There is one less predator looking at my birds. I have a baby robin in a cage attached to my porch wall. Last night, I could hear him upset about something. I looked out the door and everything seemed fine. Then he started up even more agitated. I wen out this time and there was a nice fat female possum on top of his cage (obviously the mother of 4 chicken killers and the killer of one duck herself). Hubby was of course asleep so I was on my own.
First I was just going to bat her over the head and be done with it. Then the animal rehabilitator in me took over (hah! like a possum wants to be rehabilitated!)I got a cage and a net and tried to get her off the top of the cage. No way was she going to let go. So finally I got mad and grabbed her by the tail. She was so surprised that she let go and I slammed her in the cage, and shut the lid. Possums are experts at escape and I bungee corded that sucker, put a board over the top and a 40 pound bag of potting soil on that.
Then I thought about how the poor thing was just hungry and made her a ham sandwich. (It was probably not the best idea though, cause she pooped all over the porch afterwards.)
My husband got up before me this morning and saw the possum in the cage with all the cords and potting soil and "Did I miss something last night?"
The possum now lives six miles out on a dirt road and hubby made his own darn dinner tonight. I am empowered! ROAR!
I am woman, hear me roar!
Don't think I'd roar after feeding your enemy a ham sandwich. Maybe a little meow would be more like it. LOL. You sure make me laugh though. Haystack
See Hay--you roar like a man. Women roar differently--if you feed it, it is yours!
f anybody would have seen me out there in my nightie and rain boots, there would have been lots of roaring.
And it was OLD ham, no mayo. I would't feed a possum the good stuff.
I used to have a picture that was the cutest! It was of two baby chicks dressed in costume. One had a gun in a holster strapped to it's waist, if chicks can have a waist.
A friend online sent it to me and said that picture was us: two tough chicks. We had a lot of fun with it. When I asked which one I was, she said she was the one with the gun! She actually has several guns in her house. I have none.
Maybe somebody on here has seen this picture. If so I wish you would post it.
Anyway, Jylgaskin, you get the ONE TOUGH CHICK AWARD! That was awesome. You saved the opossum, and your birds as well.
I wonder if there are more like him around there. Might be worth setting some traps for.
We already cought her four younger ones. That should be about it. The kids had probably just gone off on their own so they were pretty easy to catch in the live traps.She was a lot smarter and avoided them and the leg holds for weeks.
"And it was OLD ham, no mayo. I would't feed a possum the good stuff"
You rationalize almost as well as I do :))
OH Catmad: your a woman after my own heart, I could not have said it any better. Love it.
Nitie and rain boot's! Shucks, I would have paid for that pic.
Hey Catsy! Feed it and it's yours!!! I say kill it and you don't need to feed it, and what is dead can't return. I say that philosophy is why we pay for the comfort of killers, and child molesters. So they can return and revisit their sick butts on more of our women, and children. Sorry but I say plant them six feet under and rid society of them. Hay
We would have killed it, too. Possum's s'posed to be good eatin'. We ate a coon that was systematically picking off all our ducks when we lived in Washington State. It just killed them; it didn't even eat them. The coon didn't taste especially good but vengeance sweetened it.
LOL Haystack.. ease up would ya? Sorry, but there's no testosterone in here.. Hello? You are outnumbered big time.. be nice! LOL I love talkin to you like that.. you're the only one I can get away with it..
Personally, I trapped a possum and if I had a gun I would have put it to nighty night.. scared the begeezers outta me when I thought it was a cat in the trap at night.
That's a can of worms you don't want to open Hay.. I agree 100% and some.. All the single moms left behind don't even get the quality of care the inmates do.
edited to add..
I'm sorry Jyl... I meant to say that took gutz.. No matter if you killed it or not.. that took some major courage to do what you did. You go GURL!!
This message was edited Aug 21, 2009 8:12 AM
Hay--the "feed it and it is yours" was perhaps too subtle....think about how it might apply in your own life:0).
It is not for nothing that women were the ones accused of witchcraft....
