# backyard albino possum



## Galapoheros (Aug 10, 2013)

I can't remember if I posted these before or not, found it in my yard, it was kind of freaky.  Others around the house here are very light colored.

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## The Snark (Aug 10, 2013)

(With all due respect to the OP) Nope. Albino doesn't help either. It's ugly right down to the bone for them. Flea bearing/bitten little fratricidal back yard raiders.


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## catfishrod69 (Aug 10, 2013)

That is very awesome! And Opossums are some very amazing creatures. I could tell you just how strong they are, but not here, pm me if interested.


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## MarkmD (Aug 10, 2013)

Pretty cool possum :-D


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## Galapoheros (Aug 10, 2013)

Yeah Snark, I agree, dirty smelly animals, usually anyway.  I thought of catching this one, it would have been easy but it was really old, you can kind of tell in the pic.  I thought a small zoo would want it or something like that.


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## Tim Benzedrine (Aug 10, 2013)

> Flea bearing/bitten little fratricidal back yard raiders.



Heyyyy!

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## bugmankeith (Aug 10, 2013)

That is SO awesome it looks like some legendary beast for some reason. Amazing! If I had that around I'd feed it albinos frequently have health issues so if extra food made life easier I'd feed it.

If you join this site please add your opossum on here many, many people will be interested in seeing this its Very rare! Someone submitted a pure white raccoon. http://www.projectnoah.org/


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## beetleman (Aug 10, 2013)

Yes that's a very cool find! Awesome and rare,i see plenty of them  here in fla. But i have yet to see an albino,nice pic of it.


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## lancej (Aug 10, 2013)

That is awesome!  Possums are awesome creatures anyway.  I have friends that have had possums as pets, and they were sweet and had no smell (well, the females don't, males are musky).


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## PerfectCircle (Aug 10, 2013)

I think they have a cuteness to them !!!    
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express


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## Smokehound714 (Aug 11, 2013)

opossums are awesome looking when they're well fed and not dying of MBD.

  I had a couple of them as pets, they make VERY good pets, except for their habit of trying to sleep in trashcans...  I seriously hated that so much, i'd make his bed for him, snuggle up, and wake up with him curled up in the wastebin..


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## Najakeeper (Aug 11, 2013)

It is amazing to see that an albino mammal survived to adulthood in wild. Awesome find!


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## bugmankeith (Aug 11, 2013)

Najakeeper said:


> It is amazing to see that an albino mammal survived to adulthood in wild. Awesome find!


They scavenge so long as people and shelter are around they get by. But their poor eyesight can be trouble if they encounter predators or the roads. This one is looking thin poor thing its not its fault it was born different.

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Galapoheros said:


> I can't remember if I posted these before or not, found it in my yard, it was kind of freaky.  Others around the house here are very light colored.


What town in Texas is this? You said others are light, could be something with the populations genes or mabye inbreeding could have something important going on here.


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## Munch (Aug 11, 2013)

Isn't there like a .0001 chance of that?


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## Galapoheros (Aug 11, 2013)

They are def carrying the gene around here, at least imo.  There are some very light colored ones I've seen, my neighbor says he saw one years ago, he's been in the hood around 25 years.  I don't want to give out the exact location lol, it's in the Austin Tx area though.  I've kind of wanted a possum but I didn't think they would make good pets since they don't show much social behavior in nature.

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## pouchedrat (Aug 20, 2013)

Is it possible that he is an escaped pet?  He looks a bit rough.   But I don't think I have seen albinos in the pet trade yet...


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## korg (Aug 20, 2013)

Do you live in a fire swamp? Reminds me of a white "rodent of unusual size."

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## The Snark (Aug 20, 2013)

korg said:


> Do you live in a fire swamp? Reminds me of a white "rodent of unusual size."


:clap::clap::clap:
ROTFLMAO


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## Galapoheros (Aug 20, 2013)

Haha, liked that movie.  I don't think it's an escaped pet, don't think the are legal to keep here, can't sell them as far as I know, I haven't looked into that.


