Boy meets Marsupial

[da]

My morning's been like something out of Monty Python. Rover the wonder-dog started barking while she was outside. This time it wasn't a cat, it was the oppossum I suspected was living under our house.

I called a pest removal company (AAA Wildlife Control). But their agent, who wasn't just a receptionist, and sure sounded like she knew her wild animals, basically convinced me that we may have scared it away for good already. She reassured me that there aren't any baby oppossums back at the nest (they're marsupial, and it's too early in the season for babies, and besides they'd stay in the mother's pouch for a while), and while they sometimes nest in groups for warmth, it's likely that there aren't any others under the house either.

And, if it turns up again, the company will happily handle removal and install a chicken-wire barrier to keep it out.

I asked whether they release animals out into the countryside. She said by law, they're not allowed to put them into a different habitat, so they release them elsewhere in the same habitat. (What exactly does that mean? The 'possum halfway house in my neighbourhood?) So that solution isn't so much different than if Rover convinced it our house isn't the right place to live. I guess Rover earned her kibble this morning.

Isn't it a weird looking beastie?

Comments

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

I think they're really cute.

A quick, effective way to get them not to live under your house: if you can, put a light down there. They're nocturnal, and won't live somewhere that's always lit (this is how we removed some from our back room some years ago - we lit the place up 24 hours. :)

[quingawaga.livejournal.com]

They are kinda cute, I think. And pretty harmless, really! I can think of worse things to have living under my house.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

Go Rover Go!

I'm just imagining the opposum trade as being vaguely like the garage sale trade, with unwanted toasters and lawn mowers moving back and forth...

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

...That's a much better idea than the other one I heard, splashing bleach into their habitat. Which sounds like a recipe for disaster (of some sort).

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

We've got them, too. Even after six weeks away, our house smelled like skunk...

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

As d. said, skunks are worse to have as flatmates.

But now, to solve the question of why our house was skunked about 5 times this winter/spring. Either there was a skunk and oppossum repeatedly fighting under our house, or the oppossum came back from fights and stunk really badly, or they were playing cards under there and got into an argument, or something.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

Well, the opposum does have a pouch in which to hide cards. Maybe they cheat!

[mynatt.livejournal.com]

They are weird looking... probably because they evolved a really long time ago, relative to most of the other beasties in your neck of the woods.

Guelph

[pnijjar.livejournal.com]

In another context, the subject of pest removal came up. One person told us a story of how he trapped a skunk, and then called a housemate-removal service to take it away. The housemate-removal guy said that he takes skunks to a skunk forest in Guelph somewhere.

Maybe you want chicken-wire to keep out your skunk-friends and chickens?

Re: Guelph

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

...

I'm a bit confused. Maybe I should stop by your office and ask about this "housemate-removal" service.

It sounds a bit like, I don't know, an Existential Detective Agency.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

...I just mentioned this to Rover, and she was aghast. I told her she's got to choose her card-partners carefully, she can't just trust every critter who comes in off the street.