Azriel

Nope, she isn't a mouse. She's a little opossum--a tiny marsupial from South America. Unlike most marsupials, short-tailed opossums don't have a pouch! Instead of climbing into a pouch, these tiny babies climb through mom's fur and attach to one of thirteen teats on mom's belly. For the next two months they hang on for dear life. We acquired Azriel from a private breeder in May 2006 when she was 9.5 weeks old. Since then she has helped to promote educational programs, such as Mammal Mania. At these programs Azriel can be a bit of a handful. While being walked around for everyone to see, she gets treats of mealworms. Instead of sitting nicely and eating, she prefers to grab her treat and run all over the staff. She seems to feel that the children in the front row also want her mealworm, and she's not very good at sharing! Azriel loves food. Once, she was placed in an aquarium with our cricket population. After crazily consuming 65 crickets, we had to remove her because she was certainly not going to leave any for her brother, Gargamel. Your adoption fee will help feed, house and care for Azriel in the coming year.

 

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Short-Tailed Opossum

Monodelphis domestica

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Description	small; thick velvety gray-brown fur with lighter tones underneath; hairless prehensile tail used to grasp and balance while climbing, also used for carrying nesting materials, not weight bearing; ratlike muzzle; sharp teeth; ears large and thin-skinned; eyes bulge out for good night vision; front legs shorter than the hind legs
Sex	males and females similar in appearance
Age	premature, pink and hairless at birth; latch onto a nipple on motherâ??s stomach and stay attached until further developed; lifespan 3-5 years
Length	body: 4-6" tail: 1.5-3"
Wingspan
Weight	2-5 oz
Habitat	native to Brazil, Paraguay and Chile; in their native countries live close to humans and frequently inhabit houses where they are welcomed as destroyers of unwanted insects, rodents and scorpions
Status	common in their native habitat; popular for the pet trade, where they are referred to as STO's because of their odor-free, tidy habits and ease of maintenance
Range
Behavior	naturally solitary; should be housed individually as cage mates become aggressive, possibly killing each other; sexually mature at 4-5 months; breed in any season; up to 4 litters a year; gestation period 2 weeks; litter size usually 13 babies; babies fully weaned at about 8 weeks; STO's are nocturnal, therefore very active at night and need things to climb on if kept in captivity
Diet	in the wild: insects, fruits, vegetable matter; in captivity: mealworms, crickets, pinkie mice, fruits, vegetables, bread, high quality cat food or ferret food; they should be offered a variety of these foods;
Vocalization
Other Information	- the Short-Tailed Opposum was the first marsupial to have its genome sequenced - the white flap of skin inside the ear (the tragus) helps it detect ultrasonic frequencies too high for humans to hear - Virginia Opossum and the Sugar Glider are distant cousins - opossums and possums are not the same. Opossums are native to the Americas, while possums are found in Australia. They are only distantly related.