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Default Oct 12, 2020 at 01:06 AM
  #1
I love this urban Opossum that lives underneath my neighbor's house. I've even named him. He's so cute. He looks like he's 2 years old. He eats the grapes and nuts and berries I leave out for him and he's not afraid of me. I read on a fact sheet that urban Opossums don't live more than 3 years because of humans, cats, and dogs and raccoons as their predators. Makes me sad. I would love to find a way to trap this cute animal and tame it.
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Smile Oct 12, 2020 at 04:11 PM
  #2
It's difficult to tell how your opossum friend would do in captivity or whether you'd stand a chance of taming it, I suppose. But there are live traps you can get to capture such an animal. (We once got one to capture a racoon that was laying waste to a decorative pond we had at the time.) Sometimes local animal control officers have them available & you can rent one at little or no cost.

I've seen a couple of programs on the PBS TV program "Nature" on how the ever-increasing incursion of human civilization into formerly wild areas is causing more-&-more wild animals to adapt to life in urban centers. One interesting phenomenon that is apparently occurring is that species that used to be active during the day are becoming nocturnal since there tends to be less human activity at night.

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Default Oct 12, 2020 at 06:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Skeezyks View Post
It's difficult to tell how your opossum friend would do in captivity or whether you'd stand a chance of taming it, I suppose. But there are live traps you can get to capture such an animal. (We once got one to capture a racoon that was laying waste to a decorative pond we had at the time.) Sometimes local animal control officers have them available & you can rent one at little or no cost.

I've seen a couple of programs on the PBS TV program "Nature" on how the ever-increasing incursion of human civilization into formerly wild areas is causing more-&-more wild animals to adapt to life in urban centers. One interesting phenomenon that is apparently occurring is that species that used to be active during the day are becoming nocturnal since there tends to be less human activity at night.

Thanks for caring...
Thank you for your response. I agree with you that nocturnal animals like Opossums have been forced to adapt to their loss of habitat by hunting for food during the day time instead of at night. I see the Opossum starting around 3 p.m. until about 6 p.m. foraging the gardens in the neighbor's yard, after partaking in the delights I leave for it, in my ground feeder and water bowl.

I feel bad for it. I will probably rent a trap from online as animal control is not operating due to Covid restrictions (I called them, they told me they are not patrolling neighborhoods for strays or feral animals right now due to Covid).

I also see raccoons, cats, dogs, turkeys, wolves, coyotes stroll through the yard between where I live and my neighbor's house a lot. It's very distressing b/c it just reminds me that human overpopulation is killing off the wildlife. Poor animals have no where left to go because of people.
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Default Oct 12, 2020 at 08:24 PM
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Please, please, please leave the possum in the wild. It is unfair to "tame" wild critters. Wild animals deserve to live in the wild. You mention human population encroaching on their territory. Think what kind of "encroachment" it would be to capture one of those animals.
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Default Oct 12, 2020 at 09:47 PM
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Please, please, please leave the possum in the wild. It is unfair to "tame" wild critters. Wild animals deserve to live in the wild. You mention human population encroaching on their territory. Think what kind of "encroachment" it would be to capture one of those animals.
Its not in the wild. It lives underneath my neighbor's house!
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Default Oct 13, 2020 at 05:53 AM
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Its not in the wild. It lives underneath my neighbor's house!
It might be living under your neighbor's house, but it is still wild, meaning it is undomesticated. It is free to come and go as it pleases, live its life as it chooses. Please do not trap and confine it. That is not fair to the possum.

I'm not saying don't enjoy feeding and watching the possum. They are fun to watch. Please enjoy watching while letting the possum enjoy its life as it chooses.
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Default Oct 14, 2020 at 06:31 PM
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It might be living under your neighbor's house, but it is still wild, meaning it is undomesticated. It is free to come and go as it pleases, live its life as it chooses. Please do not trap and confine it. That is not fair to the possum.

I'm not saying don't enjoy feeding and watching the possum. They are fun to watch. Please enjoy watching while letting the possum enjoy its life as it chooses.
I already spoke to animal control. I even called a small local zoo. Animal control told me that Opossums carry a nasty disease that humans can catch that presents as flu-like symptoms but actually kills the person. The zoo expressed interest in trapping the Opossum, and giving it to a wildlife sanctuary that's an hour away. So, I left them the address.

So don't worry. Those two conversations with animal professionals quickly stopped my dream of trapping and domesticating this Opossum. I will just enjoy feeding it along with the squirrels if the zoo/wildlife sanctuary decides to trap it.
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Default Oct 19, 2020 at 10:15 AM
  #8
So, my neighbor gave me some awful news, when I was outside refilling the bird seed at my bird feeder station. He told me that he decided to poison and kill the Opossum that lived underneath his house. I asked him why. He said, b/c it was eating the tomatoes and other produce his family grew in their garden. I'm very upset with him, obviously. I was tempted to tell him he's an idiot b/c that Opossum probably kept his house pest-free since Opossums eat mice and other rodents and snakes, etc. I'm really sad today. I enjoyed looking outside my apt. window to watch the Opossum eat from my squirrel ground feeder.
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Default Oct 20, 2020 at 05:30 AM
  #9
I am sorry that the neighbour killed the opossum. Humans are stupid.
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Default Oct 20, 2020 at 05:46 AM
  #10
I'm sorry Motts.

I agree with our possum. People can be stupid. There are ways of protecting the garden without killing the poor possum.
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