as far north as Canada, they are tropical animals and aren’t well equipped to handle freezing temperatures. Their tails and ears are particularly susceptible to frostbite.

Did You Know…

• The only native North American marsupial is the opossum.
• Opossums don’t hibernate.
• The opossum’s opposable “thumbs,” called “hallux,” are clawless and found on its hind feet.
• The opossum’s tail is used like a fifth hand. It also helps them balance.
• Opossums don’t live long. The average lifespan is 1.5-2 years in the wild and 3-4 years in captivity.
• Pregnancy for the opossum lasts only 12-14 days! Then the mother gives birth to hairless, sightless, deaf babies the size of honeybees. A female usually has two litters per year.
• Opossums initially carry their babies in a pouch. When the babies are old enough, they cling to the mother’s back.
• Baby opossums are called joeys and can survive on their own after about 100 days.
• Baby opossums can also hang upside down by their tail, but they don’t sleep that way. They can only stay in that position for a short time.

Sight Meaning

According to Native-American-Totems.com, there was a message in my seeing Mr. Opossum. It was:

Be clever in achieving your victory and expect the unexpected. Use your brain, the element of surprise, and some drama to reach the progress you desire.

While I was expecting the unexpected—anytime you do something like cleaning out an old shed you’d better be on your toes—I was thinking in terms of a snake, mouse, or spider, not Mr. Opossum. The element of surprise was split equally between us. As for being clever or using my brain . . . if I’m honest, my response was due more to instinct than intellect. And though there was no drama—I didn’t scream before I sent him flying—I did reach a satisfactory conclusion. I got Mr. Opossum out of my face, was entertained by his mad dash away from me, and finished the job of cleaning the building.

Bonus Did You Know…

One of the strangest myths about opossums is that the female gives birth out of her nose. It started when people observed the mother-to-be “sneezing” while licking her pouch preparing for the birth. When babies appeared in the pouch soon afterward, the watchers added two and two and concluded momma had sneezed her babies out of her nose into the pouch. (Makes perfect sense, right?)