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#1
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The Raccoon and the Possum
I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me.
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#2
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On 3/25/2019 9:22 PM, Bill Stock wrote:
I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. Opossums aren't exactly known for speed. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. Maybe the Possum and the raccoon are BFF's in private life. LOL The only opossum I ever encountered was outside my fenced patio back in TN. It was a young one. I spotted it hiding in some shrubs along the back wall of the apartment when I went out to check the mailbox. I sat down and stayed very still. It sort of meandered out from under the bushes, across the lawn to a tree and proceeded to climb up, very slowly. It didn't seem at all disturbed by me. Didn't show me it's teeth. Wasn't Speedy Gonzales, either! Jill |
#3
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 11:58:03 AM UTC-4, Jill McQuown wrote:
On 3/25/2019 9:22 PM, Bill Stock wrote: I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. Opossums aren't exactly known for speed. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. Maybe the Possum and the raccoon are BFF's in private life. LOL The only opossum I ever encountered was outside my fenced patio back in TN. It was a young one. I spotted it hiding in some shrubs along the back wall of the apartment when I went out to check the mailbox. I sat down and stayed very still. It sort of meandered out from under the bushes, across the lawn to a tree and proceeded to climb up, very slowly. It didn't seem at all disturbed by me. Didn't show me it's teeth. Wasn't Speedy Gonzales, either! Jill Just after I posted this last night, I looked outside and there they were eating face to face again. Yeah, I don't know if the Possum is female or not, but I don't want to be Godfather to those babies. |
#4
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On 3/26/2019 1:07 PM, Bill Stock wrote:
On Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 11:58:03 AM UTC-4, Jill McQuown wrote: On 3/25/2019 9:22 PM, Bill Stock wrote: I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. Opossums aren't exactly known for speed. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. Maybe the Possum and the raccoon are BFF's in private life. LOL The only opossum I ever encountered was outside my fenced patio back in TN. It was a young one. I spotted it hiding in some shrubs along the back wall of the apartment when I went out to check the mailbox. I sat down and stayed very still. It sort of meandered out from under the bushes, across the lawn to a tree and proceeded to climb up, very slowly. It didn't seem at all disturbed by me. Didn't show me it's teeth. Wasn't Speedy Gonzales, either! Jill Just after I posted this last night, I looked outside and there they were eating face to face again. Yeah, I don't know if the Possum is female or not, but I don't want to be Godfather to those babies. They would look weird, for sure! Perhaps they just both realize a good thing (free food!) when they see it and have called an armistace. I honestly don't know if they are are naturally antagonistic towards each other. Jill |
#5
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 1:55:03 PM UTC-4, Jill McQuown wrote:
On 3/26/2019 1:07 PM, Bill Stock wrote: On Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 11:58:03 AM UTC-4, Jill McQuown wrote: On 3/25/2019 9:22 PM, Bill Stock wrote: I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. Opossums aren't exactly known for speed. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. Maybe the Possum and the raccoon are BFF's in private life. LOL The only opossum I ever encountered was outside my fenced patio back in TN. It was a young one. I spotted it hiding in some shrubs along the back wall of the apartment when I went out to check the mailbox. I sat down and stayed very still. It sort of meandered out from under the bushes, across the lawn to a tree and proceeded to climb up, very slowly. It didn't seem at all disturbed by me. Didn't show me it's teeth. Wasn't Speedy Gonzales, either! Jill Just after I posted this last night, I looked outside and there they were eating face to face again. Yeah, I don't know if the Possum is female or not, but I don't want to be Godfather to those babies. They would look weird, for sure! Perhaps they just both realize a good thing (free food!) when they see it and have called an armistace. I honestly don't know if they are are naturally antagonistic towards each other. Jill It depends on the raccoon. I heard screaming coming from my garage a few years ago, and ran out to see what the heck was going on. A raccoon had a opossum by the tail, and was dragging it around, snarling and growling. I stomped my foot, and the coon let go, then went right back after the poor possum. I grabbed my hose and hosed the coon down, driving him away from the poor possum. I trapped the coon that night, and turned him into a animal control guy that lives down the street. The coon was a miserable SOB - he turned the trap over while he was in it, growling and snarling at me. Even the animal control guy said he was a mean sucker! |
