Opossum Watch 2008:
This afternoon we set the trap...and waited. Around midnight we heard the trap door slam. We opened the closet door and saw its face peering out of the cage. "Awww" said Brett. I went and opened the front door to prepare to take him to his new country life... Correction--her. As Brett opened the closet door fully, he quickly shut it.
"There is more than one."
"What? How many more?"
"only one that I can see, a baby."
That's right y'all, a baby, outside the cage. We decided to slide a grate in front of the door frame and open the cage...and let them back under the bathtub and leave it to the professionals. Why? Because as it turns out, an average opossum litter is seven. We only saw one, and that could be it--but we really are not feeling up to taking that chance.
On a side note, baby opossums are freaking cute. Especially, when it and it's mom are not at all scared of you and, outside of the cage thing, are quite content to ignore you while you clap and carry on to get it to go back in its friggin hole.
15 comments:
what a neat little adventure. What will the professionals do? will they take them to the country?
The website of the company I found said they prefer relocation, as long as there is no sign of infections (aka rabies)...which these mild little fellas don;t seem to have.
omg could this story get any cuter?
I don't see why everyone thinks this is so fucking cute. we're not talking kittens, here, or goddamn harry potter and his buddies in a cupboard under the stairs. some glorified rat family is leaving shittons of droppings all up inside yo' house.
p.s. the tooth fairy is bullshit, and soylent green is people.
but,but...the have a pouch and a prehensile tail...
alright, well at least we know for sure now. diana's heart is made of stone.
wow...shit, Diana. I had no idea you were such a hater. hatin on some cute little opossums...just cause they be poopin.
fine! let opossums birth their litter in your wall! have squirrels store their nuts in your attic! invite the neighborhood raccoons over for dinner! pretty soon it will all come crashing down, so don't come crying to me when a dingo eats your baby.
I must come to Diana's defense on this one. I've had critters in my walls and in my apartment before. It's not cute. It's gross and disturbing. Finding droppings in your kitchen and closet. Hearing the scurrying in the ceiling above your bed and in the hall right outside your room when you're about to enter the vulnerable state of sleep. Maybe if you know they're locked away and can't roam freely in the house, it's not as bad. But I would certainly be finding and sealing up the hole through which they crawled as soon as they're removed. You never know how long it will be until these creatures learn to open that little door and terrorize you in the night.
Apryl
i shared my last apartment with a family of raccoons. They lived in the attic, I lived downstairs. I was all fine.
Until one of them died in the walls and i had to vacate my home for a week because breathing air there was pretty much like eating death.
when my red neck landlord went in there to retrieve it, he reported back, "it was a biggun, a 30 pounder, i swear!"
and i said, that's what she said.
or at least, i wish i had.
alright, y'all. May I be clear that we are not planning to keeps them as pets. It is, however, going to run us around 400.00 bucks to get someone else to remove them and tell us how the hell they are getting in and out.
Feel free to donate.
I am taking refuge in the humor of the situation...'Cause it is damn amusing.
AND it is cute that they have seemingly imprinted Brett and I. I would rather they be imprinted on us and live in one of our trees... but here we are.
This is my new and improved eastern philosophy at work here, dudes!!!
I think you should just have the mama removed and raise the babies as your own. you could teach them to use their prehensile tails to hold a fork and flush the toilet.
that, Diana, is a capital idea!!
I'm so glad you said "capital."
Post a Comment