@@FlickanIDetKroktaRummet no they don't fight...well yes if any animal is starving to near death they will fight to survive. That's why you leave some food out. But I've been with so many possums, cats, raccoons...never happened. Possums can not see well but their sense of smell is extremely strong and hearing as well. Cats will not fight unless to defend or have to eat...thats why people need to spay or neuter and not just throw kittens outside. It's ignorant beyond reason. If your experience with cats is that they would fight a possum...you either don't know them or have been cruel to them.
My grandfather was blind. He was retired on his farm where he fed the barn cats each day. He would pet them as they came up to him. One day he said one of the cats had a strange tail. A tail he never felt on a cat before. We didn't think much of it at the time since it was just a cat with a weird tail. I went out there to feed them days or weeks later. And then I saw it. An opossum waiting for food. He was a friendly guy. Those big teeth scared me. He would follow us around the apple orchard and climb the trees to the very top. Then he just disappeared. I never saw him again. My grandfather has been gone since 2007 and I still picture him in my head after seeing opossum videos like this. I picture him petting that opossum each day thinking it was a cat. And the opossum letting happen. And the look of confusion when he touched his tail. He must have never touched his head because they have large snouts.
What's also nice is that it's hard for rabies to live inside their bodies due to their body temperatures being far too low for the virus to thrive, so very rarely would you ever find a rabid opossum.
I’ve got a possum in my back yard. I call him Petey.. I feed him and the feral kitties. I peek out there? And he’s all cuddled up with the feral kitties in the bed I made ‘em.
Ha! Cute. Nice of you to take care of all the animals, possums included. I used to have a pet crawfish named Petey, saved him from a crawfish boil. Eventually released him, but rescued another and named him Petey The Second. Every summer we’d rescue and release a new Petey. Sorry for the tangent, that name brought back some memories. Take care 😁✌️
@@DavidAdkins78 they also hiss at you like a cat when they are scared. The little youngsters can run really fast, ive seen the small ones run across my field at warp speed!
@@mjade1673 what diseases? How did they get them? Realize most all the diseases in the wildlings is from OUR PETS. What you never knew what canine or feline means in front of distemper? Gonna try and claim the 6 Wildcats and 25 wolves we have left are spreading them? A possum has such a low body temp as most crap cant live in them. How about some compassion for grandfather possum. He asks so little of you... just ignore him.
I love possums and such a benefit to one’s property! They are very docile creatures, their gaping just a defense mechanism - but just noise and a show. We have several that come to our front porch to eat and sleep in the houses we built for the feral cats. They all share the space and the housing. Just love them!!
Kinda strange to see one in the daytime like this. He/she must've been really hungry. May have babies in her pouch that need milk, so she had to take a chance. They are very devoted mothers. I love possums so much. They're definitely one of my favorite animals. They make me laugh how they think they're being sneaky. Their vision is mostly based on movement so if you're really still they won't see you usually. I had one "sneak" all along my fence, bumbling along through the bushes, and come right up to my back door steps, which I was sitting on smoking my pipe before bed. She was trying to get some cat food. They love cat food. It got about a foot from my left leg and I looked at it and said "whatchu doin?" The look he gave me was so funny. It was like "oh my freaking lord, there's a human right there and I'm about to crap myself." I wish I could've filmed it, but I would've scared him away trying to. After I said that to him, he almost didn't know what to do. If they're started badly enough, they will immediately and instinctively roll over and play dead, tongue sticking out and everything. He almost did that, but opted for running clumsily back under my fence gate. I realized I could be really still and quiet and they'd come right up and eat catfood like right there 2feet away from me and never even know I was there. They need to be protected, not feared because they are really so vulnerable. All the growling and hissing they do when cornered is just an act. You can catch them by their prehensile tails and they'll just hang there and chill so you can look at them. Never kill one because they very likely will have babies in their pouches so you're killing them too. Also, if you see a dead one, check to see if it's a female with babies because they could still be alive and can be rescued and taken to a wildlife rehabilitator. Let's take care of our awesome pawsoms! They're our only native marsupial here in the United States, to my knowledge.
Remember my wife running back into the apartment yelling that she just saw the largest rat. I told her to show me, and she lead me outside and pointed at a bush.... behind which was an opossum. I told her it wasn't a rat, but an opossum.
Something similar happened with a coworker from India. He came in one morning raving about giant rats the size of cats hanging around the dumpster. We had to show him some pictures online to convince him they were not giant rats.
i feed some stray cats here in New York City and one day there was an opossum eating the cat's food! i was so pleasantly surprised! unfortunately s/he hasn't returned, that i know of anyway.