#6
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On 3/26/2019 2:09 PM, Mishi wrote:
On Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 1:55:03 PM UTC-4, Jill McQuown wrote: On 3/26/2019 1:07 PM, Bill Stock wrote: On Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 11:58:03 AM UTC-4, Jill McQuown wrote: On 3/25/2019 9:22 PM, Bill Stock wrote: I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. Opossums aren't exactly known for speed. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. Maybe the Possum and the raccoon are BFF's in private life. LOL The only opossum I ever encountered was outside my fenced patio back in TN. It was a young one. I spotted it hiding in some shrubs along the back wall of the apartment when I went out to check the mailbox. I sat down and stayed very still. It sort of meandered out from under the bushes, across the lawn to a tree and proceeded to climb up, very slowly. It didn't seem at all disturbed by me. Didn't show me it's teeth. Wasn't Speedy Gonzales, either! Jill Just after I posted this last night, I looked outside and there they were eating face to face again. Yeah, I don't know if the Possum is female or not, but I don't want to be Godfather to those babies. They would look weird, for sure! Perhaps they just both realize a good thing (free food!) when they see it and have called an armistace. I honestly don't know if they are are naturally antagonistic towards each other. Jill It depends on the raccoon. I heard screaming coming from my garage a few years ago, and ran out to see what the heck was going on. A raccoon had a opossum by the tail, and was dragging it around, snarling and growling. I stomped my foot, and the coon let go, then went right back after the poor possum. I grabbed my hose and hosed the coon down, driving him away from the poor possum. I trapped the coon that night, and turned him into a animal control guy that lives down the street. The coon was a miserable SOB - he turned the trap over while he was in it, growling and snarling at me. Even the animal control guy said he was a mean sucker! I gather they can be mean suckers! Fortunately I've never encountered a situation like that. I gather you were using a Hav-A-Hart trap. They don't have to like it. I've never tried to trap either one. Jill |
#7
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On Mon, 25 Mar 2019 18:22:53 -0700 (PDT), Bill Stock
wrote: I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. We have raccoons and possums and I'm sure they get along. Possums and cats get along well, I don't know about raccoons and cats though. Neither can eat the other so I suspect they leave each other alone. Raccoons are very smart, and I haven't noticed them being very aggressive. Mostly you don't see them; but you see the possums. Possums don't cause problems at all - if you have damage like overturned garbage cans that almost certainly going to be a raccoon rather than a possum. I think it's great that they've found ways to live and thrive in a human dominated world. We've destroyed so much animal life that we're very likely to follow it into a well deserved extinction ourselves. Hopefully the raccoons and possums will take over and do a better job. |
#8
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On Sat, 04 May 2019 14:15:14 +0100, Judith Latham
wrote: In article , dgk wrote: On Mon, 25 Mar 2019 18:22:53 -0700 (PDT), Bill Stock wrote: I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. We have raccoons and possums and I'm sure they get along. Possums and cats get along well, I don't know about raccoons and cats though. Neither can eat the other so I suspect they leave each other alone. Raccoons are very smart, and I haven't noticed them being very aggressive. Mostly you don't see them; but you see the possums. Possums don't cause problems at all - if you have damage like overturned garbage cans that almost certainly going to be a raccoon rather than a possum. I think it's great that they've found ways to live and thrive in a human dominated world. We've destroyed so much animal life that we're very likely to follow it into a well deserved extinction ourselves. Hopefully the raccoons and possums will take over and do a better job. You do have interesting wildlife. We have a fox come around sometimes during the night and for a few weeks we had a badger visit our back garden. Apart from that it's a very occasional squirrel, birds and sometimes