Things that go bump in the night.

[jackb]

Opossum checking out the flower bed but did no damage.

"The opossum is a marsupial of the order Didelphimorphia endemic to the Americas." I did not realize they were marsupials until I looked it up.

 

[Collector]

They look like giant rats to me.i have saw them closer to the coast from here, but I have never saw one in this neck of the woods.

 

[Nyboy]

Very common here, do look like giant rats. When they growl at you they show a mouth full of sharp teeth. I think raccoons are worse to have

 

[thistlebloom]

I had a pet opossum once. Briefly.
We lived in town and our malamute had sort of mauled a baby. At least when we got home it was laying on the lawn, wet with slobber and one eyed, so we blamed her. She kind of had a record if you know what I mean.

Anyway I picked it up to dispose of and it moved! Scared me and I dropped it, but felt bad for it's one eyed-ed-ness and decided to care for it.
We had it for about a month and would let it run around the house for about an hour everyday for exercise. I would not do that these days, but I was young and idealistic, haha.

In the end the ungrateful little jerk bit me, and I reacted with a fling. It may still be orbiting,
( I have a pretty good arm).

 

[Nyboy]

Nope would not put up with biting the hand that feeds you. Unless its a bird that belonged to dead brother

 

[digitS']

I nearly picked up an adult, once.

It was very early, the sun wasn't up. The sky was cloudy.

The possum was on a lawn and I thought it was something dropped there and should be moved. I walked right up and began to reach down when I saw its beady little eyes looking up at me ..!! I must have jumped 4' ... nearly crossing the Texas border in a single bound!

When I lived in Oregon, there were no possums there yet. DD got me a bird feeder with safflower seed. Bag says something about squirrel proof, for our eastern grey squirrels. English sparrows don't like it. Says something else about it being dove feed.

Cripes! The doves I'm likely to get are the Eurasian collared doves. It did say something about "native" sparrows ... maybe I can make things a little easier on the Song Sparrows ...

Steve

 

[baymule]

Plenty of possums here. Paris, our female Great Pyrenees killed a large male that was stupid enough to cross the fence.

 

[flowerbug]

i knew some people who did have one as a pet, it loved french fries. night creature, many teeth. would not want one, but they are around here all the time, they and the raccoons are commonly raiding bird's nests for eggs/young. it's just the way nature is at times. i just wish they'd pick on the grackles more than any other bird.

they have a lot of kids.

and the expression "playing possum" does come from them for a reason @digitS'