Awwww 😆. I had raccoons who came for the daily feast for my rescues. Made sure they had their own food and water as I stood there till all were finished. Word got out and soon I had geese with their little puffs in tow and pigeons. When summer came I’d take the hose out and stand there giving them a cool shower before their departure for the day. Hahahaa I loved it just as much as they did !!😆💪🏼😎
Opossums dont actually bite people. When they are scared they just hiss and freeze. So you could pet them with no problem. They will even be friendly after a while if you feed them from time to time.
Actually, they do bite in self-defense. My mother had the scars to prove it. In all fairness, she was walking the dog and the dog apparently got excited at coming upon the opossum, who struck out and got my mom's knee. She had to go to the emergency room as it was pretty brutal. Those teeth must be vicious even if the opossum is generally not. (It was a dark evening and mom had cataracts so couldn't see what was about to happen.)
@@meg1955 Are you sure it was really an opossum? I never, ever saw one bite in all my years. Here in my country they are called Sarue. Usually a female could be agressive but even so, only towards one thats aproaching too much when they are carrying offspring. If you aproach a loner it should be fine.
They are absolute masters of cleaning ticks off of bushes. Part of the reason Lyme disease is rare in the South is the higher possum density. The other reason is that tick nymphs often feed from lizards and snakes, which cannot pass Lyme disease to the ticks at the right life stage to become disease vectors.
My neighbor had two possums when I was a kid. I was surprised by how different they were from the reputation they seem to have. I’m lucky to have had that experience. Fuck yeah, possums!
Here in Mexico we call them Tlacuache...many people find them repulsive, but I think they are a cool little creature that has been around for 70 million years.....sadly, in the wild they only live about 18 months, and rarely ever past two years. They die from old age.
I feed a couple of possums on my porch every night.. I always put 2 bowls full of food and they start with one full completely finish it before moving to the other..so polite!
Lol I love them! They are hilarious! Look at the ingredients of the food you are feeding. It's corn and sugar....look for brands with meat. No corn, no sugar, vegetable starches . It's expensive but they will eat less and be very healthy.
I have an opossum named Petey. He is sooo fat and cute!! He likes all of my cats and they like him and he, usually, is right there with one or two of them. So sweet
I had a young opossum last summer in my boiler room for 2 weeks. I gave food and water every night. Unfortunately, I couldn't let her stay because she had fleas and got my dog with fleas. But I think opossums are amazing animal knowing all the facts about them.
I leave my back patio door open so I don't have to constantly open and close it for my cat. Every once in a while a possum walks in and goes for the cat food. If it sees me it will slowly make it's way back outside. Sure does make a lot of noise when it eats though.
My father in law has one that eats the outside cat's food. My mother in law told him to do something about it. So, he converted an old tote to a house and named him George. They love ticks so they are good to have around.
I have one in my backyard. It lives in the shed right now, so I’ve been putting leftovers out by it. We named him/her Homer because he/she loves donuts.
That's weird. Little possum was actually thinking "I might not survive to see tomorrow". The most dangerous animal is the two legged rat, not a 10 pound carrion eater.
@@timobrien2738 dude, what the hell. possums help take care of insect problems and are incredibly clean animals; hell, they don't even get rabies! also, possums aren't rodents- they're marsupials
@@KingStr0ng it depends. There are animals who have great hyegine, like pigeons. The problem is that nature is not clean. So animals with good hyegine get even dirtier
I always feed the wild possums. My favorite was one I called Sumo, because he was so big, who lived under my shed. Sumo loved grapes. Whenever he'd see me, he'd run out and click until I gave him a few grapes or whatever food scraps I had on hand. He and a feral tom would sometimes get into it, and Sumo always won. I still miss that fat old possum.
I have one living under my house. I have 3 cats and a dog and Fred comes out at night to eat their food. I learned about the benefits of opossums the last few years, so when Fred showed up it was OK.
I love possums. I had a place near ocean and had bunch of possums and raccoons. Had fox but they didn't come by much...poor guys. I'm also in city so to have these guys around was so wonderful. They came on my back porch. The mommas trusted me and had brought their babies by. It wasn't unusual to happen to look up or down and see a cutie looking at me. People literally freak out and call companies that "relocate" them. Thats not even legal. But they don't care what they do with them as long as they are not in their yard. But possums clean up....anything dead they gladly will take away. That's fine by me. If you have "friends " like this you are literally not lonely. I love them. ❤
@@DavidAdkins78 oh me too...aren't they the cutest. I'd watch momma and even daddy teach babies how to wash up before and after they'd eat. I'd keep a bowl out there for them. One place I had we had a pool and I'd hear splashing in the water and it was them. Those guys loved the pizza delivery guy. They'd peek over from the roof and come down and get pizza. I have birds, squirrels, ducks, etc..well did ..I'm in apartment now and neighbors I have complained because they were scared of squirrels...they don't even like dogs. ??? So now I go on RU-vid and check out videos like yours. Not the same as having then hang out but they make me smile or laugh either way and who don't need that. Have a great day!!
