DammitJanet
Well-Known Member
He really doesnt bother me but I kinda dont like the idea of sharing my home with a family of possums...lol. Maybe if they were more friendly and came out to play it would be different. Then they would be like a cat.
Ok...Im getting tired of them now!
- Thread starter DammitJanet
- Start date
Marguerite
Active Member
Star, good info but for one thing - they ARE mammals. But there are three types of mammal: placentals (like us); marsupials (like possums, kangaroos, koalas & wombats); monotremes (platypus & echidna, the only egg-laying mammals).
Marsupials generally have similar body temp to placentals but I do beleive you're right in that the US Opossum does have alower body temp. There are anumber of marsupials which have a fairly typical body temp when active, but will go into a cooler torpor whenever they sleep. So if rabies is dependent on maintaining a more typical body heat, then I suspect this would provide a lower rabies incidence rate.
Monotremes even more than marsupials, will have an almost reptilian body temp pattern.
There is a lot of debate about what is a mammal; I remember arguying with easy child's kindergarten teacher who was telling her class that echidnas & platypus are actually marsupials (because they do have a rudimentary pouch).
We KNOW marsupials in Australia (obviously). Australia isn't where they evolved, but it is where they exploited the environment and adapted brilliantly, diverging over the continent. Opossums are, in contrast, restricted in range and more primitive in a lot of ways (not a word I like to use, in terms of an animal's characteristics).
Opossums aren't as cute as our Brushtail Possums but in a lot of ways they are similar. Our possums are protected, completely. However, some idiot took Aussie Brushtails to NZ (to develop a fur trade - Brushtail Possums do have lovely fur) and now they are in plague proportions over there, destroying the NZ environment. So if you ever get the chance to buy NZ possum fur, remember you're doing the world a favour. You can buy it as "Merino Mink" - beautiful and warm.
Back to your Opossums - Janet, you couldwell have a family moved in. Like our Brushies, they are omnivores and opportunistic. They have adapted to human civilisation to scavenge what they can. Our Brushies can make a bit of a mess inside the roof space but as long as they can get in and out easily, they will sleep in the roof during the day and forage at night. The more accustomed to you they become, the more they will consider themselves to be your pets, and come to you for food, raiding whatever you have because OF COURSE you put it there purely for their pleasure.
mother in law has a female Brushie in her (brick) garage. We have lost the resident a couple of times (neighbourhood cats have killed off a couple of possums) and each time, another possum moves in. Vacant possession, like squatters. So if we trapped the possum and had it relocated far enough away (and they will trek back a certain distance if they can) then another one would find the pleasant quarters unoccupied and make them its own.
The best thing you can do, is find out where the possum is getting in, then block up the access (preferably when the beastie is out foraging). You don't want to trap the possum in the roof, especially not in summer. You would have to go in and find the rotting corpse(s) for removal.
We built our house to have no eaves in the roof, so we could keep possums out. mother in law's garage has eaves. Besides, it's brick with a rolladoor, possums will climb a brick wall and they LOVE to sleep inside (or beside) rolladoors.
It's very cold and windy here today. mother in law noted this morning that the possum in her garage is snug and warm out of the wind.
The other thing we do - we have provided a possum box, like a large parrot nest box, tied to a large gum tree in the garden. So if a possum moves in to the nest box, then it will keep other possums away from our property (since they're territorial) and this will of course include any possums wanting to live in the roof. Janet, that might be an option for you - set up a nest box in the garden, wait for the possum to move there (or help it along) and then block up any gaps.
Here is a photo of one of our Brushies - this one has been fighting, it's got a fresh wound on its muzzle.
http://www.google.com.au/imgres?img...vZHMCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image
They ARE cute. And more fun than a cat. I was caring for a teenager possum once, she used to ride on my shoulder or sometimes curl up in the bib of my bib 'n brace overalls.
Marg
Marsupials generally have similar body temp to placentals but I do beleive you're right in that the US Opossum does have alower body temp. There are anumber of marsupials which have a fairly typical body temp when active, but will go into a cooler torpor whenever they sleep. So if rabies is dependent on maintaining a more typical body heat, then I suspect this would provide a lower rabies incidence rate.
Monotremes even more than marsupials, will have an almost reptilian body temp pattern.
There is a lot of debate about what is a mammal; I remember arguying with easy child's kindergarten teacher who was telling her class that echidnas & platypus are actually marsupials (because they do have a rudimentary pouch).
We KNOW marsupials in Australia (obviously). Australia isn't where they evolved, but it is where they exploited the environment and adapted brilliantly, diverging over the continent. Opossums are, in contrast, restricted in range and more primitive in a lot of ways (not a word I like to use, in terms of an animal's characteristics).
