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Post by anxiousmom on Jun 10, 2017 10:21:04 GMT
I hate to tell y'all this but possums in the house in the middle of town happens too...I know from experience. Picture this: old house. up on a foundation with a two foot crawl space under the house. a redneck rigged access panel in the closet to get to pipes. One night, Miss Anxious awoke in the middle of the night to a great calamity occurring in her closet. She warily approaches...thinking maybe the roof was falling in on her precious shoes. She, who I might add was pretty darn near close to naked, clad only in a pair of rather forlorn pair of old granny panties, gently attempted to open the door. Alas, it's an old swollen wood door so it doesn't latch well, it swung open with a might swing and THERE WAS A MAMA POSSUM MAKING A NEST ON ONE OF MY SWEATERS SHE HAD DRAGGED DOWN ONTO THE FLOOR. Miss Anxious immediately set upon screaming and making a racket that should have woken the dead. She jumped up and down with boobies a' flopping and that damn possum just sat there as though she was memorized by the frizzy headed, granny pannied, floppied boobied, screaming apparition that disturbed her nesting time. Miss Anxious where upon found a strength previously unheard of fluffed the door shut ('cause remember, the door was swollen and didn't really close well so slamming did not happen) and dragged a dresser in front of the door to keep it forever closed. A few days later, Miss Anxious' dad appeared as the avenging angel to open the door and drive the wildlife away. He rerednecked the access panel with double the amount of screws required because a not so calm Miss Anxious was standing behind him relating how BIG AND STRONG (the size of a VW! the HULK!) All this, in the middle of a town.  |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 10, 2017 12:36:23 GMT
Eff this. He just caught another one. If this continues I'm going to fall over dead. Exterminator is coming on Monday. I can't find anyone to come out this weekend. Napalm. Napalm I tell you!  I'd be staying in a hotel (or anywhere else!) until I could get someone in there to get rid of them. |
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happymomma
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,083 
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Post by happymomma on Jun 10, 2017 12:56:55 GMT
I'm glad you are having an exterminator in. As 'cute' as some think these animals are, they can carry disease and be a health hazard.
Be careful cleaning up any droppings you might find. I had a friend who lost a horse due to opossum disease.
True, they eat ticks, but they also carry them around. Just ick.
Dangers & Concerns
Mostly considered minor nuisances, opossums become problematic when they decide to nest and forage near residential and commercial areas. The pesky critters disrupt homes, gardens, chicken coops, and areas reserved for pets while rummaging for food. When encountered directly, the creatures hiss and growl.
Occasionally, opossums attack pets or even humans with their sharp, pointed teeth; however, opossum attacks are rare and unlikely. More commonly, the pests pretend to be dead and emit an awful stench from their anal glands when frightened.
Opossums become dangerous with their ability to transmit diseases to pets and people. Known to carry leptospirosis, tuberculosis, coccidiosis, spotted fever, tularemia, and other diseases, the pesky creatures pose serious health threats when they invade urban environments.
Furthermore, opossums serve as host animals to fleas, ticks, lice, and mites, which puts dogs and cats at risk of becoming infested with these parasites. Owners of horses should be aware of the dangers associated with opossums that carry a protozoan known as Sarcocystis neurona, which can lead to neurologic disease in equines.
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StephDRebel
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,718
Location: Ohio
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Post by StephDRebel on Jun 13, 2017 2:03:28 GMT
The exterminator came by today and said their method is to trap and remove. Argh.
We've caught 6 so far...they have 13 nipples so potentially 7 more and a mama to go.
We haven't smelled anything or seen any droppings and neither did he. Grateful but also frustrating.