Oh Jyl I am roaring with laughter at the whole visual picture of this. The possum's expression when you grabbed its tail must have been priceless. The ham sandwich nearly did me in, I was laughing so hard. And then the nightie and boots....oh my word....thank you for the laughter!
I hope 6 miles is far enough.
Six miles wouldn't be enough for a coon. I was wondering that very same thing....
We found out that a possum only has to go about 2 or 3 miles away. They are tremendously lazy and won't walk far. Coons however are another story. It has to be 5 miles or more. 4 1/2 miles and you end up with a full grown coon trying to get in your bed in November. That was the night that I discovered my husband does have limits and a 30 pound coon in his bed is it. WHO knew that it not only could find his way home, but through the doggy door and to the only electric blanket in the house?
Since then I have rehabbed dozens and dozens of coons and none have crossed the 5 mile barrier. (of course someone who lives a half mile from here could be having a heck of a time with coons for all I know)
I took this one six because it's really ideal habitat, though he will probably never see another ham sandwich. (unless he mugs a hunter)
Girl, you are having one heck of a year. Hang tuff!! Quite an adventure.
love it.
My life is ALWAYS and adventure. At least I don't get bored.
"It has to be 5 miles or more. 4 1/2 miles and you end up with a full grown coon trying to get in your bed in November."
One rehab group I worked with in FL had a raccoon return from a release spot 62 miles away. Now, in fairness he just worked his way back down thru the Everglades, no roads or people to deal with. Took over a year. They now go 80 miles [G]. Possums are just three. Maybe they just don't live long enough to get back....
Reminds me of one of my favorite jokes that only rural people understand:
Q: Why does a chicken cross the road?
A: To show possums that it CAN be done.
OK, I guess my question here is going to be................Why do you have a baby robin in a cage attached to the porch wall??
In Texas the chicken crosses the road to show the armadillo that it can be done.
LOL porkpal
Yes, here in Georgia they get crunched, poor things.
The robin isn't old enough to be released yet. I put the soon to be released out there to get used to other birds and the outdoors. I have raised almost two dozen robins this summer. Too much rain softens the nests and the babies fall out. People bring them from all over. We've had waaaay too much rain.
Catmad, That's quite a treck for a coon. They have to be released in the county of originatation here. I guess all we actually need for a possum is to get it across the road. They'll never make it back.
Last summer I was raising six baby possums from the time their eyes weren't even open. Possums are notoriously difficult to raise to release size from that age and I struggled with feedings and formulas and vitamins and such. When they were all up to about avacaddo size and I was still feeding them by hand, my son came in the room. He looked at me and said, "You know mom, you're putting all that work into raising ROADKILL".
Kind of put things in perspective right there.
Are you sure one of those Possums that you raised didn't come back for the chickens, seeing you had been feeding them?
the only way one of them critters would live long enough to go four miles with me would be if they paid the gas bill. That ain't gonna happen and neither is the trip. Kill on sight., thats my motto, I am MAN filled with estrogen, cause ZZ's said their ain't not room for testosterone around here. LOL
Be careful Haystack we dont want your voice to get too high from too much estrogen!!! LOL..i have a kill on sight policy too..the critter like that are always trouble..
LOL Haystack and cndydavis, we have the same policy with those kind of thinks!
Ha Ha ZZ's I just got my testosterone back, Some of these women folk are like some of us menfolk. Kill first and ask questions later. After the kill I always tell em you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, Now do you wish to say anything? I didn't think so. ROFLMBO. HAYSTACK!!!!!!!
An old Mexican woman once told me that all the animals that you are kind to in life are waiting at the river when you die to help you cross to the other side. My feet won't even get wet, but you guys will have critters sitting on your heads while you swim.
I have always taught my son that you never know when a human or animal may be an "angel unawares". One of the things I remember most from my childhood Sunday school is the line about "what you do for the least of these, you do for me". If I didn't believe this, I couldn't do what I do every day with wildlife rehabilitation.
