Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living got an opossum around - need some information

Got a few questions for you folks.

We just had a possum in my compost pile here in east central MN. I have never had one around before now.

Do they cause any particular problems in a garden?

The critter is kind of interesting to watch and seems pretty tame. I need to know if I should exterminate him/her, or not bother with it.

If you have chickens, possums are a problem. Otherwise, they are harmless.

No chickens here TNrifleman. I do bury a lot of fish remains in my garden beds, and wonder if they will get in there and dig everything up.

They have the best nose in the woods.

I hear thems good eatin!

They hibernate so if they are out in the snow they are sick.

They get "snow blind" - if I see them in the cold I put them down.

I heard they are eaten by some folks and looked into recipes out of curiosity. Personally I don't think I will be trying it in the near future, but the people I watched on youtube made it look pretty good.

We hit 40f yesterday afternoon which may have brought it out at dusk. Our snow has yielded to some patches of bare ground showing in places.

After eating in our compost pile of kitchen scraps, he/she climbed the fence and went under our deck.

I read that they can get into tomatoes and do a lot of damage, so on that basis alone, plus the fact that it might be sick, and I don't want a litter of 6-10 setting up shop in the immediate neighborhood, I am leaning heavily toward extermination with .22 and/or live trap.

Grinners are the undead form of dead raccoons.

They are zombies, and must be dealt with accordingly.



Not sure about his hibernate theory.

I see them year round, even when the temps are "cold" which is defined as 10-30 here.

They have a great immune system, augmented by their lower than normal body temp (normal meaning its lower than most viruses and such can thrive in) making them resistant to a lot of disease effects - but they can be carriers.

They can and will eat anything that remotely can be considered food (especially pet food left outside), and while they lack the problem solving skills of coons, they make up for it in that they are stupidly stubborn.

I had one eat the venturi pipes off my gas grill because it smelled like food.

They all must die...

Possums don't hibernate. See them year round in my area.

Huh, I'm from upstate New York and I never saw one after it snowed.

Interesting.

They was possumin'

It was Michigan winter when I encountered the gut pile grinner that forever changed my life....

wouldn't be any different than a raccoon in my field...

17M2...wap..........

Caught two in the live trap this weekend they keep showing up eating the leftover cat food, tookem off to a swamp about 5 miles away and spray painted their tail and backside with orange paint . Waiting to see if they come back!!

All my possum paint is lead based...

I'm sure glad you found this thread!

I started to give you a head's up so you could share your wisdom, but then I figured if anyone here could sniff out a possum thread, it would be you!

Lord I hate those nasty bastards...

looks like my daughter's cat

attended a coon hunters bash for the dog races (water trough w/ coon swimming ahead--you had to be there...)

the fare included possum and coon and personally speaking, I think both make better garden fertilizer.