# I caught a o'possum last night. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 2, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748 "2006-03-02T13:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/1 "2006-03-02T13:26:34Z")
A Have-A-Heart baited with a peanut butter sandwich. Trying for the squirrel who gets in the space above the ceiling. There was a medium sized 'possum in it this morning. _Didelphis virginianai_. I opened the trap and he showed me his impressive teeth. I turned the trap sideways so he would fall out. He held on for dear life. I wired the trap open and went into the house to get the rest of my stuff for work. When I left he was lying in the trap playing dead. Our boy is no rocket scientest. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/2 "2006-03-02T13:27:31Z")
O’Possum Is that the Irish marsupial, close kin to the MacPossums? ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/3 "2006-03-02T13:34:50Z")
These little creatures are great. I live in the sticks, and they are numerous along with the 'dillo, bobcat, skunk, raccoon… It is a Disney movie waiting to happen. The possums like to get up on my front porch in the great hunt for dog food. When my 7 pound dog comes out side, he always looks for his possum buddy, which runs off growling and grumbling, for about 5 feet. Then he does the best B movie death scene, gasps, falls dead, waits a few seconds… then pops an eye open and looks at my dog. Then he runs five feet and starts the whole process over. I have 6 acres. He does this for 6 acres, with a little white dog boucing along with him. Every morning. My girlfriend wants me to keep the dog food inside so Einstein (what I call the possum) won’t come up to the porch. But I defy her because I love watching the show every morning. When I was a kid, my uncle would pick them up by their tail and put them over the fence, but Einstein smells too bad for me to really want to mess with him and his teeth. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/4 "2006-03-02T13:42:57Z")
> [@Translucent Daydream](#): > > Einstein (what I call the possum) Good name. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/5 "2006-03-02T14:03:38Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > When I left he was lying in the trap playing dead. They’re notorious for insurance fraud. Most agents now refuse to write a policy for them anymore. Lying little bastards. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/6 "2006-03-02T14:37:00Z")
> [@Translucent Daydream](#): > > These little creatures are great. I live in the sticks, and they are numerous along with the 'dillo, bobcat, skunk, raccoon… It is a Disney movie waiting to happen. The possums like to get up on my front porch in the great hunt for dog food. When my 7 pound dog comes out side, he always looks for his possum buddy, which runs off growling and grumbling, for about 5 feet. Then he does the best B movie death scene, gasps, falls dead, waits a few seconds… then pops an eye open and looks at my dog. Then he runs five feet and starts the whole process over. > > I have 6 acres. He does this for 6 acres, with a little white dog boucing along with him. > Every morning. > > My girlfriend wants me to keep the dog food inside so Einstein (what I call the possum) won’t come up to the porch. But I defy her because I love watching the show every morning. When I was a kid, my uncle would pick them up by their tail and put them over the fence, but Einstein smells too bad for me to really want to mess with him and his teeth. You mean armadillos actually move? I thought they just played dead (and flat) on the sides of Texas roads. You possum story nearly caused my husband to have to preform the Heimlich Maneuver…Now I need a new cup of coffee and a new piece of toast. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/7 "2006-03-02T15:09:18Z")
Our possum comes by in the evening. DH petted the creature! Its fur was kinda greasy looking. We also have a racoon and a duck (Dennis!). Dennis can catch corn in mid air! He’s a poop-machine! The racoon is big and mean. I sprayed bug spray at him (?) because he had me trapped in the corner of the garage. I recently saw another racoon moving 4 babies through my yard. It appears the have moved into a neoghbors chimney. Won’t that be a surprise one day! ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/8 "2006-03-02T15:18:16Z")
You skip one night of guard duty and 1-2 ‘dillos’ will totally destroy a ½ acre yard, all your newly planted bushes and will cause you to break an ankle due to the 10,000 holes dug in the yard. When it comes to ‘dillos’, I kill, I kill, I kill, I kill, I kill, I kill, hurt, maim, dance in the fire light singing their death song and calling upon all of ‘Hades’’ to bring down hellfire and brimstone on their horrible bodies that carry all kinds of bad bugs. They stink and so I hold my nose as I dance to their death. They get no respect, no rites of passing on, they are treated like the garbage they are. Pox on ‘dillos’. Gloom and Doom on ‘dillos’, they make tarantulas look like bundled babies. **They make the ‘ex’ look good.** ‘Dillos’ have learned to fear my knife. fear my bow, fear my spear, fear my guns, fear my flame thrower, fear my leg crusher traps. No ’ Have a Heart™ traps for these spawn of the most vile… \*Looks out window at the 15 hours of lawn repair needed after one night of ‘dillos’ in the yard… \* ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/9 "2006-03-02T15:34:48Z")
