Celebrate the opossum

Commonest road kill in Texas, outstripping even the armored dillo!

As I was growing up and as a young adult, opposums were very common in the Portland area. I'd see their road-killed corpses frequently, or live ones waddling across open spaces. Then they disappeared. Apparently they are susceptible to a virulent disease that quickly becomes pandemic in opposum populations. They've been scarce as hen's teeth around here since about 1992. They seem to compete with raccoons for space in the same ecological niche. At least, raccoons have become more common since the opposums died off.

No. They're gross!

They are gross and bitey and have rat tails! I will not celebrate the possum even for Ned. :(

Aw man.

I have never seen one personally and do not expect to do so (outside of a zoo), so I will celebrate them with you, Ned.

Um, as long as it doesn't involve eating one.

Possums are delicious!

http://www.wilton.com/images/yourtakeoncake/2004winners/wildopossum_front.jpg

http://www.unc.edu/~cmbaker/ROUS.jpg

I will celebrate the australian possum, which is cute and has a furry tail:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Pseudocheirus_peregrinus-Cayley.jpg

American possums are too rattish.

Let's not. They are horrible, horrible creatures.

I saw one yesterday crossing my path in broad daylight which usually means they are sick or injured. I felt a momentary pang of concern for the critter but then it passed.

Once I lived in these apartments where the back door opened up into this tiny, gross alley. There was a big vacant field next door full of all kinds of nastiness. I was walking to my next door neighbor's place and heard something rustling in the brush beside me. As I came to a tree, it started running up it and I thought, "ooh a kitty!" Instead it was nasty damn possum inches from my face, hissing. Terrifying!

Also there was one on our backyard fence the other week, penned in by our dogs and the neighbor's. He smelled horrible. Think it must have pissed itself.

When I was 11 and got my first dog, he spent a week killing an entire family (litter?) of possums that had been in our backyard and bringing us a prize every morning. Naturally, he was very proud of himself, and we humored him, but were also very pleased when it was over.

Possums still live around NE Portland, if my backyard is any indication.

i once saw my little crippled cat (technically my family's but i pretty much made her what she is today (not the crippled part) so i consider her mine) stare one of these guys down late at night & the possum backed the fuck off. i think these guys are probably ok & its too bad theyre usually roadkill.

I weaved through 2 mashed ones this morning.

:(

I think their numbers are on the upswing again in Portland. I saw my first one in ages a couple of months ago.

I've pulled three dead ones from under my house since I've lived here, so dud! I never see them anymore in my yard at night (first time I thought it was a huge rat) but I still find possum turds, so I guess they're still around.

Ugh, dud. Foul, foul critters. No celebrating.

they are definitely disgusting. but you have to give it up to the dudes. they're true survivors from olden times. like crocs and sharks and stuff. ugly and nasty and they go on and on. like roaches. ok, they're sounding worse and worse again as i go on. wet ones are the worst. ew.

They are gross, but come one, ppl. They are neither armadillos, which are nature's cruellest mistake, nor raccoons, which are too smart to be going through my trash. Possums are quiet. Classic.

These things smell like death.

Intentionally.

"When threatened or harmed, they will "play possum", mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick or dead animal. The lips are drawn back, teeth are bared, saliva foams around the mouth, and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from the anal glands."

Ugh. I just grossed myself out.

The lips are drawn back, teeth are bared, saliva foams around the mouth, and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from the anal glands.

wow, I think some of my friends are possums in disguise

Think it must have pissed itself.

Hahaha I didn't think you could do this without wearing pants. If you have no pants, you just... pissed.

Words that do not belong in a sentence together: foul-smelling, fluid, secreted, anal, glands. Seriously, what a phrase.

Opossums are frequent nocturnal visitors to yards -- like mine -- in Pasadena. Years ago, I fed a small orphaned one for a couple of weeks until it felt more sure about going on its way. One is actually living under under a palm in a hole in the garden.

Essentially, they rid yards of slugs and other pests. They also eat the carcasses of other dead animals. It ensures dead baby birds, for instance, don't last long on the lawn.

If you have outdoor pets -- cats or dogs -- and leave food out for them it will attract opossums.

