Sweet Pea passed away in uly 2024 at the ripe old age of four years and three months. She had developed a cancerous tumor in her mouth and due to her age, the decision was made to not put her through surgery.

Sweet Pea had rounded out the final of the three non-releasables for 2020. Like her mentor, Bobbi Sue, Sweet Pea also lost her tail, though the details of her tail loss are, sadly, burned into my memory forever. Sweet Pea came in with as a litter of fourteen babies! This was amazing in itself as moms only have thirteen nipples! She and her siblings were growing and doing great until one day I noticed that she didn’t come out to eat with the others. When I looked in their box, I noticed her curled up way in the back. I took her out and was immediately horrified to discover that all but about an inch and a half of her tail was GONE!

She was completely pale and lethargic. Although I’d heard stories of opossums cannibalizing siblings, I’d always thought it was in cases where they were over-crowded and stressed, but that certainly wasn’t the case here! The poor little girl, who was all of one pound, didn’t want to move or eat. It took nearly two weeks of antibiotics, pain medication, formula and foods rich in iron to get the color back in her little feet and nose. Once she was stable again, she had to undergo surgery on her poor little nub. Two additional vertebrae had to be removed and the skin was pulled over the end and sutured.

She made a full recovery and was the sweetest little girl. She bonded to me and routinely climbed on my shoulder, grabbed my hair in her cute little hands, and "slubbed" (slobber-rub) all over my head (much to the delight of children during our presentations).  She could win over even the coldest of hearts with her adorable face, gentle demeanor and sassy little nubby butt!