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## pouchedrat (Aug 21, 2013)

You live in Texas, right?  
Texas

Category: L

Summary of Law: No person may possess a dangerous wild animal without first obtaining a license (certificate of registration). Dangerous wild animals are defined as lions, tigers, ocelots, cougars, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, bobcats, lynxes, servals, caracals, hyenas, bears, coyotes, jackals, baboons, chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, or any hybrids of the animals listed. However, there are no requirements for a person possessing all other animal not listed above, such as monkeys, wolves etc.



I found some people in Texas who do have/had Virginia opossums on google, but nothing in particular banning them or OKing them as pets.  I know some states it's legal, some you need a permit, and some it's completely illegal.  Texas seems more laid back though.


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## Galapoheros (Aug 21, 2013)

Yeah, around Austin Tx.  Haha, 'no dangerous animals but can have a wolf', sounded kind of funny to me.  I saw some wolf hybrids for sale here, 50/50 I think.  One of the puppies got loose and they were afraid to get it, it didn't seem so "not dangerous" lol.  I think it just started freaking out because of all the people around though.  Maybe I'll start trapping in my yard, I have a couple of nice live traps.  Maybe I'll catch one and give it to somebody that is interested in breeding albino possums.  I'm likely to catch a light colored one that is carrying the gene, at least I can post pics here and see what people think that know about this kind of thing, ...I'm not a big mammal person.


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## pouchedrat (Aug 21, 2013)

Honestly if it isn't an escaped pet and looks that rough, I would be careful...  I could not find albinos listed in any of my exotics listings, but did find some on taxidermist sites.


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## Dark (Aug 21, 2013)

I'm a huge advocate of opossums and I am glad to see such an amazing sight. For those of you who hate opossums, I growl and hiss at your insensitivity to these marvelous creatures.

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## Galapoheros (Aug 21, 2013)

I'm 99% sure it's not a pet that got out.  I bought this place in 96, I think my neighbor has been here since the early 80s.  I saw him recently and said, "Hey, I saw a albino possum in my back yard!"  He said, "Oh yeah, I've seen those nasty things."  Haha, he's not a nature guy at all, it was no news to him at all, I thought his reaction was kind of strange.  Kind of sounded like he's seen more than one over the years, but maybe he kept seeing the same one.  But anyway, OK I'm going to start trapping them and taking a look at them, taking pics before I let them go so you guys can see if you think I catch some unusually light colored ones, what kind of bait should I use?  I have traps where they step on a swiveling thing that drops a door, typical live-trap.


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## bunnytush (Aug 24, 2013)

Aw, I think it's adorable! When I lived in Pennsylvania, we used to feed a stray cat out back and often times I'd peek out the back door to see her, a opossum, and a racoon eating from the same bowl as happy as ever! And this opossum was so nice, although I never tried to touch it because that's just always a bad idea, it would just stand there and watch what you were doing if you went out in the backyard.  Opossums are great.

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## bugmankeith (Aug 24, 2013)

A neighbor of mine used to bake gourmet cakes made of pumpkin, squash, vanilla, or cherry, and had them stored in her garage fridge. One day she goes outside to find a opossum opened the fridge and was eating a cake but had babies, so my neighbor used to feed the opossum but it got so friendly it used to wait by her back door and come in her house and eat the cat food and one day she found it in her bed with her!!! 

She never got bit but after she had to refuse to let it in for her safety. I wonder if that possum is still around, I see a friendly one eating cat food outside, but generally around here people try to harm raccoons and possums so if it got too friendly it might have been trapped by someone. 

I used to feed a mother raccoon that was hit by a car and one of her back feet was completely taken off and she survived without medical care (nobody helps raccoons unless its a baby), so I used to feed her cat food and the neighbors complained but I said screw you guys if there wasn't so many people this mother would have her foot and a safe place to raise her babies. Eventually her babies grew up and left but after I never saw her again.


