Right… you’ll recall that he said “food,” and I began doing that Homer Simpson thing with my fingers.
I thought it would be a fox with mange.
[sub]or Chupacabra.[/sub]
I have four possum stories to share.
A family had a family of possums squatting in their attic. Eventually, the weight of the combined possumage exceeded the strength of the ceiling, and they came crashing down on the dinner table.
During dinner.
My buddy’s wife is the free-thinking type. She had spotted a mama and several half-grown youngsters that had been killed by a car. She loaded them into her car and took them home to bury in the front yard. (She had heard that the soil fertility would improve.) True story - I helped her.
One time I was crossing from VeryRural, Louisiana into EvenMoreRural, Arkansas. About 100 yards into Bill C’s home state was a sign: “Possum Supper Saturday Night”.
I was visiting a friend one evening, and one of her dogs was going nuts in the back yard. I went to investigate, and he had a good-sized possum that he was chewing on fiercely. No movement by the possum. I figured I would put him over the fence to be properly disposed of in the morning. Halfway to the fence, his tail wrapped around my hand. No biting, though.
They call it “playing possum” for a reason, hey? 
I came to work this morning to see an e-mail that said “Be careful in the break area by the gym… there’s a rattlesnake under one of the tables.”
I’m going on break in about 30 mins. or so…
Be sure and post upon your return. 
I’m back from break. I didn’t see any rattlesnake. 
I guess he either moved on or facilities went out and evicted him.
Ah well, maybe next time.
The rattlesnake showed up again… he’s under my co-workers car. Just a little baby though. We can see it from the window here but no one knows if it’s dead or not yet; it may have been run over. If pix are taken (and it isn’t all squished) I’ll post them.
The Horror In The Basement, Chapter III: Return of the Horror
<BARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARK!!!>
<sigh…> “Now what the hell is that dog barking at?”
As soon as I thought it, I realized I might have the answer. The dog hadn’t been doing any “barking at nothing” since last week…could we have a return of the opossum?
“Wait”, my wife said, “Everyone be quiet”. We stood in the dining room next to the door leading to the basement. My wife shushed the dog and our daughter, and we listened carefully.
<Skritchskritchskritchskritch>
Oh yeah…something is down there. I got the flashlight and slowly climbed down the stairs.
<Skritchskritchskritchskritch>
Hmmm…that’s really fricking close by. Like, “right next to the bottom of the stairs” close by.
Let’s take a quick break here to provide a visual aid. After you come down the stairs, the basement opens up before you. The wall to your right looks like this. The full basement occupies half of the house’s footprint, and that pic shows the crawlspace that takes up the other half. The large pipe is the one that the original HitB was show sitting on, and just below what you see in this pic are several empty boxes that I was keeping for our forthcoming move.
Several empty boxes…
<Skritchskritchskritchskritch>
Hmmm…I had a feeling that one of those boxes wasn’t quite so empty.
<Skritchskritchskritchskritch>
Sure enough…the top one, a Cosco double-sized Frosted Mini-Wheats box (a perfect size for storing DVD, by the way) was shaking.
<Skritchskritchskritchskritch>
I peeked inside, and whaddayaknow…another visitor.
Fortunately, this guy trapped himself, so I didn’t have to go through any rigmarole to get him outside. I just picked up the box (which, judging by the quantity of poop, he had been in for awhile) and brought him back down the block.
It seems apparent how they’re getting in now – there’s got to be some access underneath our porch or something that lets them into the crawlspace. Not certain what we’re going to do about that…
I also don’t know if this is the same critter or not. My impression was that he was a bit smaller than the first one, but I can’t be sure.
Either way, I now have an apple-baited humane (not “human”) trap in the basement, just in case we have any more unauthorized access. Here’s to there not being a Chapter IV.
BTW, since he hasn’t reported back, I think we can safely say that Astroboy14 didn’t survive. Godspeed.
I’ve heard of spray painting a squirrel’s tail to see if it was the same guy being trapped.
Thanks for not killing them. You are cool.
