Possum Appreciation

[TLSizzle]

I've always enjoyed seeing possums around my house. They pass by in the evenings to get a drink or finish off my outdoor cat's food.

This morning, a baby was trapped inside my patio. Momma and siblings were nervously waiting outside for it. Thank goodness my indoor cat that saw is a gentle guy. All he did was watch the show.

I grabbed a towel and picked the baby up, walked it around and to it's mother. She was nervous but let me get pretty close to offer her baby back. Once it saw it's momma, it crawled on to her. Such a sweet family!



I think she lives under the deck, but I guess she felt too scared to go in as I saw her a few minutes later go into our garage. She probably felt exposed and needs a place to rest.

Does anyone else have these marsupial visitors?

 

[SpookySpooder]

Those babies are cute, especially how they cling to mom like she's a trolley car.

I see them every so often, they walk along the block wall in the backyard and poach veggies from my garden.

My garden is off the side of a freeway so there are a few animals who use the underpass as a crossing point. Stuff like coyotes, raccoons, possums, cats, whatever else is out there.

I don't really care too much, I mostly grow things for fun and overproduce to the point where produce spoils on the ground or in compost.

Probably why they keep coming back TBH.

They're pretty interesting to watch, you can see they're smarter than the average animal. There's one that's the size of a small dog that I frequently see munching on rotten tomatoes, he hisses and runs off dramatically if you interrupt him. The others tend to freeze and lay motionless if you surprise them.

I always worry about rabies and such when the wild animals roll through, somebody's dog got mauled by coyotes the other week.

Can't be leaving them outside overnight here

 

[TLSizzle]

Little garden thieves!
I definitely don't mind possums as they can't carry rabies. But I did (only once) see a racoon at my front doorway and was not as thrilled by that. I see them as much more dangerous. Especially since this one was not afraid at all of being caught.

 

[SpookySpooder]

I didn't know they couldn't vector rabies, that's a load off my mind as I sometimes find their droppings around.

I just don't want my cats anywhere around the wild animals, they're vaccinated but still. The coyotes here attack small kids if you let them.

How long has Mama been at your house? LOL, between the patio and the furniture it seems she's quite comfortable!

 

[Tbone192]

Possums and opossums are really underappreciated IMO.

Opossums are some of the only marsupials that live anywhere but Australia . They are quite a diverse group but the best known example is the Virginia opossum, Didelphis.virginiana. there are some really cool examples of didelphidae, check out water opossums.

It is also important to discern between opossums and possums as they are very different. Opossums include didelphimorphia whereas true possums include the unrelated phalangeriformes. Both are extremely cool and varied. Metatheria is truly an awesome clade. Thank you for sharing some love for these misunderstood pals.

The reason there are marsupials in North and South America but not Eurasia and Africa is due to them being outcompeted in the latter locations by eutherians, most mammals today. They managed to hold on in South America and when the Great American Interchange happened, they were able to move north.

There are approximately 93 recognised species of opossum in 18 genera.

Can we get quolls on this thread too?

 

[TLSizzle]

How long has Mama been at your house? LOL, between the patio and the furniture it seems she's quite comfortable!

I'm not entirely sure how long she's been here. I can't tell if it's the same one each sighting. But we have consistently had (o)possums for years. Lol

 

[SpookySpooder]

I'm not entirely sure how long she's been here. I can't tell if it's the same one each sighting. But we have consistently had (o)possums for years. Lol

Oh you can tell if you watch long enough... they all have a different gait and personality

 

[Tbone192]

Little garden thieves!
I definitely don't mind possums as they can't carry rabies. But I did (only once) see a racoon at my front doorway and was not as thrilled by that. I see them as much more dangerous. Especially since this one was not afraid at all of being caught.
View attachment 456643
View attachment 456644

Opossum looks like he was relaxing and now he is mad to the max. He is getting up to smash the lens.

 

[TLSizzle]

They are funny to watch run away when disturbed. I try not to, but it happens sometimes.
Thankfully I haven't encountered the rare defensive ones. I promise that I'm more afraid than they are

 

[SpookySpooder]

IME they are all hiss and no bite. I suspect they survived as a species by avoiding conflict.

Even the most defensive ones I've seen will just hiss and run if you poke them with a stick

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

IME they are all hiss and no bite. I suspect they survived as a species by avoiding conflict.

Even the most defensive ones I've seen will just hiss and run if you poke them with a stick

I used to be scared of them until I researched them they aren’t just some scary looking rodents , they are very important creatures and marsupials. Plus they can’t even carry rabies which was my fear.

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

Opossums eat ticks, so they are friends in my book!

There is one other marsupial in the Americas though: the monitos del monte

Microbiotheria - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[The Snark]

Recollections of a friend who found two possums, one small, one large, which he named Simon and Garfunkle. A few days later he checked on them and found Garfunkle eating what was left of Simon.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Recollections of a friend who found two possums, one small, one large, which he named Simon and Garfunkle. A few days later he checked on them and found Garfunkle eating what was left of Simon.

Dang nature you’re scary !!!

 

[Tbone192]

Nature's gonna nature no matter what. At least they were being resourceful...I guess. Poor little Simon, RIP good buddy

Reminds me of the time I had a piranha and an electric blue crayfish in the same tank, I was quite young. They were fine with each other until one day I found some exoskeleton and thought Crawdad had molted. Then I see that Bob the red-belly was twice the size and crayfish is nowhere, like they vanish into thin water.

Fun fact! Most species of piranha, including the notorious red-belly, are omnivorous and will gladly take floating fruit and nuts.

I suppose piranhas aren't quite opossums though...