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## bunnytush (Aug 24, 2013)

bugmankeith said:


> I used to feed a mother raccoon that was hit by a car and one of her back feet was completely taken off and she survived without medical care (nobody helps raccoons unless its a baby), so I used to feed her cat food and the neighbors complained but I said screw you guys if there wasn't so many people this mother would have her foot and a safe place to raise her babies. Eventually her babies grew up and left but after I never saw her again.


We had a pregnant raccoon outside once eating from the cat food bowl and a month or so later, at 2 AM, I heard the bowl clatter onto the back porch from my open bedroom window, so I went down to see what was going on and there were baby raccoons _everywhere_, dangling from the porch, picking up cat food off the floor, and as I turned on the light and opened the door, they just stared at me and I slowly picked up the bowl, refilled it, and put it back, all while they were staring at me. I was worried their mother would come and try to attack me, but nothing happened and after I put the food bowl back with more food, they all scurried up the porch and ran over to it. It was probably one of the cutest things lol I love those little faces.

I love animals, I don't understand when people think they're a nuisance, especially raccoons and opossums. Most animals are more afraid of people, unless they have rabies.

I want to hug all the opossums and raccoons in the world, but I think that would be a bad idea even if I had the chance lol :bruised:

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## Spepper (Aug 25, 2013)

bunnytush said:


> I love animals, I don't understand when people think they're a nuisance, especially raccoons and opossums. Most animals are more afraid of people, unless they have rabies.


Diseases besides rabies, ticks, fleas, overpopulation, attacking people's pets.  I agree 100% that opossums and raccoons have their place in the world, but sometimes they get out of control.


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## bunnytush (Aug 25, 2013)

Spepper said:


> Diseases besides rabies, ticks, fleas, overpopulation, attacking people's pets.  I agree 100% that opossums and raccoons have their place in the world, but sometimes they get out of control.


Well, we've always had big dogs and indoor cats, so we never had to worry about that, but I do see how having them attacking pets is a big, big problem.


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## bugmankeith (Aug 25, 2013)

bunnytush said:


> Well, we've always had big dogs and indoor cats, so we never had to worry about that, but I do see how having them attacking pets is a big, big problem.


There are ways if people have outdoor cats to make a feeding area cats can get to but raccoons can't so they eat in safety without encountering eachother, because if you feed anything outside, even birds, raccoons will take advantage of any free food. My area has barely any natural food for them so I don't feel guilty feeding them its not their fault man took away natural forests and streams.

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## Spepper (Aug 25, 2013)

bunnytush said:


> Well, we've always had big dogs and indoor cats, so we never had to worry about that, but I do see how having them attacking pets is a big, big problem.


I personally have 3 indoor/outdoor cats that love to spend the night out, and when we can't call them in at night I worry, because we've had 2 others disappear.  To this day we have no idea what happened to them.  We live kind of in the country, so it could be any number of things.  That's why I put that in there, because a raccoon could kill a hunting dog.  A cat would be no problem.


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## catfishrod69 (Aug 25, 2013)

I would lean more towards a coyote or fox being the culprit here. A raccoon could easily kill a cat, however they arent exactly the predator type. Unless your a crawdad. 


Spepper said:


> I personally have 3 indoor/outdoor cats that love to spend the night out, and when we can't call them in at night I worry, because we've had 2 others disappear.  To this day we have no idea what happened to them.  We live kind of in the country, so it could be any number of things.  That's why I put that in there, because a raccoon could kill a hunting dog.  A cat would be no problem.


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## Spepper (Aug 25, 2013)

catfishrod69 said:


> I would lean more towards a coyote or fox being the culprit here. A raccoon could easily kill a cat, however they arent exactly the predator type. Unless your a crawdad.


Yeah, but one of our current cats isn't the smartest and is friendly towards just about anything, and if he just walked up to the wrong thing it might not turn out good.  But I agree with you there.  We do have foxes—no coyotes that I know of.  We also have had cougars in the past.  So it could be a lot of things.


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## catfishrod69 (Aug 25, 2013)

Yeah i understand that. Ive been around a few cats like that. What state do you live in? 





