Eww... There is a Random, Tailed Creature Breeding Outside My Window!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My chow, Doc hates cats. He would never actually hurt a cat, but he just chases the cats down, corners them, and walks away. Did I mention he hates cats?

Anyway, for days Doc has been doing his, “OMIGAWD!! CAT!!!” bark towards our shed and the random things stacked around the shed. I figured a cat was hanging out back there and maybe had a litter of kittens, so off to hunt cats I went (hunt meaning find…I could never hurt a fluffy, adorable, snuggly little- I’ll stop).

I moved some things around to no avail, but Doc was still on the other side of the fence (this part of our yard is fenced off) barking and barking and barking. So I let him in the fenced off area and he makes a beeline between two, big stacked things. I grab his collar and toss him out.

I try to move the two big items over, but they are huge and heavy so I only get them over less than a foot. Then I see it.

A long, skinny tail sticking out from under one of the items. Then it the tail swished and didn’t move again.

The tail seemed hairless (I was about 5 feet away) like a rodent tail, but we don’t really have rats around here. I’ve never seen a kitten with that long of a tail. Then I realized it could be a snake. So I screamed. Like a girl. :eek: :stuck_out_tongue:

I ran inside to find my dad, but he just went to the gym. So I’m left here, in my room, wondering what strange, creepy, tailed creature is breeding four feet outside my window.

Why, oh why, couldn’t it be kittens? I love kittens.

2

Opossoms. They looooove sheds and woodpiles, and they have tails just like that. Stay away from them. They can be vicious when cornered. AND they scream like a human right before you hit them with a car at about 45 mph.

DON’T ask me how I know. :eek:

3

I’ve never heard of anyone finding Possums in this area. I spend a lot of time on the fringes of town (where there are homes, but also the river and such). I’ve seen coyotes, wolves, bob cats, skunks, snakes of all kinds, even a couple baby bear, but I’ve only ever seen one possum. And there are almost no wild animals in this area of town (no raccoons, no possums…that I’ve heard of).

Would a possum just randomly show up?

4

I have to say, possums are just about the nastiest creatures ever. And yes, I did say possums, because I’ve never actually heard anybody every say the first o, so I’m motioning that we officially change the name to Possum.

5

Oh, maybe I should describe the tail?

The tail is thin (like a kitten’s) and it was probably 3-5 inches long- sorta curled in a loose “S” shape. I just went out to take a picture, but the tail had gone back under the pile (eww).

6

Sweetie… you live in Bakesfield… I live in the heart of Hollywood and I have Possum and Skunks.

I’m willing to bet it’s a possum.

7

I’ll bite on this whole possum thing, but— what kind of possum would have that small of a tail? Baby possum?

…
…
…

Aw, crap!

Should I call animal control? I mean, I’m not sure that it is a possum or anything (my dog could be crazy-- and we already know about me :smiley: ). Should we move the stuff and discover on our own? Burn down the house and run to Mexico with the insurance? :wink:

8

How odd. I’ve lived with (Ok, JimSox5 , we’ll go with possum) my whole life, and never once considered doing anything about it…I vote for the burning and insurance to Mexico option. :smiley:

Yeah. They’ll just randomly show up. They pretty much live everywhere in North America these days, I think.

9

No-one else thinking of the start of E.T. ??

Put out M&Ms.

10

They are fairly harmless unless cornered - just ugly. During my cat trapping days I have closer than I want to think about encounters with them. They will hiss at you and open their mouths very wide so you can admire their dental work.

11

What about the Irish ones? :stuck_out_tongue:

12

Giant Rat of Sumatra? Perhaps?

13

Well, I wouldn’t want rats outside my house, so why would a possum be any different? Especially a breeding possum! Soon they will over take the house and make us worship them like gods… GODS!

And, dearest ouryL, clearly it isn’t a Giant Rat of Sumatra. Duh. It’s a Mexican staring frog of southern Sri Lanka. Jeez!

And, apparently, my dad isn’t for this whole Mexico option. He always ruins my plans.

14

Now that Diosa has located the R.O.U.S., all we need to worry about is the lightning sands and the fire jets.

15

Sweet little things

16

Yikes. That’s gonna give me nightmares.

17

I, for one, welcome our new, bald-tailed overlords.

18

snerk
Fergit the 'possum; the real question is, what the hell did you do to that poor dog?!?

19

Our ones are sweet little things! When I was living in Darwin we used to hand feed a tribe of them that lived in a tree in the middle of town.

20

Argh! I meant to ask if the OPs animal might be a lizard tail?