Harmless animals which occupy a good place in the local ecology. Thumbs up for the lowly opossum. Opossums climb very well. If you're unsure if opossums are in yard, try going up on your roof. It's easy to find opossum crap on roofs in my neighborhood, particularly any part of a structure that has a level as opposed to sloped one.

I encountered a particularly stubborn possum walking down a street the other night. The dude would not move! And when that happens you think it's insane/has rabies!

They really are ugly and creeps-inducing but I refuse to hate ^_^

DAMMIT, it was I who was walking down the street

So cute, I wish we had possums here! My garden hosts cute squirrels, cute foxes, cute magpies and cute deer.

What's wrong with possums? They're cute!

huh.

"Opossums have a remarkably robust immune system, and show partial or total immunity to the venom of rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and other pit vipers.[2][3] Thanks to their lower blood temperature, rabies is almost unknown in opossums.[4]"

"Opossums smell like a skunk wrapped in discarded Depends.[5]"

What's wrong with possums? They're cute!

perhaps "a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from the anal glands" has something to do with it

nb I've never smelled a possum before, I never knew they smelled bad till this thread

Skunks are cute too. I'm unlikely to ever meet these animals in the flesh mind you.

Ever smelt a skunk?

http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/genesis/AwesomePossum(SS).gif

Opossums don't usually smell, contrary to the tripe upstream. If you frighten them, they can emit an odor. I've walked right out the door at night next to one eating cat food many times. The worst thing that has ever happened was that it scuttled away. You're far more likely to smell a skunk in your backyard.

A skunk is not the WORST smell you have ever smelled, it's just the MOST smell you have ever smelled.

I don't know abt opossums but aus possums stink, their piss is horrible. And they have a tendancy to hide in roof cavities and then piss all down yr walls. Also they make hideously scary deep growling sounds.

I wasnt celebartin' this lil dude being in my bathroom:

http://www.memorygongs.com/possum.jpg

but they are cute.

I wasnt celebartin' this lil dude being in my bathroom. . .

Bleh! A possum stops by our porch almost every night to eat the food we leave for our outdoor cats. We watch it from our front window. My wife and daughter say they're cute and make good mothers. I hate it.

Once, my wife sent me out to help a dying possum near the side of our house. It's eyes were black and it wasn't moving -- until I got close to try and help it. Then, it reared its head up, flashed its sharp teeth at me and let loose the most unnerving hiss I've heard in years.

Bleh!

Armadillos are just possums on the half-shell.

A skunk is not the WORST smell you have ever smelled, it's just the MOST smell you have ever smelled.

This is well put. Skunk spray is not the worst thing I've ever smelled, but I haven't ever gotten it both barrels.

Hhow could they not be classic? Harmless and productive. I've never gotten close enough one to get a whiff, so they could smell like Ann Coulter's vagina for all I care.

My parents had a family of armadillos living in the backyard this spring, but they seem to have disappeared now.

Once, my wife sent me out to help a dying possum near the side of our house. It's eyes were black and it wasn't moving -- until I got close to try and help it. Then, it reared its head up, flashed its sharp teeth at me and let loose the most unnerving hiss I've heard in years.

"Sorry honey, it was already dead. Skull crushed, poor bastard..."

I don't mind the smell of skunk if it's very diluted, like coming from one a couple blocks away where I can just barely detect it.

We have a large skunk population in my neighborhood. If you leave your windows open at night (as one would want to do in SoCal) you're bound to get a whiff. I see them all the time on the street and get by alright if I give them a wide berth. A few mornings ago however, one raised up on me. Part of me wanted to stick around and experience full-bore skunk spray - do the tomato juice bath, the whole bit - but instinct prevailed and I ran around the corner before he let loose.

'possums are cute as all get out.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/kingkonggodzilla/300px-Pogo_-_Earth_Day_1971_poster.jpg

the first time i saw one i was like "what the fuck is that ungodly creature?" but now i think they're kinda cute in their ugly, pathetic way

Motherfucker's got some bodies buried in the basement. DUD.
http://www.yopress.com/images/posts/halloween-06/possum4b.jpg

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Trayce, your possum looks nothing like the ones I regularly see. I could take yours as almost cute. Mine, not so much.

