Wild Kingdom is a great show, however not when it is happening in my backyard.
Yes, that is a baby hanging on for dear life on top of that wild creature. The mother just gave birth about five minutes before this picture was taken.
I saw this Opossum making her way around the pool yesterday morning and she was in “FULL PREGO WADDLE” if you can picture it.
A few minutes later she was on the fence giving birth, or so it appeared. Can you imagine birthing a boat load of little marsupials while balancing on a fence?
The best part was as the babies came out (of either the birth canal or the pouch) she kicked them off the fence (a five foot drop) to the ground. Kind of like, here comes another one, get the heck out of the way!
This was a good lesson for all the small children witnessing this joyous event. They learned life in this world, even as a marsupial, is a cold, hard place. Thanks mommy Opossum for showing your love and tenderness to our now scathed children.
However, in mommy Opossum’s defense she did make her way back down the fence to pick up her young she so heartlessly kicked to the mud not a few minutes earlier.
See those little curly tails under her belly…yeah that’s the rest of the little boogers hanging out in her pouch.
And I don’t mean to be a storm cloud on a sunny day but sadly those little babies usually end up at the bottom of our pool.
It’s not pretty people. A dead, water-logged Opossum in full rigor is not an easy feat to remove from the bottom of the deep end with a net. Trust me on that one.
I’m sorry but I am not a friend of the Opossum. Quite frankly, they scare me with their hissing sounds, long snouts and narrow braincase heads.
Oh look, she’s leaving. Bye, bye Opossum…forever, I hope.
Weird Fact: Opossums have this ramped up immune system, making them almost or totally immune to the venom of rattlesnakes, cottonmouths and pit vipors.
Okay…so they are un-killable…yikes..later dudette…and take your fifteen babies with you.
Opossums also have more teeth than any other land animal. Ummmm, get it out of here!
Aren’t you glad you visited here today?
Ruth says
i think i’d be more worried if i was likely to have the pit vipers and cottonmouths in my back garden!
i can understand having a dead animal in the pool though… we have a little pond in our garden and we’ve had to drag a couple of birds out of there.
tigerfish says
I cannot imagine in some parts of Australia, they actually have possum meat!
Now that I see this oppossum, I think it’s scary! :O
marye says
those are some cool pictures though. We have possums too. they dig up the yard and pasture quite a bit..and they act pretty mean when you meet up with one…weird that you saw her give birth like that though..thought they were nocturnal.
Jenni in KS says
That possum doesn’t look so bad. It’s almost cute. Motherhood must have softened it a little. Usually when we see a possum–which is fairly often–it’s snarling and hissing and showing it’s rows of ugly, sharp teeth. Their rat tails are pretty nasty looking, too. We had one very fat possum that was coming onto our porch every night to eat the cat food.
They may be immune to the copperheads, but something gets them out here. We find plenty of possum skeletons. I have one cleaned and ready for assembly in a bucket in my laundry room. It’s been there for months, and I’m beginning to wonder if the kids will ever get around to it. I think it’s the coyotes. I’m pretty certain our Westie got the one we found in the dog pen.
Flea says
One good whack with a car and ByeBye Opposum! One came into our backyard one night and tried to eat our rabbit, Brian. He roamed free in the yard and we heard him screaming. Have hated the ugly creatures ever since.
Steph says
They used to come around our house quite a bit, then one of my dogs started catching them and killing them, so they don’t come around much anymore. luckily!
Maggie, dammit says
Our road is filllled with dead possums. I swear, Wisconsin must be the uncrowned possum queen of the universe. Or maybe that’s just me.
(by the way, don’t be offended when you see I unsubscribed from your blog. I’m just resubscribing under a new email address, this one. I still lurrrrve you!)
Mental P Mama says
Hmmm. Kicks them off the fence does she? Hmmm.
Asthmagirl says
Have never like possums. Like Maggie, this is possum pardise. If one wanted to add them to the diet, there’s any number of the varmits that could be scraped off the road and boiled up. Guh…
Andi Sexton (rrlscrapgal) says
Love this post! I have an opossum story:
Back in my single and healthy exercising years, I was jogging in the morning about dawn, and saw this ‘thing’ waddling down the road… as I got closer it was one of these mommies, and I saw ‘this stuff’ wiggling on her back! All her babies!!! Cracks me up…
I have no idea what their purpose is in life.. maybe we are supposed to lead them along on a leash as rattlesnake indicators… come to think of it, that run was in CA! Rattlesnake capital of the US…
Super cool photos!!!
Julena Jo says
I think you may have witnessed the possum babies coming out of the pouch rather than giving birth. Aren’t baby possums born blind and naked and remain in the pouch for a while? Just wondering. Now I’ll have to Google it.
Julena Jo says
Pardon the poor sentence structure in the previous comment. I’m embarrassed. I haven’t had coffee yet today.
Nilmandra says
Oh my goodness… Possums might not be welcomed in one’s garden but how awesome to witness that! We often see the random fox or two at the back of our garden. Never close up though.
ntsc The Art of The Pig says
We had a stray cat who we felt sorry for in December and January so we would put a bowl of food out for him on the deck. We soon discovered we had to remove it when he left as a local possum would finish it off.
Since we don’t leave food for the cat on the deck anymore, he eats in the kitchen with the other two, the problem has gone away.
I hope I don’t have to remove one from the deep end of the pool.
I think Joy of Cooking has a recipe for roast possum.
Cathy says
You know, I think you may be right…those babies were just crawling out all over the place. It was still yucky though and the mother was wet looking. Who knows, but I just want them to go away.
Maybe she was kicking them out of the pouch for good.
Jennifer says
I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard at a blog post ever.
