Unwelcome Visitor to the yard...
 

We had a night time visitor that really stirred up the pups. An opossum was walking along our low little metal fence and made both dogs crazy. Thank goodness it was nighttime since daytime activity would mean rabies were more likely the cause. DH scared it off with the waving of a board and banging on the fence with a shovel. He's out there with them now watching them pee making sure our friend doesn't come back around.

those boogers are mean and hissy. don't ever tangle with one. usually they can be scared away easily but it's not worth messing with them either.

I worry all the time that something like that will get into our yard, especially at night as the yard is so big and I can't see it all by some. When I let Tibbe out at night and he just dashes through the back door really fast my heart goes loop-de-loop and I rush out right behind him, usually shouting "Wait" or "Stop" just in case some critter is visiting the yard. One night it was the neighbor's cat in our yard and they had a spat but as I was right on Tibbe's heels, I was able to shoo the cat away before they could hurt each other. I did see it hit Tibbe in the face, he jumped back but was starting back at it when I was able to stop him by shouting! The cat ran and Tibbe stopped dead in his track but it was so scary. I got him inside quickly and checked his eyes and everything and he was unhurt. Ever since, when Tibbe flies out the back door, so do I.

We live next to the Forrest Preserve and have all kinds of critters here. Deer, Coyotes, Oppossum, Racoons, etc. We always go out with the Yorkies, and always let Carlo go out first. His job is to make sure the yard is clear, and he has never failed to do his job.

Whoa, now that's what I need! Need me a big CC like Carlo to keep my yard safe for Tibbe! I'll bet you don't have many unwanted human types frequenting your premises either! Anyone prowling around/scouting out a possible place to rob would just likely move on down the road.

Be careful. They have a habit of returning to their haunts.

Tibbe would be safe with a Cane Corso guarding him and the house. Yes, they are great to deter bad animals and bad people! You are in TX, they would even go after wild Hogs to protect you. A Good Corso will lay down his life protecting his family.

Make sure you dont have any trash that there getting into and getting food. We had what he thought was one (never saw it) that in the middle of the night would take things out of our recycling bin and chew on them and leave them scattered around the yard for three nights. Once we started washing the stuff going into the recycling bin he stopped coming back because there was nothing for him to eat.

They are such lovely creatures! Have long loved that breed and I kind of feel like I "know" one with your stories about Carlo. He's quite a guy! Tibbe would love a big bro.

i'll have to keep going out and double checking for them to make sure he doesn't come back. or get me a Corso too :)

Rach, when you are ready for a Corso to guard the family, let me know, and I will put you in touch with the 2 best breeders in the Country.

I'm a wildlife rehabber, and opossums are really very docile creatures. They have two defense mechanisms: "gaping" (when they make that mean, ugly face, but have nothing to back it up), and "playing dead." Whenever I've rehabbed opossums, and they start that gaping, I tell them to knock it off because they are not fooling me! Most of the mischief for which opossums get blamed is the work of raccoons (and they are mean, nasty critters). The biggest threat to our doggies from opossums are fleas, which can be a real pain. I've been bitten by squirrels, pecked at by birds, but have never had any problems with opossums (but they don't bond ... squirrels and birds will come back, but once I release an opossum, I never see it again!).

I live in a wooded area and we have such visitors on the patio at night on a fairly regular basis. Opossums, raccoons, skunks, etc., and those are the night visitors. Opossums are the least harmful of any the critters. They are scavengers and are just looking for left overs. They are like the bottom dwellers of the forest. They are very awkward and slow also. I find we get more visitors when we have been cooking out as they smell the food and come looking.
If my cat is outside I always have to take a good look around before I let her in because the raccoons will walk right in with her if I'm not careful. No, the cats don't bother with these forest critters. They know not to pick on someone bigger than them.

They will attack if they're cornered or feel threatened and yorkies are good at stirring up trouble. I know!:)

Well, I guess any creature will defend it's self if cornered. I never let Gracie out unless she is with me on a leash. My concern is more with owls in the early morning and at night and hawks during the day.

Well, Kansas opossums must be different from our California laid-back version! I have rehabbed for about 14 years, plus I have lived for 17 years in a very wooded area where opossums are part of the natural wildlife, and I have never seen one attack anything, including me when I picked it up. Must be all the sunshine here!

Well, I have a fenced-in yard. Mine only goes out with me, but not on a leash. That is the purpose of a fenced-in yard.

When Muffin was a puppy, an oppossum got halfway into her yard. I had a heck of a time trying to catch that wild yorkie that kept running up trying to scare that mean ol' oppossum away. How dare that animal try to come into her territory!:)

Ojai
It's true opossums are very mild mannered creatures. They scare people with their strange looks. Opossums are most likely to be killed by dogs because they are slow moving and have little defense. They will hiss like a cat if frightened. If there were a rabies outbreak in anyone's area it would be well documented as a rabid animal is hard to miss and rabies spreads quickly due to the nature of the disease. I guess that is why we keep our pets protected.

