No, I don't think so. I have seen him when it was really cold.
And I read that they don't hibernate.

Not hibernating and sleeping through the cold are different things - even animals that don't hibernate will take extended snoozes through miserable weather. Could also be mating season and Pete may be wandering farther afield in search.

Skippy...
There have been several threads with possum stories, some of us are possum fans.
Here are some links to previous threads, enjoy... :-)
(if you post on them it'll bring them back to the front page)
A possum here, a possum there, possums everywhere
I have a possum
Possum! possum!

I used to be a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator. I liked the possums. They weren't cute/funny like the raccoons (such rascals), but there was something good about them.

They like curling up together. One time when we had tons of baby possums (mothers hit by cars, people bring in the finger-length babies, we raise & release them) - the babies had mostly gotten past the "2-feedings-in-the-middle-of-the-night" stage (phew) and were eating solid food, about 3-5 inches (nose to bottom), well, here we were with dozens of motherless babies, when someone brought in an adult that had been hit by a car. This possum was badly scraped & bruised, and needed time to heal in a safe environment. We put her in a comfortable cage and she lay there, looking so forlorn. Days passed and she still looked so pitiful. Our lead rehabber got a wise idea & put a few of the babies in with her. I remember peeking in and seeing her curled up, with a baby possum's head peeking out from under her chin - and I'd swear they were both smiling.

Leslie

Leslie,
Thanks!!
Poor little babies
What a cute story
I think they were smiling too!

Very sweet. I wish you had taken a photo.

Possum story? I've got a little one.
I was delivering pizzas many moons ago and I was running up the door with their order and I stepped on what I thought was a hose on their front walk. I got on the porch and heard a hissing. I turned to look and there was a possum hissing at me. Apparently I stepped on it's tail. The door opened and I asked the lady if it was her possum and she just shrieked and ran back inside. The possum wandered off and the husband came to the door with a shovel so I sent him off in the wrong direction. Figured the poor possum already had a sore tail and didn't need anymore suffering.

Geez, why would he want to come after the poor thing with a shovel!? That is mean
Glad you steered him in the wrong direction.
Thanks for the story

I don't know it you'd call mine a "good" story, but this is it. We had added on a bedroom to the back of our house. At night we could hear all kinds of sounds from under the house. Needless to say, it was annoying.

One morning I was making the bed and heard this sound behind me. You know the heater vents that are in the floor? Well, there was this tiny, looong nose sticking up through it!!! I just about freaked! Then I realized it was a baby possum.

As it turned out, the possum adults had chewed through our new duct-work, made themselves a nice little nest inside, hatched a family. Cost us several hundred dollars and I won't tell how we got rid of the possums. Frankly, I can't remember but at the time, I wasn't thinking anything *friendly*.

We have a very unlikely couple hanging out in our back yard. Laurel, a small possum and Hardy, the biggest racoon I ever saw! These two really are a comedy act and do hang out together. The other night I saw Hardy curled up in a tipped over 20 gallon pot, taking a snooze. When he moved I saw that actually he was laying on Laurel! who then went up to Hardy and smacked him upside the head. These two really are clowns! /Abi

OH! I LOVE Laurel & Hardy stories!!!
Too cute!!
THANKS!!!

I have one for you. Several years ago we lived in a mobile home. We had 2 dogs and 2 cats, for a couple days, they kept scratching and sniffing at a panel in the hallway that could be opened up to expose the plumbing behind one of our bathtubs. I was convinced that there was a mouse in there, so I had my husband open the panel to look. He didn't see anything at that time so he set a mouse trap on the floor inside the panel, later that same night we heard something scratching inside of the panel. My husband opened the panel again first he looked on the floor, and then up the pipes. When he looked up, he fell backwards and yelled LOL. There was a baby possum in there. He was a little too big for the mouse trap LOL. My husband put some work gloves on and got the possum out. It was so cute!! My husband carried it to the woods about a block away. The next night there was a possum in there again, we didn't know if it was the same possum or not so we put a dot of orange paint on its head. My husband carried this one to the woods also. The next night there were two babies outside in our yard. We carried those off too. Thank goodness we didn't have any more visits after that. We never did see the mom, but I'm sure she was around some where.
We have had a couple of visits from a possum recently, I have a log feeder that I put a peanut butter mixture in for the birds to eat. We've seen a possum in the tree eating the mixture out of the log feeder a couple times.

Ginger

Thank you, I love these stories. I still haven't seen Pete the possum, I don't think he is coming back....
Keep the stories coming!

