Not so wild possum.

This possum spent the entire night on my feeder. I think it is a glutton.

Wonderful pic trois!!

fantastic photos!!

not too often you can say, OH, what a cutie in regards to an Opossum!!
but what a darling!!

sitting all "winny the pooh" style as Scutler would say!!

Thanks, pell and tcs1366.

The poor critter just couldn't stop eating as long as there was food left.

LOL This picture reminds me of a saying my husband has, "Happy as a 'possum eatin' pea seeds" Now I can visualize it! Too cute!

LOL at that snout covered in seeds. Fabulous photo. You really take great pics, trois! That opossum looks a little chubby. I wonder if it might either be pregnant or nursing. That might also explain the appetite.

Thanks, jojoringer and scutler. LOL Since this fellow sat on the feeder and ate for 6 hours, I think it was just full.

6 hours!! LOL That is a cute photo!!

I saw one of ours out and about tonight, along with a raccoon. So the critters are coming out more now. I have left apples out the last 2 night and they have been gone in the morning. I put an egg and an apple out tonigh and the apple is already gone and the egg still there. But I bet it is gone by morning!

We put out bones and other things we know the dog shouldn't eat and they are always gone the next morning.
That possum left a few minutes after sunrise. I was watching on the camera. I thought it was going to fall off the tree as it climbed down. It's belly kept getting in the way. LOL

trios -- i know this has been asked before... but what type of camera/photo equipment do you use.... you get awesome wildlife photos.

Thanks, tcs1366.
For the possum and for birdcam photos, I use a Lumix FZ30. This has a good flash for fill and a very sharp lens.

For butterflies and other small creatures, I use a Pentax k10d. This allows through the lens focusing for the very critical focusing necessary for small objects, especially when they are surrounded by taller vegetation. Auto focus will usually focus on the nearest object. I always use manual focus for butterflies, and fixed lens cameras that have focusing on a LCD screen, such as the Lumix will not manually focus properly so as to get the head of the butterfly in focus. This is my experience, anyway.
The Lumix, at 8 mp and the Pentax at 10 mp act as a telephoto by virtue of cropping while maintaining a sharp photo.

I hope his helps. If not, ask more.

trois

I love the picture...but I gotta ask. Is that tiny babies between its legs/belly? Now mind you I am very bad eye sighted...but something just looks....not like thats a paw.

Humor me. LOL

Debbie

DD, I think you are right. Those definately are not legs and not white like the belly. They sure look like babies to me.

Thank you for telling me I am not TOTALLY loosing my mind. They look like tiny pink little babies.

OK, thru my Photoshop program....I have "gone in" and enlarged...cropping....a close up. I see babies...and a teet.....I think, your possum was having babies. And they were getting ready to crawl into the pouch. How awesome is that?

Debbie

Ooops didn't load right...sorry

LOL, well what do ya know!! Congrats trois! (I think,lol).

Good eyes Debbie!!

This message was edited Mar 16, 2008 5:33 PM

Well, I am astonished. I am going to have to look closer at my pictures from now on.

Thanks!

Congrats on your grandpossoms! No wonder she was sitting there for so long.

You know, Debbie, when I looked at it, I thought it looked like she might have babies in the pouch. Never considered that she might be in the process of giving birth. And it never occurred to me to Photoshop the pic to find out. Great idea, and how interesting - both to see the little fellas and to think that birth for the opossum is such a non-event that she could 'spit out' a few babies over a long lunch. LOL! Now that's the way to do it.

LOL,Really!!!

LOL!! you betcha.

And to think I had a 10 pounder! LOL

Perhaps she went into labor while eating lunch, I bet she expended a lot of energy having them.....and what a way to fill the tank up while giving birth.

Its amazing.

Debbie

I stumbled on to this site this p.m..Thank you Trois for the camera info. As I am totally tech impaired, I did call SO (Significant Other) over to check out your great photos. We witnessed our Plotthound take down a rotten tree (she had no toenails when she was done as she is very tenacious) that was housing a garden varmint=possum this past winter. I would have stopped her had I not misplaced my Brunswick stew recipe! They have been very problematic on our property, including killing and eating feral cats that find their way to our farm. Also, I was chased by a snarling, hissing possum that had nested in our farm basement/crawlspace.

