Did You Know?

Opossums are exceptionally good groomers.  I can hear you thinking, "So?  Why should I care?"  You should and I'll tell you why.

I realize that we're still in the midst of an extended deep freeze here but believe it or not, spring really is coming.  And with spring comes tick season.  Ticks that carry Lyme disease.  Nasty stuff, that.  I recommend avoiding it if at all possible.

That's where possums, cute but nasty buggers that they are, come in.  Being so fastidious, they gobble up an extremely high percentage of ticks that attempt to feast on them.  As in every tick they eat is one less that will eventually find its way to you.

Ah, now you get it.  So although I don't necessarily recommend that you invite them to nest under your porch it might not be such a bad thing if they live in your neighborhood.  Keep areas they might decide to seek shelter in closed up and your trash out of reach and you can coexist, no problem.  Unless you have neighbors like mine but that was a topic of an older blog.

Caught!

Just as I was dozing off last night I heard a clink.  Something had triggered the trap.  Of course I got up to look.  As expected it was a nice-sized possum.

My cats were lining the window peering out with me.  I decided it would not do to have them spend the entire night staring at the poor creature so I called my neighbor.  She doesn’t hear all that well and had her air conditioner running so I was sure she hadn’t heard it.

I informed her that the possum was caught and she really shouldn’t leave her little dog out on his own because I was certain he’d be yapping at the fence, trying to get to it and would be difficult for her to coax back inside.  Yes, don’t you like the way I put that?  Concern for her and her dog?

Half an hour later her grandson shows up with his mom, the daughter who went on and on about it being a muskrat.  The first thing he said was, “Mom, that’s not a muskrat, it’s a possum, just like I told you it probably would be.”  Ha!  Seems I’m not the only one that disagreed with her.

They took it away to release it up in the woods bordering the park where it supposedly won’t disturb anyone.  Possums are scavengers so I think it’s more likely to take up residence in a shelter near the trash cans in the park but I didn’t stick my head out and say that.  It’s gone.  The trap is gone.  They’re happy.

But it got me thinking.  Here was this critter, minding its own business, foraging for food in its home area and suddenly it’s snatched away and dumped somewhere unfamiliar.  I’m sure it will adapt and survive even though absolutely everything about its existence has changed in an instant.  Can we say the same about ourselves?

Once Again

It is time to move.

My neighbor called yesterday.  She was all upset because her daughter who was visiting was outside the other night, cleaning up something in the yard, saw a possum in my yard.  It was night.  As far as I’m concerned it’s part of life.

Doesn’t matter that we live in the city.  Possums adapt and can survive just about anywhere.

Apparently I wasn’t upset enough.  My non-response of oh well, I’m sure it doesn’t actually live here and was just passing through didn’t satisfy them.  Today her daughter called.  She was bordering on hysteria as she begged my permission to try and have the muskrat trapped.  Muskrat?  How did we go from possum to muskrat?

She continued, telling me that when they are friendly like that, they are sick and very dangerous.  Friendly?  When I spoke with her mom the creature ran and hide from them.  Again, it was night.  Nocturnal creatures roam, looking for food.  It ran from them so I’m still not overly concerned.

She proceeded to blame my strawberries for drawing it.  Yeah, okay, it could very easily have stopped for a snack but so does the skunk that wanders down the alley every night in the wee hours of the morning.  Don’t hear them wanting to trap that and skunks are just as capable of carrying rabies as any other wild critter.

Now this woman is calling the game warden to come trap it.  Trap it from where?  I’ve lived here 25 years and this is the only sighting of such a thing in my yard.  I’m certain it doesn’t live there. I poke through it often enough that I would have noticed.  Not to mention that there is no suitable shelter that would be adequate for it.  Come to think of it my neighbor’s falling down garage is much more likely a residence for creatures of that nature than my yard.  Perhaps they should check there first.

I did mention that although I am willing to allow someone to come set a trap I will not be happy if they destroy my flowers and that they shouldn’t be surprised if they catch every cat in the neighborhood instead.  Or maybe, if they’re really lucky, they’ll get the skunk.

By the way, the possum in the pic worries me much more than the one I've never seen in my yard.  It has visited the courtyard where I work twice in five years.  Yes, it's in the city too.  (And yes, in case you can't tell I'm being sarcastic by saying it worries me.)

A New Lodger?

I was working away at my desk today when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked, expecting one of the resident squirrels, only to spy the hugest opossum I’ve ever seen.

It was sauntering happily around the yard, sniffing, digging up tidbits the squirrels have stashed out there. I thought it was going merrily on its way when it climbed up the fire escape and strolled across the roof next door but it came back. It wandered around the yard a few times, hopping up on a wall to have a drink. It then curled its tail around some dry leaves and scampered up a tree to get to the porch where it seems to have been starting a nest in the built in cabinet. Amazing how agile it is considering it looks fairly elderly.

Sadly for the possum the cabinet is now closed tightly and so far it hasn’t managed to reopen it. There are plenty of other nooks and crannies in the neighborhood where it could take up residence. When I left it was sitting up on top of the third floor fire escape next door so perhaps it’ll spy something it likes. We really can’t have it living on the porch but it would be pretty cool to have it swing by and say hi now and then.