Opossums

[shvl73]

So the other night she goes out to the bird coop and sees an opossum. The next night, I go out with a flashlight and see it. It had been bitten on its side. Looked somewhat fresh. Seems to be otherwise ok. I suspect my neighbors dogs got it. So we get a trap and catch it. now its in our barn in a wire dog crate. Anyone know much about them? I have a hard time dispatching things that aren't causing harm. From what I've read they are fairly resistant to rabies, although its scarcely a guarantee. Its not agressive at all, just wants to be left alone. I'd prefer to wait until it heals up and the weather is warmer then, release it. Any down side?

 

[Bird]

If you're going to try to keep that opossum for awhile, I'd suggest you read this article and then be sure to go to the bottom of the page and click on "Diet".

 

[tallyho8]

Possums are dangerous around horses because they are transmitters of possum disease (Equine Protazoal Myeloencephalitis) which is generally fatal to horses. I also copied the following off a web site:

Disease

Opossums are carriers of many diseases: tuberculosis, relapsing fever, herpes virus, tularemia, salmonella, spotted fever, toxoplasmosis, coccidiosis, trichomoniasis, Chagas Disease, yellow fever, and rabies (rarely). They are important reservoirs for leptospirosis (hemorrhagic jaundice) in wildlife and humans. Leptospirosis is transmitted through the urine and feces of infected animals. Humans frequently pick up the disease by eating unwashed produce or windfall fruit, or by putting unwashed hands to their mouth (gum, cigarettes, etc.). Opossums are also heavily infested with fleas, ticks, mites and lice which are known carriers and transmitters of disease.

Although I prefer not to harm our wildlife, I do not let possums live on my place.

 

[shvl73]

Thanks Bird. We have looked around a bit. I'm suggesting a wildlife rehabilitator would be best. We'll see.

 

[shvl73]

Thanks tallyho8. We definitely wanted to get it away from the birds. We are keeping it away from all our animals and are not handling it. my goal is to move it along, away from our house.

 

[Bird]

When I was a kid and we had chickens, any opossum that came around was going to have a very short life. They like to eat eggs and everyone always said they'd kill chickens, although I don't recall ever knowing for sure that's what killed any of our chickens.

 

[Soundguy]

When I was a kid and we had chickens, any opossum that came around was going to have a very short life. They like to eat eggs and everyone always said they'd kill chickens, although I don't recall ever knowing for sure that's what killed any of our chickens.

I have to agree with bird... raccoon and possum around my place don't last long.. most of them get acute lead poisoning.

nothing personal.. I just got too much money tied up in farm animals to let them hang around at the buffet..

soundguy

 

[LMTC]

Ditto on Soundguy and others. Racoons are way too subject to carry rabies, lepto, parvo, CANINE distemper, and more. After reading this thread I read enough elsewhere about possums that I may change my SOS policy with possums. No chance of that with racoons though....I have seen sick, seriously sick racoons, and was once attacked by one perhaps 50' from the house. It's balance was so bad due to the disease that it listed hard left when it tried to run, and seemed to keep ending up quite a bit left of where it was trying to go....it would then adjust, start out again, and curve left. It was displaying very aggressive behavior with this though, so it was dispatched. If it hadn't been for the balance issue, I'm convinced it would have reached me before I could have done anything about it...although if it wasn't sick, it probably wouldn't have been aggressive anyway.

I forget the disease now, but the warden said the circling behavior was due to loss of balance/orientation that was a typical symptom of____, whatever he thought it had.

 

[Champy]

Also consider if this possum is carrying a litter.....and now drops them at your place? You really don't want all those little pups imprinting your home as theirs and returning or staying around....not to mention having the possums nesting in your buildings, garage, or house.

 

[randy41]

Five Pounds of Possum

Well my kids are all hungry, my dog ain't got a bone

I just got off work and I'm just drivin' home

It's an hour after sundown, and much to my delight

I see five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight



ch:

I see five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight

If I can run him over, everything will be all right

We'll be havin' possum gravy for dinner tonight

I see five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight



Don't want to kill no chicken, don't want to open a can

Just a little bit closer and I'll have him in the pan

I'll just switch my headlights from dim to bright

I see...