# Not a cat!



## Jet Green (Nov 28, 2005)

Over the past few months I've spotted raccoons, opossums, and even birds digging into cat food I've left out for the ferals, so I figured it would just be a matter of time before a non-cat ended up in my trap, too. Sure enough, last night we accidentally caught...










Not just an opossum, but an _albino _opossum! 

I'm sure that all nature's creatures are beautiful in their own way, but..._bleh!_ He looked like a creature out of a horror movie. 

I've always heard that they can be viscious when cornered, but despite how it looks in the picture, he actually sat there quietly the whole time. He kept opening and closing his mouth, but never made a sound. He was too scared to even leave the trap without some coaxing.

They are also supposed to potentially carry diseases in their saliva, so after he was gone, I bleached the trap and everything around it. And I think I'll hold off trapping or free-feeding anybody for a week or two -- I want this boy to move on to someone else's yard, a safe distance away from my little cat colony.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Awwwww, poor little *SCARY*, *CREEPY*, *GOT-CHASED-BY-ONE-AND-NEVER-GOT-OVER-IT *guy. :yikes


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

It was inevitable, Jet Green, but an albino? Who expects that? I would have been rather nervous too.


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## zippy96444 (Mar 7, 2006)

OMG! How awesome! An albino! Being a wildlife rehabber I think that is neat. Possums DON"T carry rabies. Their body temperature is too low for it to survive. Other diseases, I don't really know, but they are basically harmless.


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## WiccanWolf (Apr 4, 2007)

The one we had in our duct work over the winter didn't give a lick that we were there staring at it through the vent in our dining room as it went from one end of the house to the other. lol The mouth opening/closing it was displaying was a scare tactic. They try and bluff things to leave them alone and if this doesn't work they usually will then go into their play dead schtick. I thought it was a dog when I first looked at it. An albino possum, that is just so cool. Here was our possum, which I ended up naming Opie since he basically spent the last two months of winter holed up in our duct work to the point that our landlord trapped him, took him miles from here and released him and he came back! :lol:










Sometimes I really wish my phone had a flash. Heh.

^.".^


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I was watching a talk show the other night, and they had one of those animal people on there, and sure enough, he brought out baby possums!!! All I could think of was this thread!  Even the babies have creepy big feet, though. 8O

But he did confirm that they do not carry rabies.


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## Jet Green (Nov 28, 2005)

That's good to know about the rabies! It's too late though, I already sprayed bleach all over the trap, and now the metal is oxidizing or something. The texture has changed and it feels gross to touch it now.

I haven't seen the little guy since that night, but he's probably lurking somewhere nearby, waiting for more cat food.


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## Sweetvegan74 (Jun 18, 2005)

Try carefully releasing a skunk out of a trap! 8O Happened to me it was a very tense moment!

I feed a possum that comes about every night. I got to know him and call him Diesel. Sometimes I put a boil egg out for him. Yeah I know you should not feed wildlife but since human's took away alot of his home range away I think a free meal makes up for it a little. Even the ferals know Diesel.


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

Sweetvegan74 said:


> Try carefully releasing a skunk out of a trap! 8O Happened to me it was a very tense moment!


No thanks, Gina! I'll leave that up to you! What an experience! 8O


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## Jet Green (Nov 28, 2005)

Sweetvegan74 said:


> Try carefully releasing a skunk out of a trap! 8O Happened to me it was a very tense moment!


 :lol: You're made of sterner stuff than me!


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## Sweetvegan74 (Jun 18, 2005)

The funny part was at the time I was trying to catch a black and white cat (Norman) When I saw the cage close I was running up and saying "Hooray I..got..you.. 8O Oh boy." Luckily Little Pew just ran out without a backward glance!

My neighbors have two managed colonies about 12 cats in all that live in the backyard. There is a Groundhog that rubs against your legs and a skunk that follows you with food along with the ferals. The animals are hanging around cats too much!


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

That's funny, but somewhat endearing! I was glad to get rid of my groundhogs, because it would have been "goodbye, flower beds!"


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## PrimoBabe (Feb 23, 2006)

Although they're a bit creepy-looking, I believe that opossums are completely harmless. They "play possum" -- feign their own deaths -- because they lack any other means of self-defense. Also, an opossum's face has a perpetually snarling expression, which makes it look quite vicious...even though it isn't vicious at all.

Did you know that the opossum is the only marsupial found in North America? They're very common in some regions, although they're seldomly seen by human beings. They're nocturnal and solitary, and they're too frightened to leave their hidey-holes if any people or other animals are anywhere nearby.


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## gunterkat (Aug 19, 2006)

When I lived in north Metairie, before that area was heavily developed and became a posh suburb, we had possums and raccoons that would come to the patio door and take bread from our hands. They came at different times, though.

