Comments on: Friday Un-Cat Blogging

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:24:10 +0000

That’s food for the ferals, Property has never even smelled it. She was focusing on the possum.

Oh, yes, raccoons are an occasional problem, but this possum seems to have taken up residency in the area.

By: oldwhitelady

oldwhitelady — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:13:20 +0000

Oh, my. That is a great picture. I bet Property was quite perturbed by the creature eating the cat food! How dare it! That reminds me of an incident my sister had. Her cat food kept disappearing, and she finally found a raccoon in her kitchen. It had come through the kitty door.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 22:17:38 +0000

The little ones are cute, Jill, but a full-sized one is nasty and destructive. At least they are rarely rabid because of natural resistance in most of them, but they have some formidable teeth that can really do a job on you.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 16:15:37 +0000

My father did some trapping to help put himself through college in Michigan. He always felt bad about killing animals…except for ‘possums. He hated them.
I, personally, find them quite cute in a weird sort of waddling alien looking sort of way.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 21:45:08 +0000

I like hedgehogs, but then I lived in Germany for a while and they are regarded much as rabbits are viewed in the US, as friendly woodland creatures. Foxes are useful for taking out squirrels, but they can threaten cats, and I don’t mess around with badgers.

By: jams o donnell

jams o donnell — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 13:24:22 +0000

Ah now that’s not something we would see in our garden – just hedgehogs, squirrels and foxes.. the not wife’s sister gets badgers too.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:34:41 +0000

Yes, it’s cuter, Kryten, a fluffy tail helps a lot in that department, but you have all kinds of marsupials and the possum is the only one we have.

Another difference is the “tail hanging”. Ours can do it as kits, but adult possums are too heavy to hang by their tails, other than briefly. They generally use it as a brace or for balance.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:25:51 +0000

Fifteen is a long life for a cat. Cats need much more fat than dogs, and small rodents are the most complete diet they can have. It provides everything that you can spend a lot of money on to duplicate, but they have to be “free range” rodents. The domesticated varieties of rodents are missing important nutrients in their diet.

[We have a local feline vet who did post doc work on nutrition and she has been in the local media discussing it, especially after the Chinese added the “counter-tops” to the pet food.]

If they would stay off of highways, armadillos would almost all die of old age. I “thumped” one on I-10 and it doesn’t do good things to your car.

As for exits, that sounds like a good way to check out.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:22:11 +0000

Oh! And *our* Possums are far cuter than yours! 😛 😆 (You can see one in that link above). 😉

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:18:57 +0000

Actually, Opossums literally faint from shock when sufficiently stressed. 😉

A Moment of Science – Playing Possum

The possum is a rather unglamorous creature. It has big, black eyes, a pale pointy face, and a hairless tail, like a rat’s. Possums aren’t finicky about their food, either: they eat fruits, vegetables, insects, reptiles, and even roadkill.

They do have a couple of unique habits, though: as North America’s only marsupial, they can carry their young in a pouch, like a kangaroo, and they can play dead.

“Playing Dead”
Possums are famous for “playing dead” when threatened, but this isn’t quite accurate. They are not “playing” dead at all: the possum goes into shock when particularly stressed.

While not dead, the possum can be found lying on its side with its legs extended and is, in fact, limp and unconscious during this time, like a person who has fainted.

Vulnerabilities
While playing dead discourages predators from chasing the possum, it also makes them vulnerable. When drivers see the limp possum in the road, they don’t bother to swerve, since they assume it’s already dead.

There are also accounts of people shooting the comatose possum in order to “put it out of its misery.” There is such a thing as overplaying a part.

We have many Possums here, they are distantly related to Kangaroos & Wallabies. I had a cute and curious young fellow living in a tree in my yard many years ago. We became friends (I guess). He used to come sit on a low branch and *twitter* away at me when I’d go outside (I suspect telling me off about the quality & frequency of food provided, no doubt!) 😆

It’s not actually a great idea to encourage them. they can literally destroy a house from the inside (they nest in the roof & walls, and often die and rot there, and they pee a lot, usually down the walls!) Not a nice way to loose a house. 😉