I hate possums. When I lived in Orange County they were all over the place. The apartment complex I lived in had a garden growing near the parking garage. One night when I got home from work I was walking through the garden when one hissed at me from a bush. I kid you not, I ran like my rear end was on fire it scared me so bad. When I told my father about it he said “They are evil beasts! I hate them.”
Add to that all the facts you gave about them and I think they may be the least liked animal on the planet.
jennielynn says
Sweet Baby Jesse, I hope that never happens in our yard. I guess that’s the good thing about having a large dog. I hate, hate hate oppossums. They freak me right the hades out!
grace says
i make it a habit not to use the word “ugly” too loosely, but dang it, possums are some of the ugliest critters i’ve ever laid eyes on. usually at least the babies of unattractive animals are cute, but taht’s just not the case with possums. what the heck is their function in this world? i’d like to know.
Vonda says
Yikes! I can’t stand opossums AND their poop really stinks so bad. We get them hanging around our chicken house occasionally but I have never seen one give birth. Weird that she gave birth up on top the fence and booted them to the ground. Um by the way, the strangest thing that ever ends up dead in our pool is a mole, frog or snake. I only witnessed a cat fall in once but he climbed out and straggled to the deck and laid in the sun to dry out. I really would not want to drag out a opossum…
TSannie says
Just to make you feel a little more warm and fuzzy toward the little buggers, they’re also immune to rabies. Carriers they can be, but they don’t die from it.
Lovely, isn’t that?
Hottdog says
Awesome! Geez, what they say is true-you learn something new everyday. I feel dumber already! j/k ;o)
Sleeping Mommy says
Good lord, you beat my opossum and raised it with babies and opossum facts!
I really don’t like opossums. They are just too freaky.
http://sleepingmommy.com/2008/03/12/the-freaks-come-out-at-night/
Chelsea/PB&J In A Bowl says
Creepy, creepy animals. I don’t like them, even a little. Even the babies are ugly.
Stacy says
Oh my God that’s awesome! I don’t care what anyone says–she’s cute. I would love to have that in my yard. You’re so lucky.
kimberleyblue says
I don’t think possums live here, so I’ve never experienced them up close and personal.
Maybe that’s why I think he’s pretty cute!
Michael Mohammadi says
Too funny! We’ve had our share of possums in our yard- the huskies actually “killed one” or so we thought. When I went out to remove it from the yard, I realized it was breathing and merely “playing opossum”. We went inside, the possum left…all was good.
And I realize you’re 3000 miles away, but you could pop a Zin tonight and be here in spirit! Maybe some day you and the Wild Boar will be out in Baltimore and we can do a real wine tasting!
Dr. John says
And I always thought they were cute. Of course at the bottom of a swiming pool they would look a bit different.
Karen Deborah says
I swear I didn’t know you wrote about these ugly critters today. We musta been drinkin from the same fountain. I don’t like em either. They do hiss. Kicking their newborns 5 feet to the ground isn’t exactly heartwarming either. Ever seen what giraffe’s do? they reall give a kid a swift kick.
Mother nature, doesn’t she give you those nice warm fuzzy feelings?
I was ready for a good cake or something over here.
ALF says
How very interesting and informative. I am glad to hear she went and got her babies after pushing them off the fence. I am very sensitive about animals being hurt so I was about to cry when I read that she kicked them off.
Karen Deborah says
did anyone else write a possum story? could two blogs actually be a topic of the day?
Lorena says
Thats…. I don’t know. Sort of life affirming, but, also, um… not so much.
Kevin says
I have never seen an Opossum in real life. Nice photos of it! I have seen racoons and skunks in the city.
jenni says
We have a ‘possum tree.
Liz C. says
The old girl did look a bit ragged as she went away, lol. What a funny post. I never knew they did that! Chance in a lifetime for the kids. If mine had witnessed that I would never have had to give the kids *that talk*. They would have begged to not know.
I once saw one that had accidentally choked to death by getting its head stuck in the V of a tree, lol. It was at the lake, so we just left it. I don’t like them either. Nasty critters.
jean says
How cool! I have one of those things (I call it a rat on steroids) living in our backyard. However, I’ve never seen it as close as this photo and with babies. How exciting. Thanks for sharing.
Diane says
The first live possum I had ever seen was in my bedroom in the middle of the night. It had come through the cat door to get to the cat food in the house. I woke up with the cat yelling at it. I didn’t know what was going on and turned on a flash light and it stood hissing at me from behind the bedroom door. Luckily it got scared and found its way back outside and the cat door was barricaded. Was not a very fun night.
kate says
that’s the coolest thing i’ve ever seen. i want to keep her forever and ever.
Jill says
Cool? Yes, but she sure is ugly! I’m hoping for your sake Mama keeps those babies safe. 🙂
imbeingheldhostage says
um… yes, I think so. I thought I was glad I came by until you painted the lovely picture of death… yuck. ewww.
ntsc says
Yes, Joy of Cooking does have a recipe.
Don’t quite boil to remove the hair, then cook as you would pork.
It isn’t in the index, but is an addition to the racoon recipe which is. In the 68 edition anyway.
Tipper says
Your going to love this-I live in the Possum Capital of the WORLD! Really I promise!
Marcy says
eww, I don’t like opposums(sp?) either.
We had one up in a tree one time that kept hissing at our dog , which in turned ticked off the big dog who was barking. Don’t remember how my hubby got the thing to leave but i was scared it was going toattack the dog with all the hissing noises they make.
Hope you have a great day!
pam says
Love the pictures!
JULES says
…R U my mother?????
Susan at Sticky,Gooey,Creamy,Chewy says
EWWWW!!! I’m sorry, but I hate those things! I have them skulking around in my yard too. They gallop across my roof at night and scare the sh*t out of me. They are scary and gross! EWWWW!