friendly farm opossum makes rounds around coop

[sbhkma]

I hate possums and they are kill on site here. They carry equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) which can infect horses and cause a really horrific neurological disease that is often fatal.

 

[Star and eclipsa]

Yes possums will kill your birds. They are omnivores. Have you heard a possum screaming? It’s bloodcurdling.

I once had a baby opossum for eleven days. I named him splinter. Me and my mom took good care of him until we found someone with a licence to own wild animals and gave him to her. I miss splinter. He was so sweet and cute. The lady even had an adult opossum that lived in her house with her.

 

[chickmom3941]

When we lived down south, there were hordes of opossums that would come out every night in search of anything they could find. One night we got home too late, and somehow they had gotten our hen and ripped her up pretty bad (she died). They would also growl at people, and we're pretty sure an opossum is what killed our beloved cat, Tuffy, who went missing one night. We found him ripped up in our shrub bed the next day, and we could think of nothing else that would have done it. My husband worked at a warehouse back then, that for some reason had cats and a few opossums that would get in and out. He and his co-workers caught opossums on more than one occassion with a cat that they had killed, eating their stomachs out. Just nasty disgusting creatures. I would get rid of it immediately, either by killing it or catching and moving it far away from human dwellings. They are NOT friendly!

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Eating cats!

 

[ShiftyShickens]

it appears Mr. snaggles has eluded us for another day, i appreciate all the feedback! the coop is 99.9% secure against most creature types and even the cats have attempted to enter but to no avail. my girls are locked into a roosting cage every night and that acts like the second line of defense. it being completely enclosed( besides vent openings ) is probably the most secure area on the premises besides the cat house in which nothing, i repeat NOTHING goes near without feline consent. i'll keep updates on snaggles situation so wish him luck

 

[JurassicBawk]

I live inside a neighborhood but half my 2 acres is in the woods with a larger wooded area behind me. Occasionally the possums get in a fight, or get hurt if attacked by an owl or hawk, and you can hear them from about half a mile away. Occasionally the neighbors call the cops, because it sounds like a child is getting murdered in the woods with all the high pitched screaming. They can hiss like a cat, but they can also scream very loudly and also growl like a mountain lion when fighting amongst themselves. I don't have access to look right now, but when we were initially trying to figure out the noise after moving there we discovered a few videos on YouTube that had the same screams, all from possums.

 

[Kusanar]

it appears Mr. snaggles has eluded us for another day, i appreciate all the feedback! the coop is 99.9% secure against most creature types and even the cats have attempted to enter but to no avail. my girls are locked into a roosting cage every night and that acts like the second line of defense. it being completely enclosed( besides vent openings ) is probably the most secure area on the premises besides the cat house in which nothing, i repeat NOTHING goes near without feline consent. i'll keep updates on snaggles situation so wish him luck

What are you baiting the trap with? I would suggest wet cat food or tuna, something stinky.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

First reason the opossum should be destroyed is because they are not a native species of North America. They were brought over from Europe. Other than vehicles I don't know of any predator that eats them. They have such repulsive stink on them that of caught in a leg hold trap, unless the trap is reboiled nothing will get close to it except another opossum. Thirdly not only do you enjoy your tazty chickens, they destroy game bird nests.

They are the most nasty foulest smelling worthless fur bearing animal in the world. I dont like opossums.

So, just to be clear, you don't like opossums, right?

 

[ShiftyShickens]

bacon... two strips lured a smaller cat but it didn't go within the cage. the opossum in question is still abroad lurking.

 

[ShiftyShickens]

bacon is stinky enough right?