We had some new visitors--a skunk and a opossum foraging together a couple evenings in a row. The other day to my surprise the opossum was out by itself in the sunshine eating all over the hillside behind our house.
I think it looks like a pink nosed panda in this picture
{{gwi:1345286}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Opossum Pictures!

It does! Thanks for posting the photo.

Loven,
Thank you so much for all the pictures!!!
I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!

My pleasure!
I LOVE wildlife no matter how big or how small and we finally live somewhere where I can see the wildlife from my living room windows! I've been taking pictures and keeping track of every little critter! :-)

Loven
Sounds like you are having a ball with the camera!
Keep the pictures coming, I love them all!
Have fun with your critters

my opossum, georgia, died a few nights ago. i am sad. i miss my geogia. in the beginning she was so small, and almost dead. an orphan opossum. a call to the national opossum society in the middle of the night for instructions and a rush to wal-mart for what seemed like a witches' brew and an eye-droper to gently get the potion into her mouth without killing her. going to sleep and her lying on her side i knew i would probably have a small hole to dig the next morning. but there she was standing upright and asking what's for dinner. that led to two wonderful years of her explaining to me just what a opossum really was. our nightly walks, with her on top on my shoulder shifting left to right and back again (for the best view), seemed much more interesting by the night. one night while sitting on our half-way stump, she got down and showed me how she could carry trigs by rolling her tail around some leaves, trigs, and a plastic pond stick bag and carried it. and then only to climb right back onto the stump. she got killed in a opossum fight and my nights became nightmares about my beloved opossum. all of those mid-night feedings, all those formulars, daily weigh ins, that opossum cage(30feet by 10 feet. opossum yard 40 x 40.) all for nothing in her death. day four since she got murdered. all those wonderful days (nights) i got to spend with her. only two years. what i got a full two years in contact with the most wonderful creature i have ever known. thanks for every precious moment with georgia. hopefully geogia gets to meet pete one of these days. follow up - georgia's cage and opossum yard is now in use again. a mommy and two small opossums are now in residence and pass by georgia's grave on their way to the nightly walk in the opossum yard. new precautions are now in place to prevent the "drop-in from the 8 foot wall" the jack the ripper opossum used to get to my georgia.

I am so very sorry about Georgia. It sounds like you had a wonderful two years, how nice to be so close to a possum!
I know you must miss Georgia terribly.
I am happy to hear that you already have new possums taking up residence! How cute.
Hopefully, they will be as sweet as Georgia.
I don't know what happened to Pete, I just hope that he is safe & happy somewhere.
It is rare to see a possum in the city where we live.

We have another possum!! Around the end of September he appeared!
Yes, I still feed the stray cats so that explains the possum appearance (no idea where they come from in the city?!).
Anyway, he is really making himself at home in a corner on our back porch! Two mornings I have found him sleeping in the corner.
This morning I noticed he had plastic bags with him (shopping?!) He must have brought these plastic bags up on our porch to make a nest or?? Anyone ever hear of this!?(our back porch is very small)

Please, no mean, nasty possum haters need answer.
I love possums & would never hurt one, he has done no damage & does not bother the cats. I haven't seen a rat, mouse or a slug!

Thanks

We have 2 possums that come to dine up on our deck every night. They just seememd to show up one night, probably smelling the peanut butter suet that is out for the birds.
They have been around for about 2 months now and we put a buffet out for them, grapes, peas and carrots, a little cat food, and they LOVE stale doughnuts (I know thats not good for them so not often)They have become fairly tame and allow me to walk up to them and present goodies. The other night I was able to pet them. I know thats not a good idea, and I won't do it again but it was an experiance! :)

Lisa, Thanks for sharing!
Our new possum is getting pretty big!!
He likes bananas, apples (leaves the skin)& tomatoes.
And of course, cat food, cookies etc!

Hi everyone, I'm sorry to be a killjoy.......but I'm compelled to say something here. I have passed the thread a few times just because I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but.......I just think someone has to make a case from the animals' perspective.