Opossums aren't as cute as our Brushtail Possums but in a lot of ways they are similar. Our possums are protected, completely. However, some idiot took Aussie Brushtails to NZ (to develop a fur trade - Brushtail Possums do have lovely fur) and now they are in plague proportions over there, destroying the NZ environment. So if you ever get the chance to buy NZ possum fur, remember you're doing the world a favour. You can buy it as "Merino Mink" - beautiful and warm.
Back to your Opossums - Janet, you couldwell have a family moved in. Like our Brushies, they are omnivores and opportunistic. They have adapted to human civilisation to scavenge what they can. Our Brushies can make a bit of a mess inside the roof space but as long as they can get in and out easily, they will sleep in the roof during the day and forage at night. The more accustomed to you they become, the more they will consider themselves to be your pets, and come to you for food, raiding whatever you have because OF COURSE you put it there purely for their pleasure.
mother in law has a female Brushie in her (brick) garage. We have lost the resident a couple of times (neighbourhood cats have killed off a couple of possums) and each time, another possum moves in. Vacant possession, like squatters. So if we trapped the possum and had it relocated far enough away (and they will trek back a certain distance if they can) then another one would find the pleasant quarters unoccupied and make them its own.
The best thing you can do, is find out where the possum is getting in, then block up the access (preferably when the beastie is out foraging). You don't want to trap the possum in the roof, especially not in summer. You would have to go in and find the rotting corpse(s) for removal.
We built our house to have no eaves in the roof, so we could keep possums out. mother in law's garage has eaves. Besides, it's brick with a rolladoor, possums will climb a brick wall and they LOVE to sleep inside (or beside) rolladoors.
It's very cold and windy here today. mother in law noted this morning that the possum in her garage is snug and warm out of the wind.
The other thing we do - we have provided a possum box, like a large parrot nest box, tied to a large gum tree in the garden. So if a possum moves in to the nest box, then it will keep other possums away from our property (since they're territorial) and this will of course include any possums wanting to live in the roof. Janet, that might be an option for you - set up a nest box in the garden, wait for the possum to move there (or help it along) and then block up any gaps.
Here is a photo of one of our Brushies - this one has been fighting, it's got a fresh wound on its muzzle.
http://www.google.com.au/imgres?img...vZHMCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image
They ARE cute. And more fun than a cat. I was caring for a teenager possum once, she used to ride on my shoulder or sometimes curl up in the bib of my bib 'n brace overalls.
Marg
SRL
Active Member
Just hope that the opening to the house that the possum discovered isn't found by skunks.
Also, beware of drawers.
Marguerite
Active Member
Skunks aren't so arboreal, are they?
We've never had one in the furniture, unless it was furniture stacked inther garage. mother in law's "guest" occasionally objects to a picnic hamper which is kept in front of where she sleeps. If the hamper is pushed a little further back than usual, possum gets behind it and pushes it off the shelf.
We had a bloke at work who kept a very large python in his office. The cleaners wouldn't go near his office, he had to clean it himself. The snake was about 3 metres long and growing. He knew the snake was hungry when it came out in the open a bit more and hung around on the curtain rod. Otherwise, most of the time the snake would curl up in a spare file box the bloke kept on his shelves.
The snake went missing one day, they were a bit worried but were fairly sure it hadn't got out and planned to wait until it got hungry again and climbed onto the curtain rod.
However, in the meantime the bloke's secretary needed to get a pen out of the drawers, pulled open the drawer - and found the python. The drawer was completely full of Snake... not happy at having been woken up. Turned out, the snake had climbed up inside the back of the chest of drawers and found its way into a drawer from the back. Cosy, dark, quiet...
Marg
We've never had one in the furniture, unless it was furniture stacked inther garage. mother in law's "guest" occasionally objects to a picnic hamper which is kept in front of where she sleeps. If the hamper is pushed a little further back than usual, possum gets behind it and pushes it off the shelf.
We had a bloke at work who kept a very large python in his office. The cleaners wouldn't go near his office, he had to clean it himself. The snake was about 3 metres long and growing. He knew the snake was hungry when it came out in the open a bit more and hung around on the curtain rod. Otherwise, most of the time the snake would curl up in a spare file box the bloke kept on his shelves.
The snake went missing one day, they were a bit worried but were fairly sure it hadn't got out and planned to wait until it got hungry again and climbed onto the curtain rod.
However, in the meantime the bloke's secretary needed to get a pen out of the drawers, pulled open the drawer - and found the python. The drawer was completely full of Snake... not happy at having been woken up. Turned out, the snake had climbed up inside the back of the chest of drawers and found its way into a drawer from the back. Cosy, dark, quiet...
Marg
SRL
Active Member
Naw, they usually go for under the house or porch locations. There's a family in the Chicago area that had to move out because the stench was spread through the heating/cooling ducts and permeated woodwork, drywall, etc. They were talking about tearing down the house but I don't know what eventually happened.
