Opossums

[somethingshiny]

Possums are the only marsupial in this country. That alone should make you appreciate them. Almost every other animal will kill them. Just let them be.

 

[lulu]

I feed them. They like little peanut butter and birdseed sandwiches on whole wheat bread cut up in small pieces. I think they're adorable and have never known them to be destructive or aggressive.

 

[Dancing Fire]

DF...so what time is dinner? I'll bring the wine.

ask MC...she's making opossum soup tonight...

 

[Skippy123]

DF...so what time is dinner? I'll bring the wine.

ask MC...she's making opossum soup tonight...

I am such a dork; this made me LOL!!!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

DF...so what time is dinner? I'll bring the wine.

ask MC...she's making opossum soup tonight...

Sorry you guys missed out. The 'possum paired nicely with a smooth glass of MD 20/20. lol

 

[dragonfly411]

I don;t mind them until they break into our horse feed.

I can't agree with them being cute though.

 

[Tuckins1]

You can walk right up to them and they wont bite.. all they do is hiss because they really can't see well. We have some in our backyard. They come out when we get home in the evenings and wait for their scoop of cat food. It's pretty cute! They're not aggressive.

Racoons, however.... those cute lil bastards are vicious!

A mama raccoon attacked my dog a few years ago and stripped all the flesh from her bone on her leg, from her arm pit to her wrist. It was seriously the worst thing I have ever seen in real life! Raccoons are cute, but definitely be wary of them!

 

[kenny]

Thanks for all the replies.
I also have spoken to many of our neighbors.
I really wanted to get the pulse of the community on this instead of just going gung-ho with what I thought.

I'm almost 50/50, but 51% of me is for relocating the opossums.
They ARE nature so I can see the argument for leaving them alone.
I don't mind the squirrels, wild birds or anything else.

All the neighbors are unanimously happy if I relocate them.
My next door neighbor says there are lots of them living under their house.
But he's happy if I remove them.

So I got a trap and baited it with some of kenny's dry Pulled Pork.
This morning there was a cat in it.
I felt terrible.
Poor scared thing.

My neighbor said it was not one of their many cats so I just let it go.
Then later another neighbor said that description fits one of the feral cats that is breeding and wishes I would have brought it to the pound to at least get it fixed.
I doubt that cat will enter the trap again.

Well, let's see what I catch tomorrow morning.
I may get one of the local raccoons.

 

[ForteKitty]

Hi Kenny, i'm glad you're trapping them for relocation. My neighbors used to put poison in food, then leave it outside on the ground... for a long time we would find dead animals everywhere. you can tell they were poisoned because they'd crawl around and gasp for hours before they finally die. We had to get the police involved because kids might get into it and die!

About the feral cats, there are quite a few organizations in LA who will fix them, then release back into the area. I dont have a problem w/ them as long as they're no longer breeding because they just mind their own business. Most pounds will just put them down.

 

[packrat]

try peanut butter or something sweet instead of meat. They're pretty slow, if you know where they are and can get them by the scruff, not the tail b/c they can curl up and bite you, you could put them in a live trap and haul them out that way. When JD traps coons, he uses a sweet bait w/anise and some other liquid stuff..I *think* possums have gotten caught by mistake w/the sweet stuff, but can't recall exactly. Mom and I used to wait until they were out back eating w/the cats and then sneak up on them and scruff them.

 

[Imdanny]

Why are you opposed to opossums?