It was so cute the way the momma raccoon led her babies to the patio. She had them all sit still while she came to door and got her bread, then she dunked the bread in the cats' outdoor water bowl and gave some to her kids.


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

They are such beautiful, intelligent animals.  It's a shame they are so susceptible to rabies. Be careful, Gunterkat!


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## camel24j (Jan 12, 2007)

i am the type of person who loves almost all animals even some creepy crawlers. and that pic is just to cute. i grew up in Orlando fl and was chased by some animal who lived in the wood pile we had but i dont know what it was but i still loved to sit on the portch to see if i could see it when it came out i never did see it. i love skunks my bf picks worms at the golf course and the skunks come almost right up to you to steal the worms from your can they are a little pesky but cute now the bear on that course i dont know what to think of it never seen it just you can hear it and smell it and you know it is not that far away. ok i think i have add or something i can never keep on track lol


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## gunterkat (Aug 19, 2006)

Jeanie said:


> They are such beautiful, intelligent animals.  It's a shame they are so susceptible to rabies. Be careful, Gunterkat!


Thanks, Jeanie.  That was over 30 years ago and there isn't any wildlife habitat left in Metairie today. I live about 430 miles northeast of Metaire now. I'm lucky in that this area has some forest, and I've heard, but not seen, some critters in the backyard woods. They sounded like 'coons chittering.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

marie73 said:


> I was watching a talk show the other night, and they had one of those animal people on there...
> But he did confirm that they do not carry rabies.


I guess I'm confused. Do they, or don't they, carry rabies?

I have a possum story to share:
This occured several years ago. 
I had driven my car (Corvette) earlier in the day to the store and parked it in the garage when I returned home. When hubby came home from work, he asked me to move my car out, into the driveway so he could work on some projects in the garage. As I walked past my car I noticed a small pool of water on the hood, and I thought that was strange, since I was certain I had missed the afternoon rainshower...
Oh well, I pulled my car out of the garage for Hubby.
I had brought him a beer and he was sitting on an overturned bucket working on something and as he worked, he would hear a 'scrabbling' noise and he would stop what he was doing to look around and listen. Never locating the source of the noise, he just continued with his project...until he took a drink from his beer, which by that time was nearly gone, and he had to tip it far up. WELL! As he tipped his head back to pour the beer in, beady little Possum eyes were staring at him from on top of the garage door opener mounted to the ceiling of our garage!
Animal Control was closed, Sheriff Office wouldn't assist and our neighbors brought over chairs and a cell phone with 9-1 dialed and ready to press the other 1 for us. We used a ladder, a pole, heavy leather welding gloves and an empty garbage can. I had to peel feet/tail and push the possum off the opener and into the garbage can, which we lidded and carried to the back of our property where the woods are and removed the lid and layed the can on its side and we just left it for several hours.
Crazy thing. Made me glad I didn't run my hand through the 'water' (possum pee) on the hood of my car! 8O


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

Raccoons,skunks, Bats, Coyotes, Bobcats, carry rabies

Possums, Rabbits do not carry rabies. 

I believe one poster was referring to 'coons, the other to 'possums.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Ah, thank you.


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## Jet Green (Nov 28, 2005)

So it sounds like there was no actual rabies risk, and I icked up my trap with bleach for nothing. :? Blame my father-in-law, a very cautious man by nature, who insisted that we were all about to reenact _28 Days Later_ if I did not follow his explicit instructions, which also required wearing elbow-length chemical hazard gloves. :roll:



camel24j said:


> i am the type of person who loves almost all animals even some creepy crawlers. and that pic is just to cute.


Jennifer, pm me your address, and next time he lands in the trap, I'll mail him to you! :lol:


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## WiccanWolf (Apr 4, 2007)

Yeah, I did some research when I had the possum stuck in our duct work because I wanted to know what kind of risk it posed to my family and all the sites I looked at *including a possum rescue site* said that possums's body temperature is too low to host rabies for the most part. I think there have been a couple of possums come up with it but that is an extreme rarity.

^.".^


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

We have a possum rescue group here - I was surprised! I think there was one in my ceiling for a while at my last place. 8O


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## camel24j (Jan 12, 2007)

i dont think he would like the cold winters here lol hey i use to live in orlando fl. for 8yrs when i was a kid. i still have family there to. i still say he is cute. when i lived in fl i use to bring snakes and lizards home i never got to keep them thou but i did find a baby turtle just hatched to and got to keep it it just passed away over the winter she was 16yrs old that was a sad day. see i always go off topic lol.


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## Lynda J (Sep 8, 2004)

Raised two as a kid. THey litter trained easier than the cats. They use to sleep with the Boxer. It was so funny. THey would sit and wait until Wimpy got settled in his bed and then they would curl up in his legs. Mother had pictures but I haven't found them


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