Lothlorien
Active Member
I was just reading the link that you posted SRL....then Mighty Mouse comes over and announces that if you scare an oppossum, it plays dead. He is watching Curious George and it was on there. What a weird coincindence.
Star*
call 911........call 911
Marg -
Thanks for that correction. OF course they are mamals...lol. ahem.
I have an opossum fur coat. (don't be a hater) I got it when I was a teenager, and the fur is outstanding.....so was the price tag. When people see it they are drawn to it, must touch it and go on and on about it's luxurious sheen and how wonderfully it's made (yeah how hard is it to stitch a bunch of dead pelts together) and then will be stroking the fur - until - i - say- it's - possum.
Janet - I still think if you can catch the little beggar with a towel - then take it to a part of the woods far from your home and people and towels and let him be a possum.
Thanks for that correction. OF course they are mamals..
.lol. ahem. I have an opossum fur coat. (don't be a hater) I got it when I was a teenager, and the fur is outstanding.....so was the price tag. When people see it they are drawn to it, must touch it and go on and on about it's luxurious sheen and how wonderfully it's made (yeah how hard is it to stitch a bunch of dead pelts together) and then will be stroking the fur - until - i - say- it's - possum.
Janet - I still think if you can catch the little beggar with a towel - then take it to a part of the woods far from your home and people and towels and let him be a possum.
Marguerite
Active Member
Star, tell them it's NZ Brushtail. It's the only fur trade in the world that's endorsed by the World Wildlife Fund. If you could see the damage those critturs have done to the NZ ecology, wiping out bird species etc - all those land-dwelling (non-flying) bird species are so vulnerable to possums, they just wolf down the eggs and hatchlings.
The trouble with letting a possum be a possum - if yours are anything like ours, then "being apossum" usually invovles exploiting the environment for whatever theycan get out of it, including whatever they can scrounge from us.
But I do endorse use of towel. They are unlikely to bite, the towel usually quietens them down.
Ours don't faint if you startle them. Usually they startle us because they sound really scary if you hear them in the dark.
Ours are less carnivorous than yours, ours LOVE fruit. I guess it makes them easier to coo over, because when you're feeding them a bit of mango or banana, it really is cute.
Janet, have fun with your house guests.
Marg
The trouble with letting a possum be a possum - if yours are anything like ours, then "being apossum" usually invovles exploiting the environment for whatever theycan get out of it, including whatever they can scrounge from us.
But I do endorse use of towel. They are unlikely to bite, the towel usually quietens them down.
Ours don't faint if you startle them. Usually they startle us because they sound really scary if you hear them in the dark.
Ours are less carnivorous than yours, ours LOVE fruit. I guess it makes them easier to coo over, because when you're feeding them a bit of mango or banana, it really is cute.
Janet, have fun with your house guests.
Marg
DammitJanet
Well-Known Member
No more talk of snakes please!
I dont think we have skunks close to us. I have never seen one anywhere near here and I see plenty of critters.
I did release this guys brother...at least I assume it was his brother and not the same one...into the back 40. The one we released was lighter gray and this one is more black. Is it bad I am getting close enough to notice fur patterns?
Speaking of skunks....when Jamies mother in law was alive, she lived in these apartments that had some woods beside them and she left catfood out. She was a big critter person. They had raccoons that came to visit and a family of white skunks! Prettiest things you ever saw. They only came out late at night and you really had to watch yourself when you went out to smoke. They would be out in the front yard eating the cat food. LOL.
I dont think we have skunks close to us. I have never seen one anywhere near here and I see plenty of critters.
I did release this guys brother...at least I assume it was his brother and not the same one...into the back 40. The one we released was lighter gray and this one is more black. Is it bad I am getting close enough to notice fur patterns?
Speaking of skunks....when Jamies mother in law was alive, she lived in these apartments that had some woods beside them and she left catfood out. She was a big critter person. They had raccoons that came to visit and a family of white skunks! Prettiest things you ever saw. They only came out late at night and you really had to watch yourself when you went out to smoke. They would be out in the front yard eating the cat food. LOL.
Star*
call 911........call 911
My skunk was my 1st apartment animal - he was a rescue. His name was Stinker. I loved that little guy. When he got angry - he would stiffen up on all 4's and hop up and down and chatter - kinda like Pepe LePue but minus the love.
I took in a girl who gave me a huge sob story about loosing her car, her home etc. It was a scam - she let my skunk out and he got killed on the road and her lesbian lover stole all my checks, wallet and clothes. Nice. Both of them - Stinkers.
I took in a girl who gave me a huge sob story about loosing her car, her home etc. It was a scam - she let my skunk out and he got killed on the road and her lesbian lover stole all my checks, wallet and clothes. Nice. Both of them - Stinkers.