Spepper said:


> Yeah, but one of our current cats isn't the smartest and is friendly towards just about anything, and if he just walked up to the wrong thing it might not turn out good.  But I agree with you there.  We do have foxes—no coyotes that I know of.  We also have had cougars in the past.  So it could be a lot of things.


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## Spepper (Aug 25, 2013)

catfishrod69 said:


> Yeah i understand that. Ive been around a few cats like that. What state do you live in?


I don't give out things like that, but I will say I live on the west coast.


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## catfishrod69 (Aug 25, 2013)

Totally understandable. More than likely you have coyotes in that state. Im not positive, but i would bet they are in every state. Probably excluding hawaii. 





Spepper said:


> I don't give out things like that, but I will say I live on the west coast.


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## Galapoheros (Aug 25, 2013)

I live in the city limits here but it's kind of countryish, not countryish enough for me though, I'd like to be out in the boonies and visit the city when I want.  Taxes are bad here too and it's hard to grow stuff on top of bedrock.  Anyway, there are coyotes here too, they are killing the cats, usually around 4am.  Fox are here too.  I was sitting on my back porch and one just walked up and started drinking from a thing I have on the porch, barely looked at me and growled at a cat there too.  I don't have a cat or dog but a neighbor's cat likes it over here, more like strays.  He likes the cats for the same reason I don't like them roaming, he doesn't like lizards and snakes, ...or any "bug" stuff.  The coyotes kill the cats when the cats stop paying attention and they tend to shut the cat up when they are killing it so it's usually a quiet kill.  They are bigger than I thought and nasty looking things around here.


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## catfishrod69 (Aug 25, 2013)

Yep sounds like the normal life of a coyote. I live smack dab in the heart of pure coyote country. There are numerous dens around, and you can hear them yipping at night time (in large numbers). I used to hunt and trap them, but havent had much time to cause of other hobbies (this one) and work. Couple things people might not know. Coyotes cannot bark like a regular dog. Also if a male dog is around, a female coyote will stand on top a hill and call to him. He will some to her, while the rest of the pack waits in ambush. Once he takes a interest to the female and he is distracted, they take him down. If there is a female dog around, a male coyote will stand on top a hill and call her up. Then he will breed with her, and the pack lets her go, or sometimes makes her one of them. Coyotes can be extremely stealthy. I have been in the middle of deep woods squirrel hunting, and had a coyote run right past me. If i had not seen him, i would have never known he was there. 





Galapoheros said:


> I live in the city limits here but it's kind of countryish, not countryish enough for me though, I'd like to be out in the boonies and visit the city when I want.  Taxes are bad here too and it's hard to grow stuff on top of bedrock.  Anyway, there are coyotes here too, they are killing the cats, usually around 4am.  Fox are here too.  I was sitting on my back porch and one just walked up and started drinking from a thing I have on the porch, barely looked at me and growled at a cat there too.  I don't have a cat or dog but a neighbor's cat likes it over here, more like strays.  He likes the cats for the same reason I don't like them roaming, he doesn't like lizards and snakes, ...or any "bug" stuff.  The coyotes kill the cats when the cats stop paying attention and they tend to shut the cat up when they are killing it so it's usually a quiet kill.  They are bigger than I thought and nasty looking things around here.


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## Galapoheros (Aug 25, 2013)

I've heard that "yipping" here, sounds kind of like a bunch of loud puppies, a little spooky in a way.  Interesting about the ambush strategy.  One night one was on my porch howling, real loud, so I had to get up and run it off.  It didn't run and keep running, it ran about 50 feet and hid behind a tree lol.  It kept looking at me from behind the tree and was making this deep, strong growl at me.  They are getting used to people and sometimes ignore them, until you make a move toward them.  Sometimes they rip up a deer around here which doesn't bother me at all!  There are too many deer, battle between neighbors here, some like them some hatem.  btw do coyotes go after possums?  They play dead but it seems that's what something wanting a meal would want anyway, something dead.  It seems like possums would be easy pickins, a person can grab the tails of the wild ones if they wanted, kind of slow.  Easy to see that that's what they are doing around trees anyway though, to get away.


