I'm not used to living on a farm...

[Michael7]

True story - a girlfriend of mine rescued a baby possum on the side of the road - mother possum was hit by a car and somehow a couple of the babies in the pouch survived. She took them to the local wildlife station but they wouldn't take one as they didn't find it suitable for release - its tail was broken. That's a big deal to a possum as they use their tail in a big way. So she took it home and I had my moment of screaming saying you have truly lost your mind this time.

Possums have an extremely varied diet and so it's hard to keep in captivity even if you were insane enough to want to. But she raised this thing from a baby and it was mind blowing. He would actually come up to be petted and unlike how they look in the wild, his fur was soft as can be. I'd be brushing my teeth and he'd crawl up my legs and nestle himself on my shoulders. He wasn't much for playing which I guess makes sense - not much prey drive when you're the prey.

The teeth are nothing short of a great white and since the mouth is long, a bite could really be serious but he never once bit. And no lie, swear to god, he used a litter box more religiously than a cat. Never an accident.

He finally passed about 2 1/2 years later, and that's essentially a long life for a possum - they have the shortest lifespan of any North American mammal. As crazy as the whole thing was - and there is nothing that could be crazier - I was heartbroken when he went.

That is really a touching story. Who would have thought? You certainly opened my eyes to the potential of an animal that one would otherwise never consider. Good on you and your girlfriend for taking the chance and sticking with it. You certainly gave the little guy a much nicer life than he would have had in the wild, even without losing his family. Kudos!

 

[squierplayer]

Possums are known to drink a lot and not show up for gigs..
Also get drunk and ride around on John Deer tractors ..

Yep, that's what I thought of when I saw this thread.

 

[John L Rose]

I discovered a raccoon raining one of my bird feeders over several nights. My solution was just to bring it in at night.
I've been leaving the feeder out now, but it hasn't showed up since. Maybe he was just a drifter passing through.

"He Stopped Loving Her Today"

That's from his DUI Suspension days, isn't it?

 

[Ahnlaashock]

The possum is the only critter strange enough to let you find it in the dark by the noise it makes, then will let you run up to kick it so it plays dead, and then really will let you kill it, pretending he is already dead the whole time.
They had a completely different value in a time when men might get lost far from civilization, and might need something that dumb walking around.

We had a golden that brought possum-kitties home all the time.
I was gone, but my wife turned around one night and he had one on the couch beside him that he had carried in. Unless they were hurt, I just let them go.

My wife was working in the basement one day, with the basement door propped open. About evening time, she came upstairs, looked at me, and said why did you put a dead possum in the trashcan, you #@&!.
I just grinned and told her to show me the dead possum. She had scared it, and it had fallen face first into the trash can full of dryer lint. Not even half grown yet.
I picked it up by it's tail, carried it outside, and laid it on the ground where there was a rock nearby.
She started laughing when I tried to pull it away from the rock,, and those two little "dead" paws were holding on to the rock for all they were worth, while it was still playing like it was dead.

Raccoons are much more troublesome neighbors.

 

[Papa Joe]

Back in my wild stupid days (as opposed to current stupid days), My buddy Lum and I were returning home from a night out raising hell..As we neared our homes (On a dark narrow dirt road) one of those critters ran out in front of the car..I stopped the car..It fell on it's back feet up..My buddy jumps out, grabs it by the tail and throws it on my front seat..Then he said go on, I'll walk the rest of the way..
The critter got in the back seat and I made it home that way..
I opened the door and tried to drive it out of the car with my 5 cell..It eats flash lights..Even my furious canine little friend was no match for that..
So I left the car door open and went to bed..
Happy ending for all..

 

[Dcbowling80]

I never figured so many people so many possum related stories lol. I caught Possum Pete (that's what I named him) again last night and again, I just let him go... He looked so sad in there. He didn't jump, hiss, nothing when I picked the cage up, he just tried to smell my hand and sat there. Even when I let him out, he just casually walked away. I did take him to the woods to let him go this time though. This would be a lot easier for me if he'd show some sort of aggression, but the cats don't even run from him, they just sit there and watch!

