HELP! Possum in coop

[dacjohns]

Although it is very rare opossums can contract rabies. I wouldn't worry too much about getting rabies from the opossum but it can deliver a nasty bite.

 

[rooster-red]

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Right, anything that has teeth has the potential to bite.

With 50 teeth in its mouth I don't think I'd put my hand in there.

 

[jjthink]

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Hmmm...he or she likes that cozy warmer respite from the winter cold! If you are feeling kindly toward it, maybe you can drop some catfood or other food off with him in his new location as he may struggle to find food at first. Food and shelter will be a very real and daunting challenge in the cold in a new strange place, so best if it's an area with places that could offer possible shelter.
Thanks for your efforts to spare him/her the wrath of humans!
JJ

 

[lesncivil]

I hate possums! Huge nasty smelling rats. My ducks were off their feed for three days. I went out one evening to bring their feed in. My Jack Russel Terrier, Missy took off to the back. In a flash she was on top of what I though was one of my ducks that got loose and shaking it for all she was worth. I yelled at her, she dropped it. I realized it wasn't a duck...it was a possum. It played dead until my husband came out and took care of it.

Last year my drake was torn up pretty good by a possum but lived. He has a permanent limp. I lost an entire nest of 11 fertilized eggs out from under the hen. My husband sat out for a few nights waiting to take care of it. It came back. It was the size of my Cocker Spaniel. The darned things grow big and fat on duck eggs and food. I've since taken to bringing the food in doors at night as a deterrent.

If you can't kill them, trap them. Animal control should take them.

 

[rooster-red]

Everyone probably already knows this, but...

Possums aren't rats, not even in the rodent family.

They are North America's only marsupial.

 

[b.hromada]

I agree with you rooster-red, they aren't rats at all, as a matter of fact, I've got one as a pet, and she'd much rather not be around people if she had the choice, believe me. Yes, I was also told that it is very very rare for them to carry rabies, because of their body temperature is not as high as other mammals. I'm so glad to see other people wanting to save its little life.

.

 

[Granolamom]

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Hmmmmm...,ever wonder if anything out there considers us, the Human race, "huge, nasty, smelly rats"? Wouldn't surprise me at all. Every creature is just doing what we all do: trying to survive. Protect your flock, and let the possum live.

 

[rooster-red]

b.hromada :

I agree with you rooster-red, they aren't rats at all, as a matter of fact, I've got one as a pet, and she'd much rather not be around people if she had the choice, believe me. Yes, I was also told that it is very very rare for them to carry rabies, because of their body temperature is not as high as other mammals. I'm so glad to see other people wanting to save its little life.

.

While I've never had any as pets, I have been known to catch a few wild ones bare handed.

We co-exist with them here, haven't had any casualties in the last several years since I've been leaving catfood out for them.

They would rather eat the cat food than my chickens.

 

[bluey]

why do I suddenly have an urge to start singing "Kumbaya"?

 

[b.hromada]

thats it, you hit the nail on the head! Blossom Possum!

They really aren't that bad, they just look bad, its really their only defense they have, and it works, obviously, right?