They are indeed very clean critters. He washes himself after every meal. In fact, he grooms himself more than the cats do. I am actually going to start my own opossum rescue. Focusing mainly on opossums but we'll occasionally take in other critters as well. I'm not sure why people have chosen other exotics to turn into pets and not the opossum since they are mild mannered, litter train, non destructive etc. Most possums here don't live very long. We see them on the road all the time.