Opossum are not related to rats which are rodents. They're marsupials, cousins to the kangaroo.

Yes, they climb quite well, my pups have treed several over the years when they've gone out for that last yard visit of the night. Then there was the night Jessie was barking at something, I went out with the flashlight and was loking ten feet away when my barefeet stepped on this warm, soft furry thing. I don't know which of us was more scared!

Best to keep pet food inside the house.

IIRC, the vet said they do not carry rabies and would only be a threat if absolutely cornered. They'd really rather climb away or play dead if approached.

 

Yes, I already knew this before. I was just saying they look like rats on steroids, and they do. I think they are the only marsupial in N. America, but I may be wrong.

What did you do with them? It seems like there are lots of them where you live and they keep coming back. Here, there are very few, probably one or two, and I haven't heard anything in a couple days. I hope they are gone forever because I don't like killing anything.

 

Leave lights on, remove the food and scatter some moth balls around.

Good luck.

 

I take them a few miles away, across water and let them go in the everglades. Possums are like rabbits in that they breed fast. Their life expectancy isn't that long in the wild. When I relocate them I let them all go in the same area.

My favorite place to let them go is about a quarter mile from a bald eagle nest.
I've wondered how many the eagles have eaten.

fltsfshr

 

Or how many became gator bait.

I tossed one in the river when it was playing dead so my dog would leave it alone. I figured it would swim off. Nope, the damn thing drowned and floated up the next morning. I felt bad about it.

On a side note I saw something moving on a sandbar in the river one day and pulled my boat over to look. It was an Armadillo walking across the bottom from an island to the mainland. When he got to the other side he just climbed up the bank and kept on walking.

 

Interesting! You must be from TX or something. I've never seen an Armadillo, but seen pix of it. It kinda looks like an opossum too. Both freaky looking!

 

Yea I've seen dillas do that too. They sink like rocks but they walk across the bottom.

I think everything eats possum. The buzzards around here would starve without them

what amazes me is how the waffles work.. You can leave dog food cat food whatever outside. They'll go for the waffles.

I have a friend who saved a baby possum from a pouch and raised it. The possum would hang from the rear view mirror when she drove around. They only live a couple years.

fltsfshr

 

Possums are nasty, ugly and slow. I haven't really had a problem yet with them comming and eating my dog food. Someone mentioned they have a 120lb dog, I'm surprised your dog doesn't scare them away. They do a very good job at 'playing dead' as someone mentioned. When one does accidentally wander into our backyard my dog usually gets ahold of it and .... OoOoh you can hear bones cracking and breaking .... poor possum.... BUT you would at that point think its dead. I pick it up with a shovel when I discover it and carry it out .... btw the big ones are usually pretty heavy ... im guessing around 15 lbs? Anyways, in the morning they are usually gone, which idicates that they aren't dead or someone likes to collect dead possums?
Noise would probably be the best way for one to scare a possum.

 

[QUOTE=Officer_down,Dec 29 2004, 09:50 PM]Interesting!

 

I live in that one little state, the most upper-left one, the one that doesn't know who its governor is, after almost 2 months of counting and recounting votes. But I think it finally has one now, although by a fraction of a percent. Anyway, back to the point, I'm from there within that green potential area, yet I've never ever seen an Armadillo.

The 120-lb dog mentioned above is mine. No, possums are scared of him, but when he sleeps in the garage at night, they would roam around the backyard. They certainly are not afraid of the cat though, and I don't think the cat is scared of it either. Sometimes they would just look at each other and probably think: "Eh, I'm not afraid of you. I'm gonna keep going now."

Yeah, possums are nasty looking, but I wouldn't kill them. I don't like killing anything at all.