A few months ago, Ian Smith discovered a burrow in his yard that stopped him in his tracks. The hole led to his house’s foundation, and it was abnormally large for what he was used to seeing as an experienced animal rescuer.
“There’s someone living under
my house …” Smith said in an Instagram video. “That’s too big to be a rat.”
Smith set up a trail camera, hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature taking residence beneath his home. He thought he’d see an opossum when checking the footage the next day, but what the night vision captured actually stunned him.
“I expected to see an opossum,” Smith said. “But not 80 opossums. Mama’s got the team on her back.”
To his surprise, an opossum carrying 10 babies on her back appeared on the screen — more than he’d ever seen before. And he watched in awe as she carefully squeezed into the hole while keeping her entire litter intact.
“I had never seen a healthy family that large in real life,” Smith told The Dodo. “I was thrilled. I replayed the footage 100 times.”
You can watch that footage here:
After seeing an opossum use his home to raise her babies in safety, Smith couldn’t bear the thought of evicting them. He knew opossums don't have a destructive chewing instinct, so the sweet girl wouldn’t cause any damage living under his house. And he was thrilled to watch her babies grow while he still had the chance.
“They are generally nomadic animals, so they often hunker down in a safe place to raise babies; then when the babies are old enough, they go on another adventure,” Smith said.
It’s been a few months since Smith’s discovery, and as expected, the opossum’s babies have all grown up. The dutiful mama opossum has moved on to greener pastures in Smith’s neighborhood, but a few of her babies — including one Smith lovingly calls Pinky — have stuck around.
“I have since seen a few of the babies (now teenagers) hanging around my chicken run,” Smith said.
You can see updated footage of Pinky here:
Smith still smiles whenever he spots Pinky and his siblings. He was stunned watching their mom squeeze all 10 of them into a hole beneath his house, and somehow, seeing the babies now makes that moment even harder to believe.
And he continues to keep an eye out for the family, just in case they have another surprise in store.
