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2020 - even the possums are affected!
BikerBob
Member Posts: 2,748 ✭✭✭
I shoot raccoons that come in for the cat food. But give possums a pass, usually just chase them off as they are beneficial. I chased one tonight and it got stuck in the deck railing and I actually had to rescue it.
So what’s up with them not rolling over and playing possum anymore? They sure used to do that when we had Rottweilers.
Hoping it’s smart enough to realize not to come back!
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over the last couple weeks i have relocated 4 possums ( al different ones ) two I live trapped two I cornered and grabbed them last two were very well fed .
one I was down on my hands and knees under a table very little room to move trying to catch it . . it managed to flip around and bite me ( well my glove ) but more of a warning snap than bite . just barely felt any pressure , 1st time ever I had one follow thru but it and I had been struggling for several minutes I think it was mad over me pulling on its tail so much to get it out of it hiding place LOL , makes my wife wife happy or at least feel better when I release them I have been relocating them and a few racoons over the last few months . my preferred method is DRT and to the trash or burn barrel
oh we do have two maybe three skunks that have made a home here also but they are content to eat the cat food and occasional egg and made buddies with the cats . so they have had a free ride for well over a year maybe two
I live trapped one ( same skunk I could tell by its markings ) twice while trying for a racoon this past spring . but since it was some what use to me I am guessing and luck I opened the trap door and released it no problems . I just talked in a low voice walked up to it and let it go and did it at night ( they do not see so well and hesitant to spray and waste it if no sure target )
my wife calls them my skunks, they are no means tame or mine they just see me more when I feed the cats or out at the pole barn at night, as long as they are not threated they mind there own business , as long as they behave I give them a pass .
I always found it funny how the cats seem to make buddies with the skunks and possums even eating at the same time .
If you want them to rollover like they did for your dogs, try barking at them.
I'm just curious, you said you think the possums are beneficial but not the *. I rate them both as a pain in the * but I don't bother either of them. What makes the possums beneficial??
Skunks and I have always got along. Dad got me a pet skunk as a kid. Great pet, probably not, but interesting for sure!
Possum's eat ticks. O'Possum's eat Irish ticks! 😁
Possums are the staple around here. They are harmless creatures that love rainy nights and take walks in the roads during that time. They wear masks and usually social distance themselves from human contact. My fav animal.👍
"So what’s up with them not rolling over and playing possum anymore? They sure used to do that when we had Rottweilers."
Apparently you are neither as quick or as physically threatening as the Rotties.
Picture reminds me a a fat woman trying to crawl through a picket fence.
In addition to having heard they eat ticks, they also are supposed to clean up (eat) other dead critters. The raccoons are egg raiders and snatch small birds including wild turkeys out of the nests and had made in into the barn and made a mess, hence no passes.
So your saying you get them to rollover and play dead, I should bark when I chase them instead of yelling, ‘get off my lawn’! Will give it a try and report back :)
Raccoons are deadly to my chickens, they die if I can see them. Skunks have gotten under the cat barn but pouring ammonia between the floor boards drives them away. Possums, they are natures garbage patrol and unless harassing the chickens I give them a pass.
I hate ticks and after finding out how many they eat I decided to leave them alone.
Opossums were getting in our chicken house. I started trapping them and hauling them off. After one killed a young pullet, they got a .22 to the head.
If you try and pick one up what is the chance of getting bitten??
After dark here in South Carolina possums are everywhere. Yet I almost never see a possum in day light! So where are they hiding??? What is their normal daytime habitat??
In old logs, holes, brush piles, they adapt to almost anything.
OK so a funny story about possum or at least it was funny to me... I go out to one of the barns and as I walk in the door I hear something skittering off to my left, I see an old kiddie pool (the plastic ones about 5 feet wide) it's leaning against the wall with the top facing me, I fill it with water for the dogs in the summer, anyways as I get closer to it on the right hand side I see a possum backside and tail, I then look to the left and I see a possum face showing teeth and hissing at me... my first thoughts are dammmm that's the biggest possum I ever saw! then reality set in and I realized it was a pair of em. after I stopped laughing at my self, I tried to shoo them out of the barn with a broom and they both faced me and starting hissing, I decided I didn't need whatever I had gone into the barn for and let them leave on there own...
Possums to me are nothing but very ugly big rats. Most of the time I leave them alone but the occasional one that doesn't run off and does the aggressive hissing thing is fair game. A few years ago there was one near the porch steps that wasn't acting right. I keep a .177 RWS 48 by that door to thin out the red squirrels. I shot that possum square in the middle of his forehead and he dropped and didn't even twitch. I came back about 5 minutes later with gloves to dispose of the body and found him staggering across the yard. Grabbed a 22 and dispatched him. The pellet was under the skin flattened almost perfectly against his skull. They have pretty hard heads. Bob
Nasty critters. The will eat anything. Seen one crawl out of a cow carcass once.
Been told the don't carry rabies, metabolism too slow, may same for bat flu.
How to prepare a possom for the best flavor..
Trap or catch, live of course. Feed corn bread and milk for a couple weeks to cleanse the critter.
After said time whack him on the head with a killing blow. This needs to be done during fairly warm weather.
Tie his tail over the clothes line and after a few days start whacking him a several times on a daily basis with a good sized stick. Do this for at least a week then reverse the possom. Hook possom's teeth over the clothes line and continue the tenderizing process.
Should be ready for the the feast in a week or so. Snip off about a inch of his tail and enjoy like a milkshake.
84, put that in your recipe folder. Can't go wrong.