Dunno how he got in under the netting, but there he was,
hissing at me. I only wanted to get him out so the cat wouldn't get
him. Anyway, he escaped on his own.

My question: Do they eat strawberries? If so, I'll have to
fasten that netting down more securely.

TIA


--
Polar

Possums are like humans, omnivores, they'll eat anything from carrion to
small mammals they can catch and any sort of fruit or vegetable. Most
likely though the critter was hiding from some critter bigger than it
was, probably the cat.

George

Polar wrote:

Dunno how he got in under the netting, but there he was,
hissing at me. I only wanted to get him out so the cat wouldn't get
him. Anyway, he escaped on his own.

My question: Do they eat strawberries? If so, I'll have to
fasten that netting down more securely.

TIA

--
Polar

I think possums are mostly carnivorous, but like mice, rats, and other
rodents I think they will eat anything they come across, meat, plant, or
garbage. Before you go to the trouble of fastening your netting, just keep
an eye on your plants, if he is coming back for more and actually eating
your strawberries then go ahead and fix your netting. He might have been
just wandering through, or hunting for toads, mice, worms, grubs, etc..
By the way...a friend of mine says they make great pets if you get one when
it is young enough. They are just scary looking to your visitors.

--
Rob Smith, NY
www.allwoodwork.com
Woodworking, Home, & Garden Community

"Polar" wrote in message
...

Dunno how he got in under the netting, but there he was,
hissing at me. I only wanted to get him out so the cat wouldn't get
him. Anyway, he escaped on his own.

My question: Do they eat strawberries? If so, I'll have to
fasten that netting down more securely.

TIA


--
Polar

Polar said:


Dunno how he got in under the netting, but there he was,
hissing at me. I only wanted to get him out so the cat wouldn't get
him. Anyway, he escaped on his own.

My question: Do they eat strawberries? If so, I'll have to
fasten that netting down more securely.

Doesn't everything eat strawberries? I stopped growing them because
they needed constant defence against creatures with one, two, four and
six feet.

(I felt very guilty when a pair of large blue racers (snakes) got caught in
my strawberry netting, and one died before I could rescue them.)

Possums around here are usually pretty mellow. They are the easiest
creatures to release from traps. They never hiss at me and they never
exit faster than a slow walk. And they will jam themselves into traps
which they can barely fit into -- I caught one once in a small trap I had set for
chipmunks! I know they can be lured in by apples and melon slices (meant as
groundhog bait) so I'm pretty sure they will eat strawberries.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

In article , rfsmith@-remove
says...
By the way...a friend of mine says they make great pets if you get one when
it is young enough. They are just scary looking to your visitors.

Everyone I know who has tried that has found out that when they mature
(specifically the males) they can get downright mean and nasty. Maybe a
female would stay tame.

--
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we
are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
Teddy Roosevelt

I've seen tamed raccoons, had one myself when I was a kid. Never, ever
saw anyone tame a possum. They get nasty and bite readily even when
small. There may be exceptions but I've not seen any.

George

Larry Blanchard wrote:

In article , rfsmith@-remove
says...
By the way...a friend of mine says they make great pets if you get one when
it is young enough. They are just scary looking to your visitors.

Everyone I know who has tried that has found out that when they mature
(specifically the males) they can get downright mean and nasty. Maybe a
female would stay tame.

--
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we
are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
Teddy Roosevelt

Polar wrote in message . ..
Dunno how he got in under the netting, but there he was,
hissing at me. I only wanted to get him out so the cat wouldn't get
him. Anyway, he escaped on his own.

My question: Do they eat strawberries? If so, I'll have to
fasten that netting down more securely.

TIA

Pretty much eat anything, I bet it ate as many slugs as it did
strawberries while under the net.

In ,
Larry Blanchard wrote:

*In article , rfsmith@-remove
*says...
* By the way...a friend of mine says they make great pets if you get one when
* it is young enough. They are just scary looking to your visitors.
*
*Everyone I know who has tried that has found out that when they mature
*(specifically the males) they can get downright mean and nasty. Maybe a
*female would stay tame.
*

No, not really. I do not recommend keeping a wild-caught possum as a pet.
It's illegal around here, anyway, but YMMV (unless you're a licensed
wildlife rehabber or something)

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
debugging your net or deworming your pet

On Fri, 25 Apr 2003 17:41:10 -0700, Polar
wrote:

Dunno how he got in under the netting, but there he was,
hissing at me. I only wanted to get him out so the cat wouldn't get
him. Anyway, he escaped on his own.

Less than a month ago an adult got into the barn. I was changing the
animals' water, and I never saw it until I was about a foot away. It
was hiding near a hay pile, silently baring its' teeth at my hand. No
hissing, no noise whatsoever. If I had moved the water just a few
inches closer it would've bit me. Be thankful you actually got a hiss
out of it.

After seeing that kind of attitude, and knowing it could spread rabies
to the animals, I helped it play opossum a little more convincingly.

Dan