Opossum...

[kneedownnate]

How bad are these things, really?  My friend came over one night a month or so ago and we saw one in the rafters of my carport.  Spooked it off and didn't see it for a while, then tonight I'm out there for a couple hours working on stuff, go to tack up the corner of a tarp that was letting water in the carport and notice something out of the corner of my eye.  Shine the light up and about 2 feet from my hand is a nasty looking little critter, that fat little opossum!  From where he was sitting he had a direct line of sight on me, about 8 feet away.

I check it out for a few seconds, contemplate offing it and decide to just find something long enough to reach it for now.  Well, let's just say the hose kinda reached it just fine    I'm sure it has a nice cozy little home in the pile of carpet my landlord recently pulled out of their home and stacked randomly on their side of the carport.

I don't really care to kill something that I'm either not going to eat or isn't threatening my life and safety.  BUT, I'm kinda thinking of snagging a box of those sub sonic .22 rounds on the way home tomorrow, just incase. 

So how bad are these things?  Are they pretty much just an overgrown rat that I should pop?

[abnormaltoy]

Just contact the county and get a have a heart trap and relocate it.

They're nothing serious, but can mess you up if you corner it.

If you are at all contemplating eating it, don't laugh they're not bad, I can get a recipe.

[46&2]

Should be a lot easier to discourage than a raccoon. They arent that agressive. Raccoons on the other hand, once they know where to find some grub they wont leave you alone. you shouldnt shoot it, give it a good scare once or twice and it most likely wont be back. do you have a dog? dogs are good at discouraging animals....only takes one encounter

[kneedownnate]

First off,   I will NOT be eating that thing if I shoot it, the coyotes will!  I'd been blaming the wild aminal crap all around on a small coyote or fox, but I'd venture to guess it's this thing.  I think I now know where the cotton balls went that I'd shoved in the coolant passages in my block went    Hope that thing gets a wicked gut ache from the gasket remover.

You're not kiddin they can mess you up, I've seen the teeth!  I kept thinking I was seeing an injured duck on a pond I was fishing, finally bobbed close enough and I cast out and snagged it, reeled it in slowly till I could see the head and all those teeth.  Wierd!  Luckily I barely had it hooked, gave it a quick jerk and got my line back.  It looked alive cause the bluegill kept nipping at it 

Seriously, if I relocate this thing it'll just come back.  We have those traps at work, I considered trapping it and letting it go, but if I do it'll just pester somebody else.  Guess I could borrow the trap, trap the critter, let it go at work and then return the trap.  They might get pissed at me for bringing it there, but maybe it'd lay the smack down on the ferrel cat problem 

[kneedownnate]

Should be a lot easier to discourage than a raccoon. They arent that agressive. Raccoons on the other hand, once they know where to find some grub they wont leave you alone. you shouldnt shoot it, give it a good scare once or twice and it most likely wont be back. do you have a dog? dogs are good at discouraging animals....only takes one encounter

I'm thinking getting completely soaked at 8pm on a cold night might serve as a deterrent!  I don't have a dog, but if I did I wouldn't let it near that disease infested aminal.  Short of a few skanky leftover tomaters in my garden there's no grub for anything.  I don't put garbage out in cans, so there's nothing there for them to scrounge.  Once in a while I'll throw some uneaten or forgotten food out the side door, but I'd bet dollars to donuts the gray squirrels or birds snag it before anything else gets a chance.

I absolutely guarentee you I WILL shoot the damn woodpecker that gets in my attic and bangs on the metal slats that cover the vent!  That prick wakes me up every weekend morning that it's not raining

[JnJ]

I'd just leave it alone. If it's not tipping over trash cans or nesting in your vehicle, then it's not doing any real harm.

Here's a website I found about opossums   http://www.opossum.org/ 

[Lady Di]

As we found out when we had possums in our yard (and closet ) Possums are very misunderstood critters. They are not the prettiest things to look at but they are very good for pest control. They will eat everything from roaches and other bugs to mice and rats, and they are really very mild mannered.
If you don't want them, as others have said, get a humane trap and relocate them.

[Mistaken]

we had one in our garage once, when i was young. my dad hit over the head and thought he killed it well, lets just say it lived up to that little saying and came "back to life" as he was dragging it to the burning pile. never would have thought a possom could twist around like that

[Lady Di]

you definitly don't want to piss off a possum or any wild critter, but they are not aggressive unless trapped, but then you would be too

[red]

there not bad little critters to have around but if you have a dog they are known to carry rabies sometimes.

[sam24462]

This one is on our wall almost every night. I have even pet it a few times (with leather gloves). I like having it around.

[79coyotefrg]

  BUT, I'm kinda thinking of snagging a box of those sub sonic .22 rounds on the way home tomorrow, just incase. 

i'm thinking Hornet 22 longrifle hollow points,  but  thats just me,  they  eat my

[Lady Di]

i'm thinking Hornet 22 longrifle hollow points,  but  thats just me,  they  eat my

they'll eat kittens too

[Lady Di]

This one is on our wall almost every night. I have even pet it a few times (with leather gloves). I like having it around.

About a week or so ago Mark opened the utility room door in the morning to find a little guy roaming around. LOL! It must have gotten in the doggie door before we shut everything down for the night.
He said it just waddled by and went back out the doggie door.

[red]

we had a few in houston but had quite alot of raccoons, neither of them ever bothered us except for when we accidentily cornered a opossum in the garage, and the raccoons ate our outside goldfish once (my algae eater was the only survivor, found him in the morning on the deck lying in a small puddle suckin on the wood).

[*FFC*]

I didn't read the whole thread, so it may have been said already, but watch out... they are towards the top of the list for rabies.

[Lady Di]

I didn't read the whole thread, so it may have been said already, but watch out... they are towards the top of the list for rabies.

Not according to the research we did when we had the possum in our house. Do a google search and I am sure you will find the same.
Raccoons on the other had do indeed.

Question: Do opossums carry rabies?

Answer: Any mammal can get rabies. However, the chance of rabies in an opossum is EXTREMELY RARE. This may have something to do with the opossum's low body temperature (94-97º F) making it difficult for the virus to survive in an opossum's body.

http://www.opossumsocietyus.org/frequently_asked_questions.htm#Do%20opossums%20carry%20rabies?

In general they present a far lower health risk to humans than do dogs and cats! They seem to have a naturally high level of immunity to most diseases. Example? Opossums are more resistant to rabies than any other mammal; cattle, goats, dogs, cats, sheep, and the ice cream man are far more susceptible to rabies!
http://www.opossum.org/

[Thomas P]

keep him and feed him good, maybe you will have a new wheelin mascot, that thing looks mean

[Lady Di]

They look mean but they are really quite docile.

[*FFC*]

I used to have two as pets....

I have always heard they are very likely to be rabid, but then again.... I've never researched it

[Lady Di]

I used to have two as pets....

I have always heard they are very likely to be rabid, but then again.... I've never researched it

old wives tales, that's why they have a bad rep in general. They're not cute so people just assume they're nasty.