While I can really understand how tempting it is to feed or make a "pet" of a wild animal, if you encourage them to not fear humans, there are plenty of sick humans that will take advantage of them........or......the possum will bite someone and have to be shot to be tested for rabies whether he/she has rabies or not. So, as you say Lisa, it is not a good idea. It is a really bad idea. From the animals' perspective, they can't resist an easy meal, but they will eventually learn what you are teaching them, which is to trust all humans and even to bite a human that corners them by accident. Humans are the ones who should know better, so I hope we can rethink this and rise above temptation. Please consider first and foremost what is in the best interest of wildlife. I assume that everyone who comes to the wildlife forum cares about animals, comes here to learn about how to do the most responsible thing for animals. How would you feel if the animal suffers just so you can have a moment of brief human excitement?

vonyon,
yes, you are correct. I leave the cat food out for the stray cats & that is obviously what attracted the possum.
I only leave the other things out because I didn't want him only eating the cat food & I wasn't going to let the strays suffer.
Don't worry though, I will not be tempted to pet him(or her?)! If he is around & I open the back door he goes off in a corner. I wouldn't call him friendly. I don't think he showed up last night.

Skippy, Oh gosh, stray cats too? I don't want to open a really hot topic on this forum with that, but I would not feed stray cats either. In fact, many people that I know are trapping them and taking them to animal shelters. They take a huge toll on native wildlife. I'm linking a site that might give you some information on that problem.

One of the main arguments against feeding pets outside is to not encourage wildlife to learn to take easy meals. It only gets them into trouble. I hope you find a way to avoid doing that too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Info on outdoor cats

Oh dear, I think I have opened up a can of worms.
All I wanted to read was nice possum stories.....
Let me clarify first off that I live in a row house in a large city. I didn't know the possum was even a possum, a friend saw it & told me.
The reason I feed the stray cats is because:
Ignorant people get animals & then do not take care of them, they think it is only a cat - open the door & let it go. IF they would take the time to get the animal spayed/neutered we would not have the problems of strays that we have. All my cats are neutered/spayed, they were all originally strays. It is very difficult to get a cat (or dog) into a NO KILL shelter. Believe me, I have spent alot of money on strays. Most NO KILL shelters are full.
Even when I offer to pay for the spaying/neutering etc. some will still not take them. Our SPCA will only take injured animals. The other organization in the city does not guarantee the animal will not be put down. I try to help these poor little animals the best way that I can.

Yes, I love all animals. I am not the one who put a poor defenseless cat out on its own. It is mean, rotten, ignorant & cruel. Unfortunately, there are quite a few of these people in our neighborhood. IF I knew who they were I would report them. Sometimes, they just move & leave
the animal. I just cannot imagine how someone could be so rotten.

I think maybe this thread better end..............
Thank you

Skippy, I agree about the cruel people. I don't want to see any animal die. Some decisions are hard to make. I try to make decisions as if it is my natural community and I have to vote on the least impact on the rest of the community. Unfortunately, the cats take a huge toll. It is as important to talk about these tough topics as it is to tell cute possum stories, so please don't shy away from the tough topics.

Some people have posted here who don't necessarily think no-kill shelters are the answer after working in them. I will hope that one of them will post here and explain.

Vonyon, Of the NO KILL shelters that I have worked with, I have done follow up with the people & the cats were safe & in nice homes.
The heading here is possum stories
I think a new thread should be started if someone wants to talk about cats.
Thanks & have a safe & happy new year.

Skippy, It is easier to find a thread that is headed with the actual subject, but threads often veer off the original topic. I think the pros of No-kill shelters are obvious, but the people I know that worked in them felt strongly that unadoptable animals are spared and then it becomes impossible to house the adoptable pets due to the shear numbers. Like I said, I don't know enough about them, but I can see their point. Some animals are just not safe to be placed in homes.

Well, like I wrote, IF people would get their animals spayed/neutered we wouldn't have this population explosion. (I can think of some people that should be spayed/neutered)
Maybe I will win the lotto & move to the country with alot of ground & open up my own shelter.
I haven't seen the possum since Christmas Day.

Happy New Year!

Possums just happen to eat the bananas I put out for my butterflies that do not nectar, only eat tree sap, dung, and rotting fruit. I am not trying to tame them, but food is for everyone.

I do feed a stray cat, but I actually think it belongs to someone in the neighborhood because it's always around here, and it never seems to look skinny like it's not being fed. She has been here for a good 3 years now, and is very shy. At first, I could only get about 15 feet from her, and now it's about 2-3'. She doesn't holler, scratch, or bother any of us on the block. So, I think she's owned or getting her meals from several of us.

We don't have a "no kill" shelter in OKC. We do have some animal rescue groups, but they are always so backed up with people wanting to bring their animals to them that they have waiting lists. Anyway, this kitty would not be considered an adoptable cat. I have 4 cats myself, but they are indoor cats only. Don't go outside at all.

