Page 2.

Cool animals.

A lot of people dispatch them thinking they are just a pest and that they all carry rabies; In fact it is very rare for a Opossum to carry rabies because the virus has a difficult time working at their body temp. They are actually quite intelligent and neat little animals. They are marsupials and I believe belong to the same order as kangaroos.

Edit: Opossums are the only common marsupial in North America

Possums aren't prone to rabies. Coons on the other hand....

He was talking about the possum getting rabies from the OP

Bwahaha I remember your thread when that happened.

You wouldnt, by chance, happen to have a link to the aforementioned thread so I could reveiw the shenanigans?

I had a pet possum as a child and it was a fun little critter.

I heard my chickens squawking about 10:30 the other night after going to bed. I had left the coop door open that night due to freezing rain and sleet at sundown. Got up with a pistol and flashlight--- damn possum after my hens. The hens sleep on a roost about 6'' above the laying boxes, and he was trying to reach through the slats from below and snag his junky ass a fat hen. Went back to the house for a S&W AR-22 with sub-sonics, 2 shots and he won't bother my hens anymore. I was REALLY hoping it wasn't a skunk, a chicken ain't got a chance--- everything going grabs them. I had took my 100# male lab with me, not much gonna come out of those woods that he can't handle. I had tried to knock his ass off the layer boxes for the dog to dispatch, couldn't get him out and he was stirred up and hissing and snapping at the stick I was using.

On a side note, I have hinged doors on the outside of each laying box to open and gather eggs without going in. I opened the door on a box a few years ago-- a 6 1/2' chicken snake was laid up on the straw and had eaten all the eggs. I like to have shit myself, with that thing right before my face. Got a Ruger Bearcat with CCI shot, tuned his ass right on up.

When I was a kid I didn't recall seeing any possums in New Hampshire.

They seem to be spreading north.

I wonder what their northern limit is?  Will they reach Canada by 2025?

Hi Sunshine, when did you crawl out of your Bucket?

 
Here is the thread you are speaking of.  It has various critters in it, including a wild young raccoon that I was feeding.


http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1373256_Hungry_Kitteh_outside_my_window___so_I_fed_him___Update_11_30_pg4__Good_set_of_new_pics_.html

Raised a young opossum I found in the road next to it's road pizza mother.  After it got warmed up and a belly full of food it started turning into a bit of a turd.  Pretty stand-offish but wouldn't bite.



Cut it loose after a few weeks.

We fattened him up a bit and then released him. A couple days later, there was a dead one on the road. A memorial haiku:

O, 'possum, 'possum!
Why canst thou not seest cars?
Thee must look both ways!

I had a pet possum for several years. They tame easily, are dumb, extremely lazy, and surprisingly very very clean.

This.  See my other post.  Mine was bright silvery gray and had very soft pink skin.  No smell either.  People coming over were amazed that it was more gentle and easy to play with than a cat.

i like possums and i think they're cute.

I have seen possums in a Northern suburb of Saint Paul, MN.  She had all her young ones hanging off her back as she waddled across the road, there had to be a dozen of them.  They may very well be cute to some of you guys.  I mean, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  My eyes say the good Lord invented homely when he made them.

they groom ticks out of their fur and eat them, making them effective mediators of the bloodsuckers