About This Website
This website covers issues I wish I knew before I bought my first short-tailed opossum, and the frequently asked questions of many other short-tailed opossum owners or those who are wondering if a STO is right for them. After the Know Your STO book is published, sections of supplementary information will be added to this site, including websites for products mentioned in the book, bibliography, and more.
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About The Author
Molly Kalafut
I received my first short-tailed opossum as a pet in 2000 and have been caring for them since then. I started research for Know Your STO in 2001.
I've organized much information about them for years; using many resources in print, magazines, journals, online and archived information. I've had STO care articles translated from foreign languages like Norwegian and Danish into English, plus spent many hours with Dutch, German and Japanese translation dictionaries! My personal library of STO information includes several hundred research-focused articles about STO gathered from many medical, physiology, neurology and behavioral journals. I've maintained an extensive website dedicated to STO care, health and advice for several years.
In 2003 I started an online mailing list for STO owners, breeders and potential owners that by 2007 has had over 250 members. During that time was invited to be a co-owner of the Mouse Opossum mailing list focused on small mouse opossums from South America. In 2004-2006 I worked to finish up with the book research and draft writing. 2007 will be an exciting year for publishing the Know Your STO care guides series and book!
If you have any questions or concerns about short-tailed opossums, feel free to email me at molly@knowyoursto.com.
About My STO
My STO "Mister Possum" who is featured in many photos on this site.
I do not currently breed or sell STO. I prefer to enjoy them as pets, and leave breeding to the professional breeders.
About My Opossum
My current little guy is a standard gray color named "Mister Possum". He came from a "Scales N' Tails" store in Denver, Colorado in 2002. There are pictures of him all over this website! Update: Mister Possum died in 2006 of arthritis-related old age problems at a respectable 4 years of age.
His Home
We use Crittertrail and Habitrail tubes to connect various cages. We change the cage setup every few months. I like to provide at least 2 water bottles in case one malfunctions, and at least 2 different wheels so he can exercise different muscles. He likes to climb and explore all of his cages, uses both wheels provided, and likes to nap in all three cages.
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Cage #1: CritterTrail 3 is a 3-story wire cage that contains a fluff nest, 3 solid plastic levels, a wheel, two water bottles and two attached dry food dispensers.
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Cage #2: CritterTrail Revolutions: The entire cage is a giant wheel, with a platform holding a small nest box and food/water area.
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Cage #3: 10 gallon aquarium with a Zoo-Med reptile heating pad underneath, a green hammock, large hollow bark log, stone platform with plant attached and hanging water bottle.
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Other accessories: Tubes connect to a plastic clear box that is constantly heated by our computer equipment – it's his favorite area to sleep in during the day. The tubes also lead to a round green and clear plastic "lookout tower" where he sometimes climbs into to receive treats.
His favorite activities are running in his exercise wheels and napping. After using a digital wheel that records how far he runs in it I've determined he runs between 5-8 miles per night!
His Environment
His environment is generally between 70-80F degrees for his 2 main cages during winter and 75-85F degrees during summer. His 10-gallon tank kept at a constant 85F degrees with a Zoo-Med reptile heating strip applied to the bottom of the tank.
A Zoo-Med reptile heating strip is attached to the underside of this tank
The humidity is generally low, between 20%-30%. My little guy has been 100% healthy even at 20% humidity, though some other STO experience dry, brittle ears from low humidity. During the winter I provide a reptile "waterfall" in his aquarium cage which provides extra humidity.
His Food
He has a free choice all the time of dry cat food - Eukanuba lamb&rice and Eukanuba chicken&rice dry cat food. Every 2-3 days he gets a different flavor of fruit or vegetable baby food, or fresh fruit. His favorite foods are mango, papaya, banana and applesauce. Once per week he receives either 12-24 waxworms, 24 crickets, 1 small rodent, 1 TBSP of egg, 1 TBSP of avocado or 1 TBSP of fruit-flavored tofu. He does not overeat and maintains good muscle tone from exercising in his wheel at night.
His Habits
While writing the Know Your STO book, I observed my STO all day long. He spent much of the days napping in a heated clear plastic box on my desk near my computer, so I had a very good view of his activities while I was writing.
My view of my STO while I'm at my computer. He spends many hours during the day napping in the clear plastic box that is always heated by the Cisco router underneath it. The box is connected by tubes to the rest of his cage.
Early in the morning, usually between 6-8am, he wanders from his fluff nest to a clear plastic box (seen above) warmed by our computer equipment where he spends most of the day sleeping. He alternates between napping and resting quietly with his eyes half-open. He sometimes sleeps stretched out, but more often he curls into a ball to sleep. Often he wraps all four of his feet around his nose! He spends up to 15 minutes grooming himself several times during the day. He makes a few trips to his main cage areas where he drinks, then returns to the clear plastic area for a nap. He refuses to put fluff in that heated box, even though he sleeps there so often.
His fluff nest where he sleeps during the night.
Around 5-6 in the afternoon, he starts running in his exercise wheel for a few hours, then spends a few hours in the evening napping. He has a curious habit of taking breaks from the exercise wheel to run a "circuit" from one side of the cage to the other, then returning to the wheel to run. He usually eats after 6pm. After the lights turn off for the night he usually spends the rest of the night running in his wheels. Around 2-4am he retires to his fluff nest (that he lines with paper towel and toilet tissue strips) to sleep. Then when dawn breaks, he moves to the clear plastic box to sleep and start a new day.
His Daring Escape
While many people have reported their STO will escape and stay missing for several days, my wonderful little guy loves his cage. When he's tired of playing with me, he climbs onto the desk then lets himself back into his cage. I sometimes let him run around on the floor when we are playing because he always crawls back onto me for a treat or climbs back into his cage. (Do not try this at home unless your STO is very, very tame!)
Mister Possum crawling on my arm
One night I accidentally left a cage door open. It seems that during the night he climbed out of the cage and ran around the desk. Using his teeth and claws he tore open a plastic bag of crickets that was sitting on the desk and ate them all. Then, he got into the tissue box and dragged them all back into the cage and into his fluff nest. He must have made several trips because there was a lot of Kleenex! In the morning when I woke up, I found a torn and empty plastic bag (with no crickets to be found), and he was sound asleep in his nest absolutely stuffed full of Kleenex. What an adventure!
His Health
Mister Possum did not experience any health problems during his first 2.5 years, until he injured his tail (possibly rubbed it raw against his wheel) and eventually required a partial surgical removal of his tail. He continued to live a happy opossum life until he died of arthritis-related old age problems in his 4th year.