mice, usually in next door's garden as Sootie seems to keep any away (or kills) from ours. Judith The coolest thing about southern Florida is definitely the birds. We have a small lake and we always have egrets and ibisis and cormorants around. Egrets can get very big, like four feet or so. Then you have smaller cow egrets that are just adorable. It's funny that the ibisis are always in big flocks and egrets generally solo. I was at the Miami tennis tournament two years ago and a four foot egret was just standing in a walkway surrounded by people going between the courts. People (mostly visitors I imaigne) woutd just stare at it. We have two bird sanctuaries within five minutes of my house so we go every few months. Anhingas, storks, coots, moor hens, owls, just all sorts of stuff. Plus the occassional alligator. Lots of fun. |
#9
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On 5/4/2019 9:15 AM, Judith Latham wrote:
In article , dgk wrote: On Mon, 25 Mar 2019 18:22:53 -0700 (PDT), Bill Stock wrote: I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. We have raccoons and possums and I'm sure they get along. Possums and cats get along well, I don't know about raccoons and cats though. Neither can eat the other so I suspect they leave each other alone. Raccoons are very smart, and I haven't noticed them being very aggressive. Mostly you don't see them; but you see the possums. Possums don't cause problems at all - if you have damage like overturned garbage cans that almost certainly going to be a raccoon rather than a possum. I think it's great that they've found ways to live and thrive in a human dominated world. We've destroyed so much animal life that we're very likely to follow it into a well deserved extinction ourselves. Hopefully the raccoons and possums will take over and do a better job. You do have interesting wildlife. We have a fox come around sometimes during the night and for a few weeks we had a badger visit our back garden. Apart from that it's a very occasional squirrel, birds and sometimes mice, usually in next door's garden as Sootie seems to keep any away (or kills) from ours. Judith There is some very interesting wildlife in the US and it varies wildly from state to state. There aren't any badgers (that I know of) in this country. I have seen some small red foxes. I'm not talking rural areas where they might be getting after someones chickens and thus a nuisance. When I worked in an office complex in Memphis, TN there was a small copse of woods abutting the parking lot. For a few days one spring we'd look out the windows and see a fox and her kits playing at the edge of the parking lot. A couple of times the kits thought it would be fun to run and jump up on the cars in the parking lot. LOL The vixen (mama fox) quickly ushered them away. Sadly, a developer bought that land for yet another office building. A bunch of us were concerned and contacted the local wildlife preservation society; these foxes need to be relocated before that idiot razes their home! Sadly, I don't know if that happened. Where I live now, along with raccoons and opossums (and tons of birds), there are a lot of deer where I live. There's no hunting allowed in this community and lots of green space, plants and trees. I love watching the deer and OB Cats: Buffy is fascinated when she sees them in my back yard. I'm told there are wild mink on the island, too. Allegedly they're rather vicious creatures. One thing I wish I could see is a hedgehog. From what I've seen on nature programs and online videos, they're funny little spiny critters that roll into balls. Jill |
#10
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The Raccoon and the Possum
On 5/7/2019 5:14 PM, Judith Latham wrote:
In article , jmcquown wrote: On 5/4/2019 9:15 AM, Judith Latham wrote: In article , dgk wrote: On Mon, 25 Mar 2019 18:22:53 -0700 (PDT), Bill Stock wrote: I've mentioned that we leave food out for a couple of strays and the wildlife sometimes gets into it. But the other night I turned on the light and I see a large Raccoon and a Possum at the same food. The Possum left as soon as I turned the light on, but he didn't exactly run away either. I thought Possums were relatively timid, despite all those sharp little teeth. I don't know what happened before I turned on the light, but the Raccoon was not aggressive at all, which really surprised me. We have raccoons and possums and I'm sure they get along. Possums and cats get along well, I don't know about raccoons and cats though. Neither can eat the other so I suspect they leave each other alone. Raccoons are very smart, and I haven't noticed them being very aggressive. Mostly you don't see them; but you see the possums. Possums don't cause problems at all - if you have damage like overturned garbage cans that almost certainly going to be a raccoon rather than a possum. I think it's great that they've found