On Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:02:50 +0000 (UTC), enigma
wrote:

wrote in
:

We had a possum that would hiss and make threatening gestures
towards everyone. I discovered he was a sucker for vanilla
wafers and I would lure him out of his cage and let him roam the
room while I cleaned and then I'd lure him back in when I was
done.

looking evil can keep one out of fights. opposums have that down
to an artform
i just wish they had more road smarts... looking evil at a car
doesn't work.

Cars haven't been around long enough for possums to evolve to deal
with them, I think.

i have barn cats, who have a heated bed in the winter. one
night i
went out to shut the chickens in (they free range) & feed the
cats, and there was a possum curled up in the cat's bed sound
asleep. not exactly what i want in my chicken barn... it was
persuaded to leave, & hasn't returned, but that was weird.

I came upon a raccoon in a cat's bed once. The cat didn't seem
to mind so I left it to it's snoring.

i had a pair of baby raccoons once. the cats were a bit unsure at
first, but once they were getting weaned & moving around, the cats
explained the use of litterboxes to them.

lol - more scooping for you!

What's with cats and skunks? I came home one day to find 2 cats
and 2 skunks chasing each other in the backyard. I backed up and
parked in the front.

my barn cats are black & white. maybe they figure the skunks are
smelly, near-sighted cats? the smaller skunk is a lot twitchier
than our old skunk (he was around for nearly 6 years, so i think
age caught up with him). i think it's fairly young. we have to be
sure that one knows we're about to go into the barn, & it'll leave.
the mostly white one is almost as laid back as the old skunk...
good thing because we found it sleeping in our basement when we
moved a board. oops. he didn't even stamp though, so no problem. we
put the board back & left the door open. it left.
have you ever seen red & white skunks?

lee

i've never even heard of red and white skunks. Are they common where
you are?

Kate