Hi Tori! Check out our video on how to become a wildlife rehabilitator kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p6pzpKV807KyeWQ.html There's lots of information in that and the corresponding blog post in the description box. As for location, California, Oregon, and Washington all have lots of wildlife rehabilitation opportunities. Try typing wildlife rehabilitation + the name of a nearby city you are considering living in and you will likely be able to find good potential centers where you can get started!

Hello! Great question. There is actually a fine balance between too fast and too slow with the syringe feeding. Often times people want to feed very slowly in order to reduce aspiration, but this can actually cause an increase in aspiration because the squirrel then tries to eat more vigorously to make up for the slow speed. So while you always want to be careful, feeding too slowly is actually not ideal. It can definitely take time and practice to find that perfect balance. This is our center’s director in the video who is extremely experienced and has worked in the field for several decades! 🙂

Thank you for giving this information

@@birdallyx Hello. I’m sorry I just saw this. That’s weird because I was taught differently. We went slow and steady to prevent aspiration or if the animal is able to, they would suck it down on their own and we never had any problems whereas if we went fast, we would see more aspiration

It actually comes down to their natural history- baby opossums are born less developed, and while they continue to develop after birth in their mothers pouch, their mouths actually fuse around the nipple which feeds them directly into their stomach, much like a tube feeding.

Baby possums don't suckle like other bb mammals. So tube feeding is the way to go and it does save tons of time! You do have to know exactly what you are doing!❤

BTW, you never EVER shove a feeding tube down the esophagus. After a few hundred times of doing it you "feel" your way through.