ways to live and thrive in a human dominated world. We've destroyed so much animal life that we're very likely to follow it into a well deserved extinction ourselves. Hopefully the raccoons and possums will take over and do a better job. You do have interesting wildlife. We have a fox come around sometimes during the night and for a few weeks we had a badger visit our back garden. Apart from that it's a very occasional squirrel, birds and sometimes mice, usually in next door's garden as Sootie seems to keep any away (or kills) from ours. Judith There is some very interesting wildlife in the US and it varies wildly from state to state. There aren't any badgers (that I know of) in this country. I have seen some small red foxes. I'm not talking rural areas where they might be getting after someones chickens and thus a nuisance. When I worked in an office complex in Memphis, TN there was a small copse of woods abutting the parking lot. For a few days one spring we'd look out the windows and see a fox and her kits playing at the edge of the parking lot. A couple of times the kits thought it would be fun to run and jump up on the cars in the parking lot. LOL The vixen (mama fox) quickly ushered them away. Sadly, a developer bought that land for yet another office building. A bunch of us were concerned and contacted the local wildlife preservation society; these foxes need to be relocated before that idiot razes their home! Sadly, I don't know if that happened. Where I live now, along with raccoons and opossums (and tons of birds), there are a lot of deer where I live. There's no hunting allowed in this community and lots of green space, plants and trees. I love watching the deer and OB Cats: Buffy is fascinated when she sees them in my back yard. I'm told there are wild mink on the island, too. Allegedly they're rather vicious creatures. One thing I wish I could see is a hedgehog. From what I've seen on nature programs and online videos, they're funny little spiny critters that roll into balls. Jill I too hope those foxes were saved. I hope so too, because it was a greedy developer who interloped on their territory. They were very cute to watch running and playing. I'd love to see a deer in my garden. There are some that sometimes can be seen in the park at the top of the hill. They stray from the woods, across the road and into the park. It happens only occasionally and usually photos are taken and put on our local area's Facebook page. The next time I see some deer right behind my house I'll take another pic and share them. Just a few days ago I looked my dining room window onto my driveway at the front of my house and there were *five* does. They walked around to the back. When they started grazing out back one of them was very rambunctious. She leaped over another doe. Her sister (I think it was a big sister) got annoyed. This little doe was having a big time, prancing around. It was too cute! We used to have hedgehogs in our gardens but the fences a re more solid now so I think they stay mainly in the small area where the Brook comes down from the park and there are trees and brambles around the brook. It's only a small area but I would think a good place for them Occasionally, one might be seen in a front garden but not like it used to be. I've seen a mother with her babies following across my front lawn. Years ago,there used to be one who was confused and was out during the day. The children in the street named him Harry (he was around for a couple of years at least). One morning at the school run time, Harry was in the middle of the road, just sitting there. Now our street is a cul-de-sac which has one road in/out, which goes around the houses on the block in the middle in a loop and a small little bit of a dead end cul-de-sac off. So, at school run time there are several cars that come from the little bit and the houses round the block. Harry's sat there. The first car stops of course with the kids in the back, the second one comes up behind it, then another. with no way to get around Harry, they all have to reverse around the block until they reach where the road joins itself and they can turn around. each car did this and drove off with happy children waving to Harry. did I tell you I live in a mad street? Having written all this, I may have given you an impression that I live in the countryside in a quaint village with eccentric neighbours. tHe truth is I'm Lye a tiny town in the Black Country in the West Midlands of England where we are very industrialised. There's stuff on the internet if you're interested. Judith It certainly does sound like it! Fact is, there are no hedghogs in the US and the only thing similar would be a porcupine. I've never seen or lived near a porcupine, either. Those have very sharp quills/barbs and you certainly wouldn't want to cuddle one. Jill |
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