 

[roscoestring]

May as well pass on my possum story. I was a cop in the 80s. My partner and I had picked up a drunk that was sitting on the sidewalk under the overhanging roof of a govt. building in the middle of town one night. It was pouring rain and the rain was running off the roof and right onto the drunk. He was passed out and didn't know anything. We woke him, put him in the back seat of the car and was taking him home when we ran over something. We backed up to see what it was and - you guessed it - a possum. It didn't kill him and we were standing there trying to decide what to do with him. Should we shoot him, knock him in the head or just let him alone? Then the drunk started screaming to let him see what was going on. It was after midnight and we were bored so we let him out to see the possum. He wanted to take him home to cook for his supper the following day. My partner told him to kill the possum and he could take him home with him. Now the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life is a drunk trying to stomp a possum. The possum never moved but the drunk had to stomp about 20 times before he ever hit him the first time. After about 15 minutes and sore stomach muscles from laughing my partner took a broom out of the trunk of the patrol car, gave it to the drunk and the drunk finally managed to kill the possum with the broom handle. He picked him up and put him in the trunk of the car and we took them home. He put him in a 5 gallon bucket on the porch and went inside and went to sleep. The next day we saw the drunk again walking through town. We asked if he had eaten the possum. He said, "No, the possum was gone the next morning when he got up". I sat here laughing, thinking about that drunk trying to kill that possum. I just wish that we'd have had video on our phones back in the 80s. Well, heck, we didn't even have cell phones back then.

 

[Dcbowling80]

I knew all of us here had something in common, turns out it's possums.....

 

[johnnybloo13]

 

[Dcbowling80]

Lol, that's funny.

View attachment 60530

 

[johnnybloo13]

Possums (Cats) and City Folk....

and I'm a City Folk so I got laugh out of it too

 

[Davis Sharp]

I knew all of us here had something in common, turns out it's possums.....

My possum story is a buzzkill. I ran over one late one night near Cross Creek, FL.

 

[Dcbowling80]

Was that real? You never know, there was a guy around here that was deer hunting and tried to check in an "albino deer", but found out when he took it in, it was a damn goat! I'm not a country person, we grew up in the city too. We moved down here later in life but most of my childhood was in tje middle of Fairfax VA.

Possums (Cats) and City Folk....

and I'm a City Folk so I got laugh out of it too

 

[Dcbowling80]

Yea that happens. It's better than a deer, they do a lot of damage. My first car was a 1976 Ford Grenada, I loved the bench seat in the front of that thing.... either way, I hit a deer with it and it didn't even put a dent in it, old cars were much more solid than new ones. We had a deer run into the side of a 2002 BMW and it did enough damage that we had to replace the door.

My possum story is a buzzkill. I ran over one late one night near Cross Creek, FL.

 

[Big tuna]

Life is much better and exciting in the country for sure. I grew up in the country and have lived in large cities at times. I have dealt with possums, cyotes, deer, skunks.and racoons. Snakes are my favorite though. You lucky rascal you!

 

[Ahnlaashock]

Wife and her friend have both hit deer in the last year. The new smaller vehicles are not a 60's Buick with a quarter inch rolled steel bumper.
Ours would have been totaled, but it just got more expensive as they went.
Her friend's Kia had half the front end destroyed. The driver's door post was pushed.

 

[Danhedonia]

Opossums are not "mean" nor "nasty." They're animals, who (correctly) assume that humans mean them ill, and defend themselves as their maker has provided.

I don't expect wild animals to act like trained dogs, and consequently, I've never had a problem with any of them.

FWIW, I've spent a lot of time in very remote places, as well as living in an exurb where we are on the fringe of sprawl.

It's easy to coexist with wildlife once you figure out that that's what you have to do.

Leaving cat food outside is a really poor idea.

 

[Ahnlaashock]

I don't leave cat food out for the possums and such, but in the spring and the fall, when the Jays come through, they land on the railing and stare at me through the window till I put some cat food on top of the railing for them.
This year the Blue jay that pushed more than the others was about half normal size. It is 8 feet from my window with me sitting inside at the computer, and as long as the food is there, they pretty much ignore me and watch for the cats.

I love long periods in remote primitive camps.

 

[Dcbowling80]

Life is much better and exciting in the country for sure. I grew up in the country and have lived in large cities at times. I have dealt with possums, cyotes, deer, skunks.and racoons. Snakes are my favorite though. You lucky rascal you!

Yea I'm getting used to it. It's definitely a change for me but it's not too bad.

 

[Dcbowling80]

Wife and her friend have both hit deer in the last year. The new smaller vehicles are not a 60's Buick with a quarter inch rolled steel bumper.
Ours would have been totaled, but it just got more expensive as they went.
Her friend's Kia had half the front end destroyed. The driver's door post was pushed.

Yea my wife has a little Focus Titanium and I think it would crumple into a ball if she hit one with it.