It's time again For ABC Wednesday. If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday, you are missing out on a lot of fun.
The letter this week is "O". O is for opossum.
The opossum is North America's only marsupial mammal. The female carries and nurses her young in her pouch until they are about 2 to 3 months old; then they are carried on her back another 1 to 2 months whenever they are away from the den. They will eat almost anything including insects, snails, rodents, berries, over-ripe fruit, grasses, leaves, and carrion; occasionally will eat snakes, ground eggs, corn or other vegetables. They are very adaptable; able to live wherever water, food, and shelter exist. They are at home in trees. An opossum uses its prehensile tail to help stabilize position when climbing— it does not, however, hang by its tail.
Here in Arkansas we refer to them as possums. Actually real possums only live in Australia and New Guinea. They have been introduced into New Zealand. That's OK, we still call our homely little creatures possums. We occasional have a possum that decides it wants to live with us.
OPIE AWESOME JUNIOR MOVES IN
This little guy decided that the house that we have for Moses our cat would be a great place to live. He stayed with us for several days, and we had a very difficult time persuading him to leave. Maybe I shouldn't have named him. I called him Opie Awesome Junior. Junior, because he was a young possum. He would stay just a few feet from the back door. He wasn't afraid of us, and I would have to turn the cat house upside down to get him out. I would then have to hit him with a broom to get him to leave the back porch. He was so ugly that he was cute, but our cat was afraid to come on the back porch, so Opie had to go.
OPIE AWESOME JUNIOR EATING THE CAT'S FOOD
We still have possums that come around the house, but no one has tried to take up residence here since Opie Awesome Junior. Maybe it is because our granddog Sally, a yellow lab, caught one on our back porch. I guess the word is out in Possumland not to come up on my back porch. It's too bad, sometimes I miss Opie.
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Love the opies or orpossums, strange creatures. Beautiful photos though and a lovely description.
ReplyDeleteRay
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Great shots! The first shot was a bit scary, though. Hehehehe.
ReplyDeleteMy "O" photos are now posted here and here. Hope you can pass by, too! Thanks!
Good grief the O-possum is one ugly critter. Kind of gives me the willies.
ReplyDeleteOur neighbor said she saw one on the fence between our houses but their cat is very territorial and it probably moved on. I really hope so.
A full-grown 'possum is nothing to fool around with. Had one on my carport once, trying to get into the garbage can. I thought I was going to have to call the animal control people to get it gone. Wasn't afraid of a broom at all, and hissed and slobbered at me until I was the one that was scared. I finally got a shovel, and shoveled her off into the yard. The kids thought it was great to have a 'possum on the property, but I didn't.
ReplyDeleteThat first photo is plum' scary! I have to admit that the other photos of Opie are cute, though.
May I write a poem about your little possum sometime? Here (Australia) the little varmints run about in the rooves and keep people awake. As for NZ they've never forgiven us for sending them over there where they've reached plague proportions.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteAmazing shots! What strange looking creatures they are though, sort of cute but not quite!!
ReplyDeleteThat first photo is a bit scary although seeing him sitting in that little doorway makes him look cute.
ReplyDeleteYou are right.
ReplyDeleteHe is so ugly that he does look kind of cute.
I wouldn't want him taking up residence with me at my house though.
Bear((( )))
That slobber makes him look quite menacing, really...
ReplyDeleteI've only seen about one of these in my lifetime... They're supposed to be very good eatin' -- a real southern delacacy, so I'm told... I'd probably eat it if I didn't know what it was...
Great "O" post!
ReplyDeleteIcky with the drooling!
I feel bad for the little guy! Maybe he lost his mama too early. What did you do with him?
Are they vicious? The one in the 1st photo certainly looks it.
ReplyDeleteWe once had a little female albino possum (we call them possums in California too)as a pet - rescued from the pound. She was sweet and loved to crunch the snails in our garden. Probably fortunately she escaped before getting to an adult aggressive stage.
ReplyDeleteHe is a little bit ugly! And that first shot with the dribbles ...
ReplyDeleteah beautiful! they look kewt and informative post!
ReplyDeletethank you!
We had a possum living in our backyard in Seattle! They're ugly-cute.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, he is so adorable! Even though he is ugly : ). VERY VERY ugly equals adorable : )! I hit one on the road one night when I was driving home from a waitress job in college. I called my daddy crying at midnight. He told me to get over it and get home to bed : ).
ReplyDeleteI know it's weird, but I think opossums are CUTE. One got stuck under our house once...if I can remember the story, I'll have to blog it!
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