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## catfishrod69 (Aug 25, 2013)

I actually love the yipping sounds myself. Especially when its dark, and they are close by. Yeah they have gotten more used to humans in the more populated areas. Around here they are everywhere, but you hardly see them. I might see a couple a year. We used to use deer legs to bait our traps. We would hang the legs from a tree, out of reach of the yote, and have our traps below it. Worked pretty well. More than likely they would go for possums. Coyotes are predators/ambush/scavengers. So they will pretty much take what they can get. I personally wouldnt pick up a possum lol. Their jaws are designed to crush bone. They could easily crush your hand bones or forearm bone.


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## The Snark (Aug 25, 2013)

Keeping in mind possums are known as bridge disease carriers, for some reason I've never been able to fathom, even more so than rats. I believe it has something to do with their appetites in that they will eat anything, even crap that rats shun, and are highly cosmopolitan.

Way up above all else on the list of spooky in my book, two animals stand out supreme. Cougar screams and coyote packs. To be out in the boonies and discover a pack of coyotes is passing through is incredibly unnerving. When ranging they are completely silent and those yips that people attribute to a few animals... aren't. I once heard the yips every night, found where they entered the property and took up a post on the roof of a shack to watch. They made their yips, calls, from a nearby hilltop then headed on down to their forage route. I expected 10 to 15 animals. I guesstimated around 80 cruised through the open area and probably another 50 that went a different route. Keep in mind the only thing that limits the population size of a coyote pack is food availability and disease.

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## Louise E. Rothstein (Aug 28, 2013)

Many of the "80" coyotes that "cruised" through "an open area" might have "drifted" across the same ground more than once.
If they don't stand in plain sight while somebody is counting it is very easy to "count" more than one more than once.

It is much harder for 80 coyotes to stay together.
They would be more than likely to starve if they did.

Even if they LIKED to form such substantial herds...and as nearly as any field biologist can tell they do not...

How long could 80 of them find food in one place...?


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## The Snark (Aug 28, 2013)

Louise E. Rothstein said:


> Many of the "80" coyotes that "cruised" through "an open area" might have "drifted" across the same ground more than once.
> If they don't stand in plain sight while somebody is counting it is very easy to "count" more than one more than once.
> 
> It is much harder for 80 coyotes to stay together.
> ...


Thanks for the info. Perhaps you would have some specific info on the southern California coyotes? The packs I observed aren't normal. They have become cosmopolitan, combining the wilds with foraging through the rural and suburban areas. The ones I have checked out range the San Gabriel mountains from San Bernardino/Cajon Pass area all the way to the Pacific Ocean out by Ventura. A span of about 80 miles as the crow flies, the greater Los Angeles area on the south side, the mountains to the north. The packs move swiftly in pretty much planned routes down various draws and gulleys and into the human populated areas. They appear primarily to hunt domestic cats and any other small animal that they came across while raiding back yards and garbage cans. The count of 80 was very conservative. The 'Altadena' pack as I called them was probably an average of 200 animals, living in the Lower Chilao - Chantry Flats - Mt. Wilson area and ranging on over towards La Canada. Say a forage area of 20 to 30 linear miles. They would join up with another pack, and disperse, that came down Switzers canyon, the Red Box - Upper Tujunga pack. How they organized the pack structure, changing from groups of 10 to 15 to the massive crowds I have no idea. When there were fires up in the mountains they would of course crowd together and it seemed raid farther into the urban areas. Sometimes they were sited in groups down in Pasadena, some 4 to 6 miles from the edge of the wilderness.


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## okietooth (Mar 1, 2021)

Orphaned albino opossum we nursed to health and gave a great life to his final day. You told me I would ever grow attached to one of these before, I’d say hell no! Well I was wrong and I miss my pet dearly...

Reactions: Sad 1


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