New Possum....on my Patio...

[Scrambled Egg]

Your secret is safe with me!! Us possum lovers have to stick together, lol!!

 

[BaldMonkey]

I love possums they are great. Have to cookem a bit longer than some things but YUM YUM lip smackin good ... the secret is to use red onions....

~

 

[CritterHill]

Did someone say possum?

This guys comes by to clean up the cat food, birdseed, whatever that happens to be on our porch. I like his ears.

And here is his friend:

My 2 and 4 year olds love to see these guys on the porch right before bedtime. Sometimes I'll leave some extra cat food out there just to attract them. Hey, it's cheaper than the zoo!

The trick is going to be getting them to coexist nicely with my future chickens. The coop we are building this summer is going to have to be fort knox!

 

[ilovemychickies]

Quote:

Awwww! How cute! There used to be a racoon that we called Coony-Coon, but we think that he got hit by a car. We saw a racoon lying dead on the road, right in the same spot that Coony-Coon would cross the road.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

That possum looks so healthy and soft and of course...CUTE!!!!!! lol!!! CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My son's girlfriend's father (that was a mouthful!) has raised a raccoon from a baby. "Herman" now lives in the rafters of his workshop, wanders in the yard, climbs a few trees and seems to be a sweet pet. They say "where's Herman" to him and he covers his paws over his eyes! Yes, he has had a rabies shot too...and does not live near my chickens, lol!

I love your zoo CritterHill!!! Thanks for sharing, so cute!!!

 

[raffello]

I don't know if I'd go so far as to leave bowls of cat food out for the little boogers, but they are cute, in a hissing, freaking out sort of way... The only up close encounters I've had with possums is when I'd go to take the trash out, lift the lid, and there would usually be one. I would look at it, it would look at me, and we'd both sort of start screaming. I'd close the lid really quickly, but not too tight so it couldn't get out... wouldn't want it to end up in the garbage truck.

Raccoons, now... I'm kind of scared of those guys. Picture an old, obese, 40-pound trash-fed raccoon running around on our roof at night. They're cute when they're little, though.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

So odd that you would post on this thread today Raffello because A DIFFERENT possum, much, much younger with itty bitty teeth (yes, saw them up close and personal!!) was in my BACK YARD last night!! At 2am ,my old, old labradog was barking enough to wake me and she had a young possum (feet were small and spread out flat like a raccoons, not big and crunched under like Fred's and he was only about 8 or 9 inches long with really long skinny tail.(which I had a moment of insane thought about picking up Spence, but my husband read my mind and fussed before I could do it!!..Fred had a short, stubby tail and is enormous) anyway, she had this one pinned between the grill and a flower pot on the patio! Husband was not to keen at 2am about getting up to check out what I was hollering about but he finally did and we got a broom and sort of swept him out of the space and he went under a bush, then the dog chased him and after that, and in the dark, I have no idea where he went. I was up 4 times after that checking my chicken pen. Guess I deserve it for feeding them, that they would feel free to come in my yard but I am sure hoping my chicken pen is secure and that they aren't interested in chicken dinners. I did bend down near enough to it before I broomed it out, for it to hiss at me! This one was extremely cute since it was smaller and more light colored than Fred...maybe Fred is Fredricka afterall and this is a baby? I said from the beginning that I didn't mind them in my FRONT yard, had no idea that they would survive in my BACK yard, my dog is really old though so she may have been too feeble to fight it, at least she cornered it and let me know about it!! City possums, whodda thunk it??!!

 

[Big Spur Gamecock]

Without going through all responses, why don't you just stop leaving catfood out all night or using a pellet rifle, paintball gun or just a trusty ol .22 to shoot the rascal and all who follow, they're great target practice. If you choose your sight placement correctly they will have a chance to run off before they die. ( i.e. gutshot) back into whatever sewer pipe they came out of.

I also believe living in the city, you have animal control who will set a trap and then retrieve it for free, well your taxes pay for it, but they should take care of this problem as if you continue feeding it, the critter will multipy and more and more will show up looking for the nice lady who leaves food out for them.
Good luck ridding yourself of these ugly creatures with the mouth full of sharp teeth.

 

[lacyloo]

big spur gamecock, she isnt wanting to destroy the animall she just enjoys them hanging around, She just dont want them in the pens, long as the possum stays out her pens.

 

[Gersbud]

I don't know if a possum would go after chickens or not. My dh said they only eat their egg. don't really beleive that. On day this past January I went to the chicken coop to check on the girls before went to bed and as always my cat went with me.(He likes to go and check on the girls too even though he is afraid of them) and the cat wouldn't go insiide this time and just hissed. When I went in on further inspection I found a small possum in the coop. Went and got a pellet gun and shot it in the head. Killed it. Wasn't taking any chances.