Still trying to find the entry point.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 19:28:44 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 2:14:32 GMT
In the house?!!!  |
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StephDRebel
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,718
Location: Ohio
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Post by StephDRebel on Jun 13, 2017 2:18:52 GMT
In the house?!!! Mmmmhmmmm. We had a leak earlier in the year and haven't replaced a piece of drywall yet so there is a 6 inch piece that is open to the crawl space. They're coming through there, into the trap. Fortunately they've got to be in the crawlspace somewhere and they're not just roaming around. They're coming through the opening and into the trap. It could definitely be better, but it could also be much, much worse. *shiver* |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 19:28:44 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 2:29:00 GMT
Mmmmhmmmm. We had a leak earlier in the year and haven't replaced a piece of drywall yet so there is a 6 inch piece that is open to the crawl space. They're coming through there, into the trap. Egads!!! That "baby" in your first photo was pretty large. I'm surprised that there are that many still living together. Scarier still is that mama possum is likely pretty pissed that her babies are turning up missing.
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Post by AussieMeg on Jun 13, 2017 2:51:28 GMT
It's very common to have possums living in ceilings here, in right in the middle of suburbia where I live. We've got one or two up in our ceiling.
When they run through the ceiling in the middle of the night it sounds like freakin horses are galloping up there! Our old dog used to sleep right through it but our new pup goes nuts.
The main way they get into houses is where there are overhead power lines running from the street to the house. The possums climb up trees then run across the power lines and get into any gaps in the roof. A lot of people put possum barriers on the power lines running to their houses that stops them from getting across. Or they put perspex around tree trunks so they can't climb up.
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Post by Delta Dawn on Jun 13, 2017 3:43:06 GMT
In the house?!!! Mmmmhmmmm. We had a leak earlier in the year and haven't replaced a piece of drywall yet so there is a 6 inch piece that is open to the crawl space. They're coming through there, into the trap. Fortunately they've got to be in the crawlspace somewhere and they're not just roaming around. They're coming through the opening and into the trap. It could definitely be better, but it could also be much, much worse. *shiver* Ok what exactly would be worse? A rattlesnake? Six possums in a house are a lot in a year's time. |
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StephDRebel
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,718
Location: Ohio
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Post by StephDRebel on Jun 13, 2017 3:50:30 GMT
Mmmmhmmmm. We had a leak earlier in the year and haven't replaced a piece of drywall yet so there is a 6 inch piece that is open to the crawl space. They're coming through there, into the trap. Fortunately they've got to be in the crawlspace somewhere and they're not just roaming around. They're coming through the opening and into the trap. It could definitely be better, but it could also be much, much worse. *shiver* Ok what exactly would be worse? A rattlesnake? Six possums in a house are a lot in a year's time. Six possums running around in my house instead of in a pretty contained space. 6 possum in my kitchen would be worse. 6 pissed off adults would be worse, or 6 that didn't get caught and that shit all over. Or snakes. It's been 6 in 3 days. |
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Post by Delta Dawn on Jun 13, 2017 3:52:58 GMT
Ok what exactly would be worse? A rattlesnake? Six possums in a house are a lot in a year's time. Six possums running around in my house instead of in a pretty contained space. 6 possum in my kitchen would be worse. 6 pissed off adults would be worse, or 6 that didn't get caught and that shit all over. Or snakes. It's been 6 in 3 days. This IS worst case scenario!!! You have it already! |
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Post by Delta Dawn on Jun 13, 2017 3:54:47 GMT
I will give you an example of "better case scenario". Crane fly which does not bite, flies in and out and effs off forever and ever. They do no harm and the get the eff out as soon as you open the door especially at night. They don't like to come upstairs and they don't bother anyone except a cat maybe. That is a better case scenario.
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Post by OntarioScrapper on Jun 13, 2017 4:26:43 GMT
We had a freaking ferret this past winter. Scared the shit out of me. Chased it out of the house once I got my wits together. My daughter has pet rats so I'm used to little critters being in the Rat Condo (seriously it's a 5 floor pantry turned into a Rat Condo) or sitting on my daughter's shoulder as she walks by. Not some critter sitting on the top of my stand up deep freezer staring at me. I knew someone who raised ferrets.
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I'd be staying in a hotel (or anywhere else!) until I could get someone in there to get rid of them. 
