The American opossum stands out for its coat of shaggy hair. They have protective hair that is usually long and light in color. That emerges from those with a wire or hard texture and dark coloration. In female specimens, the marsupium is present in addition to about 13 mammals.



Opposum’s mating habits:
The Scottsdale opossum reaches its sexual maturity at 12 months of age, after which it can reproduce up to twice a year, mainly in spring-summer, which is its reproductive time. The reproductive cycle of the opossum begins when the female is receptive. Otherwise, she is aggressive towards the male. Mating only takes place once. Its duration can range from 15 to 20 minutes. The number of litters per year is two.

When do they have babies?
After mating, if fecundation occurs, the female will gestation for about 12-13 days on average to a fairly high number of offspring, ranging from 8 to 20 opossums, although not all survive. The gestation lasts only 13 days and the offspring are quite precocious at birth. After birth, they travel a few centimeters until they reach the marsupial or the mother's belly bag to feed and enter, those that do not get it will perish, because that the mother disregards them. They remain in the pouch an average of three months, age that they begin to go abroad because their own breasts lengthen as they grow.

How do they raise their young?
After the time of birth, they will pass to an epidermal bag that covers the breasts called marsupium and that fulfills the function of protecting and feeding these babies during the months after birth. Since they are stillborn in a practically embryonic state and they barely weigh 2 grams and they will need the mother to survive and finish developing. There they will remain for another 60-90 days, at which point they will be prepared for weaning and life outside the bag. At first, they will continue to be attached to the mother, climbing on her back and next to her and when they are ready for life alone they will be separated definitively. Once Arizona opossum is developed, its head is elongated like the snout. This, in turn, is thin and pointed with the presence of vibrissae as sensory organs. The skin of the snout has no hair and is pinkish in color. The eyes of the opossum are small, black, sometimes surrounded by a dark ring. In the middle of the forehead, a line of dark coloration with a direction towards the snout predominates.

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