So, what is one to do - let it die? So far, it's managed to make it through 3 winters outside.

Susan

Susan,
We have a cat like that in our neighborhood too.
He lives in a house behind us on the next street.
He always comes to visit & eat. He is friendly with all our cats. He has been around for years.

(I saw Pete the possum on New Years Eve)

Even feral cats will find a way to survive. They are very effective predators and will find shelter without any problem at all. I'm not sure they need your help actually. They kill a lot of native wildlife and upset the balance and diversity in the ecosystem. I will link to the website with lots of info below.

Here is a link that might be useful: feral cats

I'm not sure this cat could be classified as feral. Most feral cats run and hide when they are approached. This cat just wants food and that's all. I see her a lot sunning herself on the cars in the neighborhood. I have one cat that occasionally "escapes" to the outdoors. He dearly loves it (all of my cats are neutered), but I have to keep an eye on him. He and this cat just ignore each other, don't hiss or spit or growl around. Just passively accept the other's presence. Which is another reason I don't think this cat is feral. She doesn't bother anyone or anything.

When I go outside, if she's around, she'll just sit quietly by the porch until I bring her some food, and then she eats it and quietly disappears. I've never heard her meow nor have I seen her do anything even close to what I'd consider aggressive. IMHO, she's just another "forgotten child" that someone left behind when they moved. Grrrrr!

I did take one cat to the Animal Shelter. We called him Tommie because while he was friendly, he started hauling off the neighbor's lop-eared bunnies. I figured it out when he brought one into my backyard - poor thing screaming its head off! We got him to release it. The bunny was fine - a cute little gray lop-ear. But, we put him in the cat carrier and took him to the AS because I didn't want bunnie parts all over the yard.

Another stray - a beautiful long-haired black & white - was very friendly. Another forgotten child. I found a home for her with one of my friends at the office. If I think they are adoptable, I'll try to find homes for them.

Not a lot of wildlife to kill since I live in the city, except HOSPs. My birds are pretty wary since cats seem to roam the neighborhood - the ones that owners allow outdoors. I don't want my cats outdoors - too much danger for them actually.

Susan

Susan, I agree, this cat does not sound like she is feral.
Poor little thing, I just don't understand why people get animals then just toss them away.
I hope she is fixed otherwise you will have kittens soon.

Just a quick note about the possum stories and the stray cats. I commend you on your kindness and consideration towards the animals. I wouldn't pay any attention to what people like vonyon or whatever her name was tells you about you shouldn't do this or that. If SHE was a stray cat, I'm sure she would be happy to run into someone like you, but since she is privileged to be a human with a nice warm home and regular meals, she can't relate to what it's like to be homeless and unwanted and so resorts to the usual banter of "it's bad to feed strays, blah blah blah." I feed and care for any critter I come across that I can because I know it's the right thing to do. You are a kind person and I wish you the very best in your animal loving adventures. You're not alone and people like what's her name only mimic what someone else tells them and they don't think or feel for themselves. I just get sick of "know it alls" who don't really know anything. Keep on being kind hearted; the world needs all the people like you it can get!

Rebecca, Thanks, it is nice to hear from a fellow animal lover (& feeder)!

We have a little baby possum coming around now.
Since middle of July. Another animal lover (Marilyn, a rehabber, who saves possums & anything else that comes her way) told me to give him yogurt. He loves it!
He is tooo cute!

Yep, I still feed everybody that comes along.
It is the least I can do.

I'm an animal appreciator too and do the best I can, but I'm with vonyon in not wanting to upset Nature's balance.

We well-intentioned but clumsy and mostly uninformed humans have messed up so much of the world already! I don't think we have a clue what we are doing when we feed or 'help' wild or feral animals of any kind. However it always good to know that Nature will eventually recover if we just leave her and her creatures alone as much as possible. Min

I do not live in a rural area or in the suburbs.I live in a big city, Philly, in a row house. Seeing a possum a few years ago was a total shock, as I said earlier, I didn't know what is was. With all the demolotion & construction going on, the wildlife are being forced to live closer to humans. Construction on the waterfront etc. is pushing them closer to us.
If I can help some poor little possum then I will
If I can help a poor defenseless stray cat (thrown out by some ignorant rotten idiot) then I will.
I have 5 cats that were all originally strays. They are all neutered/spayed & have their shots etc.
I have taken many strays to get neutered/spayed & have found them homes.

I put peanuts out for the squirrels too.
I feed the birds also.
There is always water in a bowl in the yard.