If that ends up in the out of context thread I will cry.

http://metro.beloblog.com/archives/possum-thumb.jpg

I bet Ms. Laura has sheltered some possums in her day.

^ that one looks pretty cute

You are all fules! I hope a possum bites you and cures you of your mistaken beliefs.

trayce, how did you get an opossum in your bathroom?!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/19/104107279_ebd0f692b0.jpg?v=0ci
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/35/104107291_5cfaf019fc.jpg?v=0

I caught a 'possum on the way home from the bar at 4 AM in Chicago. It was surprisingly easy. It was also a really dumb thing to do.

I once saw a guy walking around downtown seattle with an opossum on his shoulder. i don't have a problem with possums at all, but that was weird.

holy shit jesse!!

Commonest road kill in Texas, outstripping even the armored dillo!

-- Oilyrags, Thursday, June 28, 2007 4:29 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

equally common in SC as well

WTF Jesse?!?

Are you insane? What did you do with the thing? Did it bite you? It looks ready to fight to the death in that picture.

I like how the possum looks 6 ft tall in the first picture. He's all like, "What's up?"

more like op'awesome amirite

he/she seems quite cross.

Why not celebrate it with a song by ILX's favorite group?

http://www.gadiel.com/phish/images/rollingstone.jpg

Possum mp3

or maybe a little something from indie also-rans, Possum Dixon.

Are they annoying?

actually, yes. took me 3 albums to decide.

http://www.musicobsession.com/Pictures/p/o/possumdixon358028.jpg

http://www.worth1000.com/entries/239000/239058OtVS_w.jpg

In the top pic, I am holding the 'possum over my head.

He looks ferocious, but he was actually doing what 'possums do, and "playing 'possum." He held completely still with his mouth wide open like that the whole time I molested him, and even after I set him down he lay there for a few seconds before shambling off.

A cute guy on the other side of the street flirted with me, telling me to leave the 'possum alone.

trayce, how did you get an opossum in your bathroom?!
Well its not an opossum, it was a ringtailed possum. And I dont know! I think it slunk in thru the bathroom window which is always open. The cat had freaked out and was staking out the hallway glaring at the door. I didnt even notice the damn thing, I wandered into the bathroom, went to look at myself in the mirror, saw it, and screamed like a girl.

Then spent an hour chasing it round the house trying to catch it while it pooed everywhere. Theyre cute little things and very tame in Melbourne, you can feed them apples if you're quiet and calm.

But they make this hissygrowl like devils when they're territorial in their trees at night. Scary bloody noise if you're not used to it.

I see opossums all the time on the hillside. I like 'em.

http://www.opossum.org

http://percypringle.com/Photos/Jones.jpg

Never a more perfect nickname.

http://memeparty.com/i/28777c85aee677c4cccac813739cfe64.jpg

is that seriously happening?

http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-167682-galleryV9-kkcb.jpg

Heidi, the Cross-Eyed Opossum, Charms Germany

What's wrong with possums? They're cute!

They look like extremely large rats[1]; thus we are culturally predisposed to find them creepy.

[1] Yes, I know they are marsupials, not rodents.

hideous monster rat animals

they make nice scarves

Actually see more roadkill ones in Texas than I ever saw in the Northeast (where I learned they liked compost bins, back when we had one.)

Anyway, I just think it's awesome that they are marsupials and yet not Australian. That boggles the mind, makes them true living fossils from the bygone days before continental drift. (Though there are other types, right? We've got the Virginia Opossum here in the States -- the one mostly pictured on this thread -- but Latin/South America also has the Water Opossum a/k/a Yapok, and the Rat Opossum a/k/a Caenolestes, which look quite a bit different. And maybe more?)

A possum took up residence in the engine compartment of our car one winter. It built a nest beside the engine, atop one of the wheel wells, and chewed through a bunch of the wiring. We didn't discover it until the car wouldn't start in a parking lot one night and we opened the hood. There it was, burrowed in and hissing. We had to call animal control to come and lift it out with one of those noose-on-a-pole things. Yuck.

Ha, I had forgot all about the possum in our bathroom episode.

driving on the hwy in miami & saw a young, cute, scared opossum in the latticework section above the license plate on the back of a box truck...hope hes ok~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_XRS7yPhH8