Not so! In fact I’m alive and well… aside from being at work, that is.
Here is my co-worker’s car security system: Snakie.
He’s maybe a foot long or so.
We had a small possum caught in our humane trap at school, and I volunteered to take it out and release it in the cow pasture across from our house. I loaded the whole thing into the back of our van with all 3 kiddies, backpacks, etc., and drove home, hearing vicious hissing all the way. By the time I got home, even the kids were not sure about how I was going to spring the trap open and get away before I was savagely mauled. I hefted the trap over to the cow pasture, opened the trap door, and tensed up, ready to spring for safety. Nothing. He just sat there, hunched down, staring at me. Finally I tipped up the trap and dumped him out, nearly on my feet. He just sat there. There was silence. At last, I gave him a nudge with the toe of my shoe, and he blinked at me, hurt looking, and ambled off. Sheesh. All talk and no show, in my opinion.
My wife worked in a mostly-outdoor produce market that had a problem with a nearby feral cat population. She was working with the local “cat lady,” setting up humane traps for a spay-and-release program. One morning I got a hysterical phone call from her, saying that there was a rat in the trap and IT WAS OVER TWO FEET LONG!!!11!! Now, I’ve told her a million times not to exagerrate, but I couldn’t get her to calm down so I took a drive over there.
You guessed it – 'possum in the trap. Lady Lacha had never seen a live one before, only roadkill. It was doing the whole teeth-bared-and-loud-hissing spiel, so I did like **schnuckiputzi ** said, and upended the cage, expecting to be chased by this fearsome animal. Instead, I, too, got a hurt look as the beast waddled off. We had a laugh about it, re-set the trap and I went home.
By the time I got home, there was a message on the machine. Could I come back and RE-release the g*ddam thing? :mad:
We have The Horror Under The Shed. A possum. Some years it is a skunk that lives under there. We keep filling in that hole, each year something moves in. Drives our dog nuts - she sits out back for hours just staring at that hole every summer.
I like it better when the possum lives there than the skunk, myself. Our dog is an idiot and one summer she got sprayed 3 times.
Velma - At least it gives your dog something to do!
StG
Here in the Bay Area, where the inhabited fringes run up against unsettled open land, there are more and more mountain lion sightings. Including one in my own home town, a few months back.
Now, personally, I think this is extremely cool. One of my vanpoolers, who is otherwise a grown adult, turns into a little girl-with-spiders on the whole concept. So I try to bug him unmercifully whenever I can…“Wouldn’t plan any barbecues, Larry…don’t wanna attract mountain lions. Never know when they’re sneakin’ around your backyard…climbing the tree over your house…”
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the basement.
Who am I kidding, it’s never safe to go into the basement.
Chapter IV: The Little Bastard Is Back
Just before bed last night, I went downstairs just to see if there was anything in the trap. There wasn’t, but I glanced over at the crawlspace opening, and there he was, sitting there staring at me.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to get to him, and sure enough, as soon as I took a step his way he ambled deep into the crawlspace, far out of my reach.
Hell with it…I wasn’t about to worry about it at 11:30 at night. He could get out the same way he got in, so he wasn’t trapped. I thought about placing the trap up on the pipework near the crawlspace, but I figured that if I did that, he’d likely spring at at 4:00 in the morning, and then the dog would start barking his fool head off, and then I’d wake up really pissed off and I’d have to break my “don’t kill things without a damn good reason” code. And my wife loves that dog.
So, I figure I’ll set the trap up on the pipe later this afternoon, and then if/when I get him I’ll keep him caged up for the night. In the morning, when I take my daughter to day care, I’ll drive the little guy a couple towns away and drop him in the woods. Then I’ll see if I can figure out where the hole is in my perimeter defenses.
Is there a possum in that picture? Or are you just sharing pictures of your rusty pipes with us?
Or is it now an *invisible *possum? Those are the worst kind!!
More than likely if you do nothing, your little friend will just move on. They tend to wander looking for food. Course that doesn’t mean the next passer-by won’t check in.