Orphans living in my walls. Am I doing the right thing?

I thought I had rats. The other day I saw the first one face to face… that same day, I found an adult opossum in the road nearby… I started looking up information about opossums, and learned a lot! My first thought was that these little guys need a wildlife rehabilitation center, so I started contacting the ones in my area.

It turns out that because opossums are technically not native where I live, the only thing the rehabilitation centers will do for them is euthanasia. Opossums can and do thrive here though! I can’t sentence these sweet little creatures to death. I won’t.

I also can’t let them live in my walls, obviously. So… I gave them access to water, and have been thinking about using strawberries, broccoli, and cat food to lure them to me so I can grab them and bring them deep into the woods via cat carrier.

There’s probably 5 or 6 total. They’re about 6-7 inches long, not including the tail.

I just can’t help but worry about them. These opossums have probably never lived a day outside my walls. I was trying to fight that “rat problem” for a while (I’m so glad the rat poison didn’t kill them!). Are they going to be okay in the woods?