This little guy has been visiting us nightly. We have no name for him, but he seems to be EVERYWHERE. In our trash, in the garage, running past the back door, etc. From a distance this opossum is kinda cute, but up close this is one ugly looking kid. We dont plan to remove him from our surroundings, and since he is just a little guy, we will do no harm to him.
I am mainly worried he will bite one of our cats, but he seems to hide himself up in the trees during the day, well out of reach. From what I am reading he will get along with cats and its very rare Opossums carry rabies. In this photo I caught him sleeping in the garage and woke him.
So if we are stuck with this opossum, what good are they? Well let me tell you :)
Opossums are the ONLY marsupial in North America. They are relatives of the Koala Bear and Kangaroo. They are omnivorous and eat insects, snails, rodents, berries, fruits, grass, leaves, cat food, dog food and people food. Opossums are nocturnal. If attacked or frightened it might play dead or "play possum". Fossil remains date the Opossum to the time of the dinosaurs... 70 million years ago.
These guys generally dont live very long... 2 to 4 years, with 7 years being about the most. They have so many predators like humans, owls and coyotes..... hmmmm. cars too.
Well, we'll do our best to keep him around, but we do have a night owl that comes around from time to time.
You can learn more about Opossums if you wish here:
Opossum Society of the United States...
http://www.opossumsocietyus.org/frequently_asked_questions.htm
National Opossum Society
http://www.opossum.org/
Cute! We have a squirrel living in our garage.
ReplyDeleteI know, he looks cute in this picture, but honestly, the ones I've seen are everything but.
ReplyDeleteWe had to relocate two opossums that wandered into our cat trap to eat cat food (we had twenty six feral cats living under our bungalow due to a lady who thought it OK to feed on our front porch at 2:00 each morning.) They played dead and really put out an odor...a talent we didn't know they had! Enjoyed your post.
ReplyDeleteHoly Cow! 26 cats? That MUST be a record!
ReplyDelete