I am not particularly "religious", but am extremely spiritual. You never know what 30 seconds of kindness or compassion will change down the road. Maybe not directly with the animal, but the fact that I tried to help one may make a difference to someone involved and they may pass the kindness or compassion on and on and on. Life is harsh enough without me adding to it.
Well darling, I gotta tell ya, as a long time pastor, that quote from Sunday School is not quite accurate. But I have no problem with your desire to rescue or rehabilitate. Those are personal choices. And I do not kill to kill, but have no problem destroying those that threaten my flock in any way. Haystack
Jyl, thanks for those words - you put down on "paper" what I was having trouble expressing. I'm the one who live traps mice in the barn and takes them to the park to release them. I try to put a little pile of seeds out when I release them to give them a head start. I also move the worms that gather under the garage door strip when it rains so that I don't run over them, and I take spiders outside instead of killing them. I'm not religious either, but I am spiritual and I just love the quote from the Mexican lady. I hope she is right!
That said, I have no problem killing those pesky mites that get on my chickens!! Grrrr!
I happily kill mosquitos, fleas, ticks, lice, mites and squash bugs (I figure their name explains how to handle them). And those horrible little yellow and black bees/wasps, because if I don't get them, they get me...
Other than that, most living things are okay with me. Even those who threatane my chickens. I figure it's up to me to keep the chickens safe without harming any other critter. I understand that this is not the logical, practical, sensible solution. It's still my choice.
This is kind of similar to jylgaskins' post, but from another viewpoint. If you're one who likes to help a critter, get the kleenex :). And yes, it's VERY "sappy".
http://www.novareinna.com/bridge/rescuerain.html
They are all living things catmad..........where do you draw the line?
I think it is the ability to think. Bug and worms have very little or no brain.
Some people don't either.....................LOL
Only animals with distinct body cavities possess brains. This includes life forms as diverse as earth worms, clams, fish, insects, birds, and of course, human beings.
kassy I know a few of those. lol
Next time you grab a possum by the tail keep in mind they like to climb that tail.. :) especially if its a younger one. Their whiskers tickle & their little tongues are rough.. now that will scare the crap out of you. a possum tasting your hand. That was a little baby.. about 2 lbs maybe. I didnt' have the heart to kill him so i took him up back & told him to find a new home. An older man i know told me if you jerk hard on their tails constantly they will play dead.. well... the adults do.. then u can carry them off to shoot them.. the babies.. don't know yet that they should play dead.. so he was wrapping himself around my arm & snuggling. I just had to let him go. We've learned to just shoot them. Eventually.. they will return. I started out rehoming them.. but when i noticed they were coming home.. i stopped. they don't' bother my chickens.. there is enough cat food for them. I had one that my brother shot at not realizing the .22 was loaded with birdshot instead of .22 shorts. he unloaded 6 rounds of birdshot into this possums rear... it limped for 6 yrs. Neighbor recently shot it but i took pity on the lil guy & started feeding him after my brother attempted to shoot him. Guess i fed him well bc he weighed near 20- lbs when they killed him. He'd come sit on the porch at night & wait for me to bring out scraps for him. We normally kill on sight here bc of the rabies factor. They carry is a lot here... so do coons. I fed the foxes too but the neighbors don't know that... raccoons trying to eat white bread is funny too. I just don't feed anything but babies. & always in the front yard so they don't "see" my chickens. had a mom, dad & 6 baby coons a couple winters ago during a bad ice storm come up & seek refuge on my porch.. boy did that make mom happy. I fed them scraps bc they really couldn't find food & i felt bad for them.. that spring we ended up killing them bc they were eating chickens.. so i never win.
o.. keep a handle from an old rake by the back door.. works beautifully to beat possums with & its long so if they jump at you u have a few feet of safety. :)
I don't stop to think how much brain power annother living creature has. If I can avoid killing it, I will. but not matter what it is I recognise it as annother living creature and try to give it respect as such.
You know a few of those too wren?.................LOL