Posted on 05/24/2023 6:48:10 AM PDT by allen592
Granny makes possum stew tonight
Actually, they are not. When I was growing up in the 1970s we used to go coon hunting. We never asked for permission to cross into other people's property, because raccoons were property destructive and the famers wanted them gone. However possums were left alone. The only crime that they were accused of was eating chicken eggs and not very often.
Several years ago, I read that one of the main food sources for possums are ticks. They eat an unbelievable amount of them. Where I live, we have a serious problem with tick diseases. I have a possum that regularly patrols my backyard. Since they only live 1 to 2 years, I am guessing that my property is a part of a possum's family territory that gets handed down to the next generation. I have lived in my house for almost 20 years and is covered with a lot of trees and undergrowth. I have never seen a tick within my fence line.
That’s what I get for not reading the article carefully.
:)
I used to be awakened at night by animals coming after chickens. One hen had a nest outside my window. Coons would usually grab a setting hen. One night, I heard the hen take off, in a panic. I shined the gunlight out the window and saw a ‘possum fleeing the scene. I’m sure the hen scared the crap out of it.
They're common, here.
We leave them alone.
Them and deer are the most common roadkills, unfortunately.
Interesting that ticks are a food source.
I agree that they do look like rats. A decade ago we had a German exchange student that stayed with us. The cats drug into the house (through the pet door) a possum and she was the first to see it. She came running to me and in a heavily stilted German accent told me, “BILL, THERE IS A RAT IN THE HOUSE! A VERY VERY LARGE RAT!” She stood by and watched me throw a towel over the “rat” and take it outside and place it over the fence. After explaining what it was and her watching how I calmly handled it, she told me, “Well, it may be a possum, and it may not be a rat, but it will always look like a monster rat to me.”
Wonder if it's, actually, like FL did, years ago.
They had a population explosion of roaches.
They, just, renamed them "palmetto bugs".
"Roaches? We ain't got no roaches. Dem's "palmetto bugs"!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.