I grew up on a farm with my grandparents. My grandfather believed that kids need animals, lots of animals-- and not just the domestic ones. During my childhood, I ran a baby animal raise-and-release program out of Grandma’s kitchen (though she wasn’t very pleased by it.) At various points, I had baby groundhogs, baby raccoons, baby rabbits, a baby 'possum and even a baby deer at one point. Naturally, my success rate was varied. The baby o’possum was one of my failures. Perhaps he was already injured when Grandpa found him, because he didn’t live long. Vicious little bastard-- even as a tiny thing, he bit wildly at the hand which tried to feed him. I wore thick leather gloves, and his teeth would still leave a bruise. ---
**Author:** ![missdavis102](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@missdavis102](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missdavis102)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/10 "2006-03-02T15:35:24Z")
Anyone but me find it funny to imagine a carnivorous plant catching a possum? I used to know a family of raccoons that lived in the sewer under my street. They would come up on the porch and eat cat food out of the bowl. Once I lured one to come in the house but I was too afraid to touch it. All those critters are just rabies on the hoof, I think. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/11 "2006-03-02T15:36:53Z")
Now look **carnivorousplant** you done trapped you a perfectly good possum. Surely there’s somebody you want to impressed with a sumptious dinner of [Possum and Sweet Taters](http://thanksgiving.spike-jamie.com/swpotato.html#BAKED%20POSSUM%20AND%20SWEET%20POTATOES). Sheesh! Wanting to set a perfectly good possum free. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/12 "2006-03-02T15:47:07Z")
> [@missdavis102](#): > > Anyone but me find it funny to imagine a carnivorous plant catching a possum? One of the larger _Nepenthes_ species (New Guinea, Australia?) has been know to trap and eat rats. 🙂 I’ve had armadillos dig up new plants. They are looking for a meal in the soft dirt. One freaked out Mrs. P and her dogs rooting around in a leaf pile. Sorry you have to kill them; like you and me and the darn squirrel, they are just trying to make a living. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/13 "2006-03-02T16:06:22Z")
I have picked up an armadillo. They really don’t seem to notice when you are around. Now if you see one wandering around during the day, get your animals away from it, it most likely has rabies. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/14 "2006-03-02T18:43:39Z")
Armadillos carry leprosy too, don’t they? Or is that not true anymore? Possums just look wrong. They look prehistoric. They look like the protomammal. But it’s hard to imagine one outrunning, or even outsmarting, a hungry T-rex. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/15 "2006-03-02T19:01:34Z")
I always thought that they looked half dead. Like their face was rotted away or something. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/16 "2006-03-02T19:10:30Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > But it’s hard to imagine one outrunning, or even outsmarting, a hungry T-rex. Uh-oh, a carnivorous dinosaur! Whatever shall I do? I know! I’ll play dead! Does seem to be an evolutionary dead end to me. Mahybe T-Rex didn’t eat ugly things. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/17 "2006-03-02T19:11:09Z")
> [@Translucent Daydream](#): > > I always thought that they looked half dead. Like their face was rotted away or something. Awww now some [possums](http://malarky.udel.edu/~dmills/pic/pogo/pogo9.gif) are downright cute. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/18 "2006-03-02T19:12:53Z")
> [@Translucent Daydream](#): > > I always thought that they looked half dead. Like their face was rotted away or something. P.S. Whatever else, they have an excellent dental plan. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/19 "2006-03-02T19:53:00Z")
> [@Translucent Daydream](#): > > I always thought that they looked half dead. Like their face was rotted away or something. I just cannot deal with their nasty gross tails. Urrrgh. Well, that and their dispositions. And their three billion teeth, all of which they are most pleased to show you. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748/20 "2006-03-02T19:58:00Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > You skip one night of guard duty and 1-2 ‘dillos’ will totally destroy a ½ acre yard, all your newly planted bushes and will cause you to break an ankle due to the 10,000 holes dug in the yard. I’ll see your armadillo and raise you a nutria. Or, as they’re also lovingly called around here, swamp rats. You’ll come out into your back yard one fine morning, notice the grass looks a bit funny, pull at it, and notice that your beautiful St. Augustine now has no roots whatsoever. I have a good neighbor who’s offered to plink any nutria with his .22 that come into my yard. Did I mention I happen to live my a bayou in Louisiana? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-caught-a-opossum-last-night/346748.md?page=2)