Good morning, gracielove (at least, it's still morning here)! You are right about opossums, and I was never suggesting that we let our pups romp with them, as if that were even possible ... the opossums would waddle away as fast as they could! We have never had a report of a rabies outbreak around here, although admittedly some people think I'm nuts (no pun intended) for picking up squirrels. Usually, I get the hairless little newborns, and they grow up tame and never bite (but when they get a little bigger they can scratch like demons while being hand-fed!), and even come back to visit once they have been released. Where I live, our bigger concerns are coyotes, owls, and hawks (and raccoons who ate my two ducks -- last week we also had a homeowner shoot a mama bear with an adolescent cub for repeatedly breaking into his chicken coop; all hell is breaking loose over that). And further south, in Orange County, several people in a retirement village just a couple of months ago had their yorkies stalked and snatched by coyotes right out of their arms! One poor woman was walking her Yorkie on a leash and the coyote grabbed her little pooch while the woman struggled valiantly in a tug-of-war with with the coyote. It eventually knocked her over and took off with her dog. She later found his bloodied collar. She was bruised and in utter shock when she was interviewed on TV. Here, since we are adjacent to a national forest, the coyotes will sometimes trot nonchalantly down the street in daylight, but they are not as aggressive; 4 1/2-pound Cubby spotted one in the middle of day while I was in the front yard with the dogs, and ran the thing off, with me in hot pursuit! But they can be heard at night, stalking someone's cat, usually. Learning to protect our pets from wildlife is an ongoing challenge, especially when one moves into wildlife territory. My only point was that opossums are the least of people's worries. Except for the fleas!

:eek:
LOL maybe it is the sunshine. I live in Fl. And we had a stray kitty and opossum fight in our yard one evening it was loud and scary. About a week later (don't know if it was the same one) our Lab was confronted by a huge hissing opossum near the fence. I brought the Lab in. The opossum climbed the fence and disappeared into the dark. I haven't seen it again and hope I don't. :)

Well, I was going to say maybe they are mellower here because of all the marijuana leaves they nibble on, since it's so well known that in California we all have plants growing in our yards! I'm sure the kitty-opossum bout you heard was loud and scary, but I'll bet that kitty did not have a bite on it. And I also know that an opossum would never confront a Lab, or anything, although it may have seemed that way since your Lab was in his own yard! But that's the thing with wildlife; they don't know about property lines or easements or Do Not Trespass signs. When they gape and hiss, they certainly look and sound menacing and ready to attack ... because that's all they've got! Since there is so much educational information on this site, I had hoped to offer my personal experience with opossums to ease people's worries. But I am done sticking up for them now, and will remain content knowing they are not the hideous little beasts some will always think they are. Even my own mother does not believe me!

I have posted about my oppossum many times and she does come out occasionally during the day.

Here is my welcome visitor .. my pups want a piece of her :D

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/my-...s-suburbs.html



They are welcome in my yard as they kill things I would rather not have here like bugs and rodents.

Opossum Facts

National Opossum Society

As for the concern about rabies:


Question: Do opossums carry rabies?

Answer: Any mammal can get rabies. However, the chance of rabies in an opossum is EXTREMELY RARE. This may have something to do with the opossum’s low body temperature (94-97º F) making it difficult for the virus to survive in an opossum’s body.


The above from: Frequently Asked Questions - Opossum Problems and Solutions

Hey, ladyjane, thanks for posting this! (Polly is so cute!) The only thing I would add is place the heating pad under half the box, and put the opossum there. If it gets too warm, it can wriggle to a cooler spot in the box, and you don't have to worry about it getting overheated. And then call for help!

She is only cute when she is not showing her teeth. :D Here is a pic taken late one night:

Attachment 351326

Still cute!

Well, she does not bother me. I find her a bit endearing. :)

Those pictures are so cute. When I was a kid we went away for the weekend and came home and found a baby opossum in the garbage can. It scared me at first but my dad showed me how to take care of it. It was probably 5 weeks old at the time so it was about ready to be on it's own. I think my dad just wanted me not to be afraid of them. We released it after a week. They sure are not my favorite furry creature of the forest but I can sympathize with their plight.
I agree that the owls and hawks are the worst threat to the Yorkie. I have heard of owls swooping down and trying to pick up a little dog on a leash. Just hearing that I decided to make sure the sun is shinning brightly before Gracie's morning walk! Never heard of a coyote being that aggressive with a human around but I guess it's not common for an owl to swoop down in front of a human either. Must be Yorkie's are especially tasty looking. I guess they could look a lot like a bunny to a near sighted coyote or owl! Either way I keep Gracie on a short leash! Maybe I should carry a big stick.

Here's a link from a Los Angeles news station. There are two videos. The second is a little more complete. So sad.

Coyotes Attack Woman, Take Her Dog in Laguna Woods | FOX 11 News

:thumbup: I have read your other post and checked out the pics before. Very Cute. I think opossums are like snakes, bats and other animals, some people just don,t like them. We are often afraid of things we don't understand. Thanks for shareing the true facts about opossums. If it visits again, I won't worry about it hurting my dogs. Now about the Fire Ants.........................:eek:

I couldn't watch the video. The story was bad enough. Glad our coyote population has not become so aggressive. I did used to leave food out for the feral cats in the area. It attracted about every forest animal around to my patio so I had to stop. We started to notice some of the cats disappearing and finally discovered that having all those small animals around also attracts predators. I still feed the feral cats during the day but have to take the food away by 4 pm or just the scent will bring the critters over to snoop on my patio. I don't go out back at night but it is kind of disconcerting to have a large part of the forest population on your patio at night.

I think Cookie was saying, "I want me some opossum innerds!":sidesplt: