'Possums are not ALL bad...

[Folly's place]

I'm good with 'live and let live' generally, but there are exceptions.
Mary

 

[imnukensc]

Yeah, very common roadkill around here, too.
"Why did the chicken cross the road? ---- To prove to the opossum it could be done!"

"Welcome to South Carolina where opossums are born dead in the road."

 

[hayley3]

In the hopes that the research is correct and possums do eat lots of ticks, I never bother them since they also never bother my chickens. They are ugly, people don't like them and I always try to help the underdog.

 

[aart]

I remember the fist time I saw an opossum up close, and alive.
It was eating dog food on the porch of a team mate.
Tho funny looking for sure, I thought it was beautiful...
....but maybe that just cause it wasn't dead on the side of the road.

 

[centrarchid]

I have lots of opossums, and lots of ticks. Opossums could be eating 10,000 ticks annually but I doubt they are actively seeking them out. They certainly do not control tick abundance here. Somebody is smoking something when it comes to opossums.

 

[hayley3]

What I read was, the ticks get on the possum because they are so slow and close to the ground and the possum eats their own ticks. Any tick that is on something else and not on me is a a good thing!
I moved recently, so hoping this spring I don't have as many ticks as before. One of my reasons for moving was I was plain sick of all the ticks. And interesting too was the fact that I hadn't seen a possum in a long time. And rabbits were gone as well, of course I'm sure that grey fox was going after the rabbits, but I wonder does anything prey on possums.

 

[Trish1974]

They probably keep themselves clean of ticks,

Sometimes not even that. Last summer an Araucana breeder on FB posted a pic of two possums she trapped and killed... they were LOADED with ticks!

 

[Willowspirit]

What I read was, the ticks get on the possum because they are so slow and close to the ground and the possum eats their own ticks. Any tick that is on something else and not on me is a a good thing!
I moved recently, so hoping this spring I don't have as many ticks as before. One of my reasons for moving was I was plain sick of all the ticks. And interesting too was the fact that I hadn't seen a possum in a long time. And rabbits were gone as well, of course I'm sure that grey fox was going after the rabbits, but I wonder does anything prey on possums.

Yes. Foxes and coyotes eat possums. People eat possums too but not as much as they used to. I agree with you, Mary about EPM and horses so possums would be persona non grata in my barn, too. The rest of the place, they can have it because my chickens and eggs are pretty secure. We had lots of them in suburbia. Once I caught one trying to get into the apple cider vinegar but I convinced it to try turmeric instead. Never sawr it agin.

 

[Ted Brown]

There is something good to be said for those who can find beauty in what is "ugly"!

 

[Howard E]

I have no shortage of ticks or possums......

And they seem to get along with the neighbors......

And foxes do not put a dent in the possum population either....

All this about 100 yards from the Woods coop.......and seems to go on nightly.

Moral to the story.......built a predator tight coop and don't worry about em......

And if you want to find out who is lurking about, put a 50:50 mix of cheap cat food and bacon grease in a tin can and set it in front of game camera.