Opossum in the back yard

[Mike Henderson]

An opossum took up residence in my back yard. We have avocado trees and the 'possum likes to eat the partially rotten fruit that's on the ground - and right now is the picking time for avocados so there's lots of food available (they also eat snails, slugs, other fruit on the ground, etc. They're a real clean up crew.)

She's been around for a while but recently showed up with four babies clinging to her back. Here's a pix of the babies. Almost big enough to wean. I can always find them in the daytime because the dog sniffs them and points out where they're sleeping but otherwise he leaves them alone.

Cute little fellas, aren't they?

Mike

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[A problem I have is that the dog sees her roaming the yard at night and starts barking in the middle of the night. I had to put paper on the bottom of the windows so he can't see out at night. After the avocados are gone she and the babies will move on, maybe another month or so.]

[Brian Henderson]

We have possums all over the place, found this guy under a trash can a couple of months ago. We used to have an outdoor akita that would eat them (and anything else he can catch). Luckily, my days of cleaning up bloody carcasses every other day are over.

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[Matt Day]

Nasty little creatures. Giant rats if you ask me.

[Mike Henderson]

Nasty little creatures. Giant rats if you ask me.
Yep, they need a make-over. But they are nature's clean up crew, eating partially rotted fruit, insects, snails, and a lot of other things. If you can get past the looks, they're really harmless, helpful animals.

They are not aggressive, falling into a coma (playing possum) when seriously threatened, and they only come out at night so most people never see them. You can learn more about them at one of the national opossum websites here (http://www.opossum.org/)or here (http://opossumsocietyus.org/). And here's (http://www.latimes.com/style/la-hm-opossum28jun28-story.html)an article from the LA Times.

Mike

[Belinda Barfield]

They are cute, Mike, and usually infested with fleas. Just a thought since you do have a dog that goes near them. They will also eat cat food. A number of years ago a mama possum got into our office ceiling and had little ones. That was an adventure! We fed stray cats at the time and she lived off of cat food.

[Mike Henderson]

They are cute, Mike, and usually infested with fleas. Just a thought since you do have a dog that goes near them. They will also eat cat food. A number of years ago a mama possum got into our office ceiling and had little ones. That was an adventure! We fed stray cats at the time and she lived off of cat food.
Yes, they'll eat almost anything. If you leave cat food out, they will eat it and thank you for being such a nice person.

To get rid of them, cut off the food supply and they'll move on to greener pastures.

Just something I learned about 'possums: They don't live very long, maybe two to four years. And that's not because of predation. Even if kept in captivity, they don't live long - they just age quickly. Of course, they have a lot of babies (max of 13 per litter) so they don't die out. And since they eat almost anything, they fit into many different environments.

Mike

[Jim Matthews]

The other, 'other white meat'.

[Kent A Bathurst]

.22 LR bolt-action single-shot. Elegant and simple. A "no-frills" functional tool.

I've got a Remington, disassembled, wrapped in oiled rags somewhere around here. Has to be at least 75 years old.

Used to be my Grandfather's. Same guy with the branding iron from one of my previous stories.

Getcha one.

Oh - get a shovel also. ;)

[Tom M King]

I use a single shot .410 Youth gun that I've had since I was 9 years old. We have plenty of woods that they are welcome to stay in, but don't want the fleas near the house, or EPM anywhere near the horses. It's against the law to relocate, and they don't stop coming back once they show up on a farm. If the horses didn't drop grain it wouldn't be a problem.

I heard a ruckus in the henhouse years ago. I went to check, and there was a possum sitting up on the roost with the hens. He was eating an egg holding it in his front paws with the top of the egg cracked open. I didn't want to shoot a gun in the hen house to startle the chickens, so I went back to the house and got a baseball bat. I was sure I hit it hard enough in the head to kill him, and decided I'd go back in the morning to dispose of the carcass. He was gone the next morning, but not heard from again.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Too funny - same Grandfather also had a breech-load single shot .410. Dunno what happened to it - I grabbed the .22 LR.

[Jerry Thompson]

My wife filled the cat dish on the porch one night at dusk. The two cat appeared right away. She was watering plants and wondered what those stray kittens were feeding at the dish. She walked over and the "Kittens" were baby possums. They must have done this before as they and the cats got along just fine.

[Larry Frank]

I do not want them around due to bug and the disease they carry. You got to hit them real hard but an easy slow moving target. I feel the same way about raccoons but a more difficult and dangerous target.

[Jim Falsetti]

Yup, nature's sanitation engineer. We caught one of these fellows last year, in a have-a-heart trap. Put him in the woods to do his thing.

[Jim Andrew]

I have a dog that I hoped to be help with my cows, but she is scared of cows. The great thing is, she does not allow any creatures other than our cats in our yard. Last year I found some dead rats she displayed in the drive, and a while back a possum.

[Bonnie Campbell]

We would regularly find dead ones in our yard in MS. We had 5 yard dogs that weren't into sharing their food.

[Rich Riddle]

Where are Jethro or Granny when you need them? Certainly not the best looking creatures. They have hissed loudly a few times when approached. Nasty looking teeth.

[Mike Henderson]

Mom 'possum passed away yesterday. I think she was pretty old - 'possums only live about 2 years in the wild. And yes, it was obvious she was dead, and not playing possum. The four young are living under a bush in my back yard. They must be doing okay because they ate an old avocado that I put out for them last night.

Just have to see if they can make it.

Mike

[Shawn Pixley]

We sometimes get possums. Our deaf rescue dog can smell them with the windows closed (clearly has a hunting nose). He then goes nuts to rid his yard of the critters. He has killed a couple. Others who escape move on.

I am not crazy about them - better than racoons though. Little Pi keeps all the critters out of the yard.

[Brian Henderson]

Mom 'possum passed away yesterday. I think she was pretty old - 'possums only live about 2 years in the wild. And yes, it was obvious she was dead, and not playing possum. The four young are living under a bush in my back yard. They must be doing okay because they ate an old avocado that I put out for them last night.

Just have to see if they can make it.

Mike

The little one in the picture I posted was plenty old enough. Most say that if they're 6" from nose to tail, they're fine on their own. While they aren't good pet material usually, wild ones calm down very quickly, it took maybe an hour until that possum was begging for human attention.

[Brian Hale]

Speaking of Have a Heart traps, a fellow here at work had some kind of critter in his garage making a mess and leaving droppings everywhere. He used one of those traps to catch the little critter except when he got home from work and opened the door he found he had trapped a skunk......

What do you do with a unhappy skunk in a small wire cage???

[Mel Fulks]

I've been told that skunks will not spray while caged, have not tested.

[Tim Offutt]

My experience has been skunks will not spray unless they can fully lift their tale. So a smaller cage or live trap will help prevent the spraying. I have also CAREFULLY covered the cage with a blanket and been able to pick up and move the trap. Pretty nerve racking, its like your on the bomb squad trying to move it.

[Jim Andrew]

When you catch a skunk, you take an old blanket or tarp, and hold it in front of you, walk toward the trap and carefully wrap the blanket clear around the trap, so the skunk can not see out. Take the trap where you want to release the skunk, and reverse the process. Skunk won't spray if he can't see.

[Rod Sheridan]

That's pretty neat Mike.

About 5 years ago I went out to the parking lot at work near midnight and an animal walked under my car.

It had an unfamiliar walk, I moved the car a couple of parking spaces and got out, it was an opossum, I guess they're now this far north..........Regards, Rod.