Thanks, MaypopLaurel. I guess I feed my possums too well. They just ignore everything and everybody. The Raccoons also ignore us.

I was looking at that and wondering to myself if that was a little possum in there! lol

MaypopLaurel - I'm guessing that it's raccoons that are attacking your feral cats. I've never heard of an opossum attacking an animal. Snarling and hissing, yes, but they don't have the kind of mouth or teeth for biting.

That's not to say that they can't be problematic in other ways, but a normal healthy opossum is not aggressive unless provoked.

Great picture - and to capture the opossum having babies - a real bonus.

Thanks katie59. Lots of luck on the babies as I never knew till it was pointed out.

In my yard neither the opossums nor the raccoons are at all aggressive. I don't have a cat but my 4.5lb dog is always chasing members of both groups. I can't imagine any of them are seriously threatened by him. Both run. Neither has ever harmed him, not so much as a scratch even when he occasionally gets one of them pinned in a corner or against the fence. The opossum's do hiss and spit at him as a bluff.

I did once see an opossum bite a young raccoon on the hind quarter (upper part of back leg). This happened when the opossum wanted the food the youngster was eating. The raccoons are at the top of the pecking order but the opossums will sometimes try to push the young ones around if they can get away with it.

One thing I've been thinking since I 1st saw this picture. They sure do make opossums a whole lot cuter in Texas than in SC! Although I've learned to appreciate them, our opossums are down right homely, but the one in the picture at the top of the page is really kinda' cute.

Up here we've lost lots of cats to raccoons. My neighbor actually had them turn a kitten inside out (sad image). My vet says that the females can be docile, but that the males usually travel in pairs and are quite dangerous to animals. I haven't had the opportunity to check to see if the ones I see are male or female :-).

The raccoons (and, I suspect, the opossums) are quite septic, so any bite or scratch to a dog or cat can get easily infected. My girlfriend's German Shepherd had one latched on to his hind end. He was spinning around crying and the raccon only let go when she arrived. The vet shaved his hind end and there were gashes. He said that the raccoon had "been kind" to her dog and that they usually did more damage than that.

And, apparently, both species urinate as they walk. If your dog or cat eats enough grass that they've covered with urine, it can cause pretty serious gastrointestinal problems. I found this out from a friend of mine last year. Her dog was sick for a week.

Dangers everywhere. :-)

I think most people think opossums are homely. But I agree, this one looks pretty darn cute. :-)

After giving some thought to the length of time she spent on the feeder, I have concluded she had to wait until all the babies had crawled into the pouch.
A full pouch would also explain why she was so clumsy going down the tree, without smashing the babies.

not a bad way to give birth.... munching at the local seed buffet !! [for 6 hrs none the less]

that all must have been something to witness. how awesome.

Yes, but I missed the main event at the time.

Thank you Debbie for sending me over here.

This is awesome!!

Susan
=^..^=

trois,

That makes sense that she would need to wait for all of the babies to make their way into the pouch so as not to risk loosing any while climbing down. Wow, what began as a great photo has slowly unravelled to reveal an entire story.

I think she lives under my porch. I may see the young when they emerge from the pouch.I did see several years ago a possum carrying young on her tail, by there tails. I hope to get that picture if it happens.

I doubt she was having the babies then and there. Those babies look to have hair. Opposum babies are seriously small when born and I think I recall that they are nearly hairless. They stay in the pouch until they are about 4 weeks old. Then they venture out and ride on mom's back for a while longer.

They do have a face only a mother could love but they make great pets. They do not carry rabies as their body temps are too low.

Their feces can kill other animals if ingested. It causes serious illness, neurological problems and even death if ingested by a horse so they are often not welcome on a farm. But they are efficient at cleaning up carion.

Here is a pic of our pet possum, Jolie' Pas. She passed away last year. She was cross eyed as the result of a hit and run accident. She had been in her mom's pouch at the time and was the only survivor.

Are you looking at the same place the rest of us are? The tiny babies are just above her tail....hairless and faceless. These are much to small to be outside the pouch.

Your Jolie ' Pas had a adorable face, I bet you miss her very much.

Very interesting!