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Post by conchydong on Apr 13, 2024 17:35:10 GMT -5
I thought it was odd for a fairly large omnivore to be able to single out ticks but like I said on many other threads, I know nothing.
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Post by johnnybandit on Apr 13, 2024 17:40:31 GMT -5
The tick thing is a myth.... While possums may eat a tick now and then..... It is mostly through self grooming. Ticks are not a good source of nutrition..... They also will eat mice and rats at times... But that is a matter of luck and opportunity.... Mice and rats are far to quick for possums to specifically target.
As for benefits of having possums around your chickens/poultry....... Possums pose a much greater risk to your eggs and chicks than they are to any mice or rats attracted to your chicken feed.... (The possums are attracted to your chicken feed as well.
And you definitely do not want possums anywhere near horses.... Possums are the host species for Sarcocystis neurona. An equine neurological disorder that is usually fatal to horses....
I am not a possum hater.... In fact I like possums... because they are cool. I go through quite a bit of effort to protect them from my dogs.... My Labrador will pick them up and try to bring them in the house like they are a puppy.... But if my ACD gets a hold of one, things are over quick.... He kills them.
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Post by richm on Apr 13, 2024 19:51:44 GMT -5
Ive got a big one living around the yard somewhere. Jumbo size.
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Apr 13, 2024 21:28:38 GMT -5
I believe that they get into the rats nest and catch the mother and eat the babies. I saw our biggest guest digging into a nest a couple years ago.
Yes they eat ticks off of themselves as they clean themselves and they are a tick magnet as many articles say.
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Post by jmarkb on Apr 14, 2024 7:30:08 GMT -5
The tick thing is a myth.... While possums may eat a tick now and then..... It is mostly through self grooming. Ticks are not a good source of nutrition..... They also will eat mice and rats at times... But that is a matter of luck and opportunity.... Mice and rats are far to quick for possums to specifically target. As for benefits of having possums around your chickens/poultry....... Possums pose a much greater risk to your eggs and chicks than they are to any mice or rats attracted to your chicken feed.... (The possums are attracted to your chicken feed as well. And you definitely do not want possums anywhere near horses.... Possums are the host species for Sarcocystis neurona. An equine neurological disorder that is usually fatal to horses.... I am not a possum hater.... In fact I like possums... because they are cool. I go through quite a bit of effort to protect them from my dogs.... My Labrador will pick them up and try to bring them in the house like they are a puppy.... But if my ACD gets a hold of one, things are over quick.... He kills them. It's amazing how long, and how many times that possum eating ticks story gets around. When I lived in SE Florida, our neighborhood had the electric, telephone, and cable wiring on poles in our back yard. Possums would travel down the wires to keep away from dogs. I had an english cocker that weighed about 40 pounds and hated the possums. When they went by he would run out and jump up at them above him. The stupid possums would stop and hold dead still like the dog couldn't see them if they didn't move. My two boys would go out and take the long handle of one of the pool tools, and knock the possum off the wire, and then the cocker would rip them up. he got bit multiple times, but still killed every one that we knocked off the wire, plus a bunch more that would come to eat the avocados that fell from our tree.
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Post by Stumpy on Apr 14, 2024 8:14:06 GMT -5
Oposums are not welcome at my house. They are the carrier of EPM. Equine protozoal myeloencephalit is a neurological disease of horses. The oposum passes infective sporocysts with feces. It is presumed that horses ingest infective opossum sporocysts with feed or water.
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Apr 14, 2024 9:17:49 GMT -5
I don’t have horses any longer but if I did I would not have possums around either.
Odd how an animal can carry a disease and be immune to another.
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Post by tonyroma on Apr 14, 2024 11:17:32 GMT -5
Sooooo, guess what? It was a lady possum, with babies. Dogs have happily brought me 3 baby possums over the last 2 days, ALIVE!!!
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Apr 14, 2024 12:12:22 GMT -5
Sooooo, guess what? It was a lady possum, with babies. Dogs have happily brought me 3 baby possums over the last 2 days, ALIVE!!! I think they drink milk- grandpa!
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Post by tonyroma on Apr 14, 2024 14:15:38 GMT -5
Nope, wife put it out on the FB, crazy possum lady just picked them up. Fingers crossed the pack doesn’t find anymore.
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Post by conchydong on Apr 14, 2024 14:21:01 GMT -5
Nope, wife put it out on the FB, crazy possum lady just picked them up. Fingers crossed the pack doesn’t find anymore. every neighborhood has a crazy possum raccoon, squirrel or cat lady
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Apr 14, 2024 15:15:31 GMT -5
Or maybe a possum stew lady 😋
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Post by johnnybandit on Apr 14, 2024 15:44:46 GMT -5
Sooooo, guess what? It was a lady possum, with babies. Dogs have happily brought me 3 baby possums over the last 2 days, ALIVE!!! My female Labrador does that..... She will pick up baby possums gently in her mouth and sneak them into the house and go straight into her crate and curl up around them. As if they were a young puppy..... She will pick up bigger juvenile possums by the scruff of the neck and carry them around bigger puppies.... She tries to keep them away from My Australian Cattle Dog, who wants to kill them.....
My ACD has killing possums and raccoons down to a science... He will grab them anywhere.... Give them a hard death shake and then sling them.... Once he slings them, while they are disoriented he darts in and grabs them by the throat..... IT is all over then.....
The funniest thing he does... is after they are dead, he brings them onto the back porch which is concrete slab covered in tile..... He will sling them around and slam them down on the floor..... Stare at them a minute to see if they move. Poke them with a foot to try to make them move.... Then pick them up and sling them and slam them down again...... Like he wants to make sure.
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Post by johnnybandit on Apr 14, 2024 15:46:56 GMT -5
Frankly.... IF possums are coming into your yard frequently, they are more likely to bring more ticks into your yard rather than reduce any existing population.
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Apr 14, 2024 16:51:30 GMT -5
Frankly.... IF possums are coming into your yard frequently, they are more likely to bring more ticks into your yard rather than reduce any existing population. Possibly not if they are residents of your yard?
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