Foo - wildlife experts, what is this animal?

caught it loitering in my yard.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa131/AEObikes/totallynotbikes/DSC02778s.jpg

Opossum.

http://www.discover-southern-ontario.com/possum.html

well then, this possum has been living or hibernating somewhere around my yard since November then.

Well, if you manage to catch it, send it to Ruben. He's on the lookout for a family pet.

At least this one will bite and tear up a hand like a land piranha with an attitude. Yeh. This is wayyy better than a pig from New Guinea.

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/gallery/opossum021.jpg

Actually, this is what Sakima looks like when he's waitin' to take a chunk outta you.

At least this one will bite and tear up a hand like a land piranha with an attitude. Yeh. This is wayyy better than a pig from New Guinea.


Actually, this is what Sakima looks like when he's waitin' to take a chunk outta you.

One of my friends in HS had a pet Opossum. She was a sweet little critter, and very used to people. If you startled her, she'd play dead. Later, she'd get up and give you a nasty look. She was destructive, though.

Opossums do NOT make good pets.

I actually had a pet possum. But I got him when he was a baby, and he died before he was a year old. It was pretty cool while it lasted, but I don't know what I would have done with him had he grown full size. He use to ride around on my head, clinging to my hair. He got so fat at first he started sleeping on his back. We named him Churchill. I took him with me to Flathead Lake biological station, where he was well received by all the biology types, and would run around on the dining room table getting hand outs. When he died I gave him to the mammalogist on the condition that he not ever show me what he did with him. For all I know he may still be there, stuffed and labeled in some drawer. Rest in peace, Churchill.

How long do possums live anyway? Why did Churchill pass away - if you don't mind me asking.

At least this one will bite and tear up a hand like a land piranha with an attitude. Yeh. This is wayyy better than a pig from New Guinea.

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/gallery/opossum021.jpg

Actually, this is what Sakima looks like when he's waitin' to take a chunk outta you.


Dems some mean little teefies!

He looks like he is fading away! Any one know first aid!!

How could you not know what a possum is?


Them's good eatin'!

Uggh, I hate 'possums. I used to commute through possum territory and they'd make me jump outta the saddle all the time. One of the worse roadkills I've seen was a squished dead mom possum in the road and a trail of 3 dead, but yet to be squished hairless baby possums that tried to crawl across the shoulder to the grass.

How could you not know what a possum is?


Them's good eatin'!

I'm in the middle of the city... well okay, just a bit to the side in the low density residential/commercial area and while I've seen plenty of raccoons, skunks, foxes and rabbits, it's the first time in my life living here that I've seen a possum loitering this area.

I've also seen deer, but they loiter in more forested areas.

I'm in the middle of the city... well okay, just a bit to the side in the low density residential/commercial area and while I've seen plenty of raccoons, skunks, foxes and rabbits, it's the first time in my life living here that I've seen a possum loitering this area.

I've also seen deer, but they loiter in more forested areas.

They're marsupials. That's really cool. And don't ever get high and try to catch a baby possum.

I used to work in the city's animal control dept and when we drove by a possum roadkill we always pulled over. We had to see if the carcass was male or female. Possums are marsupials like kangoroos and if it was female, she almost always had several joeys still alive in her pocket. There was nothing that the city would do for these little ones and they'd be put to sleep. :( The joeys are kinda cute. Funny thing about the possum is the mother will have up to 10 joeys. As they get older, they just hang on the mother as she goes about her ways and some fall off. She just keeps on trucking and usually just 3 or 4 survive.
If you ever trap one, you can pick them up by their greasy tails but you better keep a swinging motion going on or they'll curl up and "sting" ya.
Ernest

They will hang around where there's food - pet food, garbage, etc. These guys "play dead", but they'll still bite you when playing dead!

When we were kids we used to trap them for three or four bucks a pelt. Nasty little things, very tough.

My dog killed an opossum in the backyard earlier this week. Want me to send you my border collie AEO?

They will hang around where there's food - pet food, garbage, etc. These guys "play dead", but they'll still bite you when playing dead!

Are you saying that AEO lives amongst filth :eek: Well, I guess he does live in Toronto where they're known for leaving out there garbage for months at end :innocent:

Are you saying that AEO lives amongst filth :eek: Well, I guess he does live in Toronto where they're known for leaving out there garbage for months at end :innocent:

almost time for the leafs to go away for the summer :innocent:

FWIW, there is a difference between an opossum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum) and a possum. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possum)

How long do possums live anyway? Why did Churchill pass away - if you don't mind me asking.
I went on a field trip and left him with a friend who studied aquatic macroinvertebrates (stream bugs). Churchill loved to eat insects, and my friend fed him a bunch of stoneflies, which are insects that live in streams. These particular stoneflies were big, with a lot of hard exoskeleton. I think that's what killed him. I was sad at the time, but I don't know what I'd do with a full grown possum.

I used to work in the city's animal control dept and when we drove by a possum roadkill we always pulled over. We had to see if the carcass was male or female. Possums are marsupials like kangoroos and if it was female, she almost always had several joeys still alive in her pocket. There was nothing that the city would do for these little ones and they'd be put to sleep. :( The joeys are kinda cute. Funny thing about the possum is the mother will have up to 10 joeys. As they get older, they just hang on the mother as she goes about her ways and some fall off. She just keeps on trucking and usually just 3 or 4 survive.
If you ever trap one, you can pick them up by their greasy tails but you better keep a swinging motion going on or they'll curl up and "sting" ya.
Ernest
That's how my brother found Churchill, with a bunch(6?) of his siblings. Their northern range is determined by their poor cold tolerance, and without mom the rest of them didn't fair well out in our garage. Only one other lived past a week. My brother gave him to a friend who eventually let him go.

I went on a field trip and left him with a friend who studied aquatic macroinvertebrates (stream bugs). Churchill loved to eat insects, and my friend fed him a bunch of stoneflies, which are insects that live in streams. These particular stoneflies were big, with a lot of hard exoskeleton. I think that's what killed him. I was sad at the time, but I don't know what I'd do with a full grown possum.

AWwwww....

caught it loitering in my yard.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa131/AEObikes/totallynotbikes/DSC02778s.jpg

West Virginia Fuzzy Pot Roast

kill it and grill it.

Are you saying that AEO lives amongst filth :eek: Well, I guess he does live in Toronto where they're known for leaving out there garbage for months at end :innocent:

funny you should mention that.

this guy came strolling by, and apparently has decided to hang out about 1month after the garbage strike ended.

I saw it in November previously, but it's presence was quite obvious for a while with torn garbage and flipped over green compost bins.

My dog killed an opossum in the backyard earlier this week. Want me to send you my border collie AEO?

my cats just sort of looked at it and haven't even bothered defending their territory.

You're all wrong.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb256/asrick/2403154561_c20bd686a8.jpg

It's obviously a cat. I bet it's owner is worried sick.

For the youngsters among us, here's the most famous possum of all: http://www.pogopossum.com/

Awww what a cute, little marsupial!

Flathead Lake biological station

Small world, a good friend of mine works there and you no doubt know him.

At least this one will bite and tear up a hand like a land piranha with an attitude. Yeh. This is wayyy better than a pig from New Guinea.

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/gallery/opossum021.jpg

Actually, this is what Sakima looks like when he's waitin' to take a chunk outta you.

Didn't his mother teach him to brush properly?? :)

eat what you kill


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7PDW9JoYQc

Tastes like chicken.

Used to be a possum in the neighborhood here; bout as big as the average German Shepherd.

But OK holds the record, for me, anyway. There was one that lived under the steps into our Army barracks at Ft. Sill; bigger than a Doberman, almost to Great Dane stature! there were days we took the back door into the building....

How long do possums live anyway? Why did Churchill pass away - if you don't mind me asking.About 2-3 years in the wild. In captivity, around 4-5 years.


Tastes like chicken.I think they taste closer to rabbit than chicken.

FWIW, there is a difference between an opossum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum) and a possum. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possum)

The difference is largely colloquial in North America.

I've had one of those in my backyard all winter. Drove the dogs crazy (schnauzers). My 3 y/o girl schnauzer took a bite out of the possum's shoulder. Now I have a pellet gun to finish it off, but it only came back once since the bite. Filthy little creatures.

I've had one of those in my backyard all winter. Drove the dogs crazy (schnauzers). My 3 y/o girl schnauzer took a bite out of the possum's shoulder. Now I have a pellet gun to finish it off, but it only came back once since the bite. Filthy little creatures.

If your dog took a chunk, it probably ran off and died somewhere else. And a pellet gun isn't gonna be enough for a opussum, unless you take a head shot.

If your dog took a chunk, it probably ran off and died somewhere else. And a pellet gun isn't gonna be enough for a opussum, unless you take a head shot.

you use what you can. I'm inside city limits so if I use the 22, I can go to jail. Not worth it for a possum.

the mother will have up to 10 joeys. As they get older, they just hang on the mother as she goes about her ways

Yep

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/0906BreakfastRide/a0613090707-00.jpg

good source of rabies...

good source of rabies...

so is jsharr, but no one's running around shooting him with a pellet gun.

And don't ever get high and try to catch a baby possum.

I'm betting there's a pretty good story to go with this observation.

I remember the first time I ever saw an opossum - I was driving home, late one night after doing a bit of after-work unwinding with my mates from the record store. This was when I was living in California, in the San Fernando Valley. I saw a family of these things crossing the street in front of me, and for a moment I thought I was seeing the biggest, ugliest rats ever.

Now I see them in my back yard in Seattle all the time. Between them, the raccoons, and the feral cats, they make sleeping outside during the summer quite dramatic.

good source of rabies...

Actually, their immune system is such that rabies is VERY rare in opossums. Raccoons on the other hand....

so is jsharr, but no one's running around shooting him with a pellet gun.

I've tried, but the pellets just pass through him.

I've had one of those in my backyard all winter. Drove the dogs crazy (schnauzers). My 3 y/o girl schnauzer took a bite out of the possum's shoulder. Now I have a pellet gun to finish it off, but it only came back once since the bite. Filthy little creatures.

Yeah, I hate schnauzers too.

Actually, their immune system is such that rabies is VERY rare in opossums. Raccoons on the other hand....

I KNEW someone was going to home in on that.:mad:

Out of all the possums I have seen around my area, that has to be the cutest possum. Usually they're pretty ugly looking. If you run at the possum aggressively and open your hands wide, you might get it to play possum. I have caught plenty of them that way, the funniest part is that even when you lift them up by their tale they still pretend to be dead. I don't advise this, but this is Foo, so that goes out the window.
If you put your hand next to its face while holding it upside down, it will open it, but still pretend to be dead, dumb creatures.