A plethora of possums

[Sunbeam56]

So there is a wild cat in the neighborhood. And Roark, being the softie that he is for redheads and cats, wants to feed it. We left cat food out and it disappeared and we were happy with that. 

Tonight I stayed up to watch. I saw SEVEN possums come by. A Huge Momma, two mid sized juveniles, a strange Momma, and three of this year's crop.

Possums are so ugly. Not cute at all. Long pointy faces, sharp teeth, clueless expression, horrible rat-like tail, and the coat is somewhere between mange and awful. 
They were very happy to have cat food, and not at all afraid of the porch light.

[livetogarden]

They (possums) are often pretty dumb too. We have 1 that climbs the pine tree outside our living room window. It will walk out on a limb, realize it doesn't go anywhere, turn around and walk back to the trunk, then turn around again and be on the same limb it was on to begin with. One night it did this 4 times before it finally decided to just climb down out of the tree. It supplied us with some chuckles.

[Bullfrog]

I think I might have been an opossum in a former life, everything you said sounds familiar. Crawl out to the end of a limb, go back and do it all over again, sounds familiar. Please be kind to them and leave more cat food.

[Mikey]

Possums are so ugly. Not cute at all.

Oh I have to disagree.  I think possums are cute..... in an ugly sort of way.... although that tail is in fact rat ugly....

[Esther]

Many years ago Pete's son Ken had been out walking along the RR tracks. HE found a dead possum momma and she had babies in her pouch. Ken found one that had crawled out so he brought it home. I called the vet and asked how to feed it. They just said to use kitten formula and a doll bottle or eye dropper. So we go off and get the supplies. Ken put it in a box with a stuffed walrus from Sea World. It would climb up on it's back to sleep. We tried to feed it often because being so tiny, we thought it would eat often. But it didn't live very long. I can still see the 6'4" 220 pound teenager fussing with this tiny animal, trying to save it's life.

[Julles]

Some of my neighbors are British.  They had visitors from England, and were trying to show them the best of Texas.  But every evening, like clockwork, a opossum would walk along the fence top just a mere 3' from their living room window, and sit there in all its ugliness, washing itself, cleaning itself, licking itself all over in its not-so-pretty spots.  The foreigners were mortified!

[Joyce]

I like 'possums. Did you know that they rarely, if ever, get rabies?
I've caught 'possums several times in my have a heart trap.
They may go through the motions of hissing and looking mean,
but that's all it is, an act. Once they really get upset, they pass out and play dead...they RARELY fight.
Every time I've caught one, I've had to use a thin bamboo stick to get it out of the trap,
because it's been too dumb to get out. I have to practically tip it on end, almost upside down,
while gently prodding the 'possum with the bamboo stick.
THEN it will finally tumble out and waddle slowly away, going to the nearest tree and climbing to a 'safe' level.

It will walk out on a limb, realize it doesn't go anywhere, turn around and walk back to the trunk, then turn around again and be on the same limb it was on to begin with.
One night it did this 4 times before it finally decided to just climb down out of the tree. It supplied us with some chuckles.

Yeah, you're right ...they're dumb as a stick.  Chuckling too!  

[kitfoxdrvr]

I like 'possums. Did you know that they rarely, if ever, get rabies?
I've caught 'possums several times in my have a heart trap.
They may go through the motions of hissing and looking mean,
but that's all it is, an act. Once they really get upset, they pass out and play dead...they RARELY fight.
Every time I've caught one, I've had to use a thin bamboo stick to get it out of the trap,
because it's been too dumb to get out. I have to practically tip it on end, almost upside down,
while gently prodding the 'possum with the bamboo stick.
THEN it will finally tumble out and waddle slowly away, going to the nearest tree and climbing to a 'safe' level.

It will walk out on a limb, realize it doesn't go anywhere, turn around and walk back to the trunk, then turn around again and be on the same limb it was on to begin with.
One night it did this 4 times before it finally decided to just climb down out of the tree. It supplied us with some chuckles.

Yeah, you're right ...they're dumb as a stick.  Chuckling too!  

You may not know what it is, but we used to set rabbit gums when I was growing up.  Kind of like a poor man's Havahart.  Except you can't see what you have caught.  You just reach in and grab the hind legs and pull it out; they are narrow, so whatever you caught can't turn around, so you won't grab the "business end"!     It is usually a rabbit.     But I will never be able to describe the feeling of pulling a possum out, with its tail wrapped around my arm and staring at me with those beady eyes.  And I swear it was smiling at me with his ugly teeth...   I was pretty proud of how far I threw him.     I still remember the poem my grandpa used to say:

"Sweet magnolia blossoms,
round everybody's do',
folks keep eatin' possum.
'til they cain't eat no mo'.

Good memories.   

[2vetts]

man i worked with had a golden retriever that used to go to back door and bark after it was dark . finally one night they let it out and when it returned it was carrying an opossum .

[Kat]

I will get them in the backyard sometimes going after the leftover kitty food.  Definitely not the best looking or smartest of creatures.  Unfortunately they end up as road kill quite often around here.

[jw]

Possum's have a bad rep, I like them myself and feel sorry for them.............they deserve a break..........how would you like to go through life looking like that with a pea brain to boot? Although I think they are sweet looking little creatures myself  .