I think the bigger problem is the people who get dogs & leave them out crying, barking all the time...........
The people who just leave their cats out & move away.........

There has to be some nice people in the world who will help an animal

It's great that Pete has finally come back. Wonder what he was up to all this time??

Not everyone has the luxury of acres of land to promote sufficient natural habitat for wildlife (or local agencies to assist them). You are blessed to have in the city what us country folk have in our backyards. I have only seen a possum one time in my entire (long) life but skunks seem to enjoy it here. One thing about skunks, you don't have to see em to know they are there. One possum story I heard years ago was about a man who deliberately drove off onto the shoulder to run over a mamma possum with young on her back. Idiot didn't see the patrol car in his rear view mirror. Very irritated policeman proceeded to write him up with an animal cruelty charge for mamma and each one of her babes. Some people live to be cruel. Pete is lucky to have you.

I saved a possum from my dog last night. She grabbed it in the yard. I told her to drop it. My dog has a pretty gently mouth, so I thought when she dropped it would run off. But it played dead. I thought for sure it was still alive and my dog was anxiously on stay, waiting for me to let her grab it again.

So I put the dog in the house and watched from the window for a minutes, I thought the possum would get up when we weren't there. But she wasn't moving and I thought, oh maybe the dog had hurt her after all.

So I grabbed a shovel and some gloves, to bury her. When I went to put her in the shovel, she hissed. So all was well, I used the shovel to scoot her outside the fence. Then she slowly trotted off.

Good grief. If you had succeeded in burying a live possum, I wonder if it could have dug its way out? Sure am glad poor old dead possum came to before entering the Twilight Zone. Those buried alive stories chill the bones.

Thank goodness she hissed!!
Happy to hear your dog is gentle!

Mulchmamma
Actually Pete did not come back.........
We have a new baby possum, Baby Willie
that showed up back in July!

Ah, yes my gentle dog has a nasty habit of dropping live mammals on my feet... its good that she brings to them me, I'm glad she doesn't kill them, but I tend to freak out when she drops a live fat mole on my bare toes.

Not all possums get the "we play dead" memo, and in fact some will fight like a coon, and I have the scars on my foot to prove it. Years ago I heard a commotion out by my collie's doghouse. I slipped on my rubber boots, grabbed a flashlight, and headed out to see what was going on. There was a standoff in progress between my dog and a very respectably sized possum. My dog is fairly smart when it comes to anything but cats ( he really has a hard time tolerating a strange cat in the yard) and has never been skunked, stomped by a doe with a fawn or taught some respect by a coon. He is a barker but a chicken. Still, I decided it was best to put some distance between the two and slipped my hand into his collar to lead him away (not something to do with just any dog in any situation...it's not uncommon for an excited dog to bite, even someone he knows) and just about that time the possum lunged forward and latched onto...my foot. Bit right through the boot (brand new pair of Northerns, ruined them on the spot) and into the top of my foot, that arched place on top there, where's there's not much meat but apparently plenty of pain sensors. I gave a big shout of pain and surprise, jerked my foot back, and then he /she marched off, hissing and snarling and drooling. I tied the dog, went back in the house, and pulled my ruined boot off to inspect the damage. Plenty of blood, two nice puncture wounds, and a husband who kept shouting "You let WHAT bite you???!" I called the ER to casually inquire about possums and rabies, and scrubbed up with peroxide while I listened to EMTS laugh at me from on the other end. Whoever answered the phone at the ER congratulated me, telling me I was the most interesting call he'd had all night since things had so far been pretty slow.
In short, I got a tetanus shot the next day to be safe, but the strangest thing is, that set of holes healed up within a few weeks and never so much as even suggested a hint of infection. I have had more aggravation with getting a tick bite to heal than what that possum gave me.

go figure.

but don't assume all possums will curl up and die.

OUCH!!!!!!!!!! Happy to hear that you healed quickly.

Geeezzzzz, you would think they would be a little more sympathetic in the ER! Must have been a s l o w nite!??

We have had a very sweet young opossum visitor lately. She's mostly been hanging out in the back of the yard or up on the telephone wires, but last night she was under the arbor so I finally got to show her to my husband. No playing dead for her. She just climbed down and went to the back of the yard to hide.

I believe she eats figs from the neighbor's tree, based on the seeds in what I believe to be her scat, so I've taken the top off of the compost for her. If she wants the leavings of my husband's fruit addiction, she's welcome too them. Upside is that the bugs mean my beloved black phoebes have returned.

We actually have 2 little possums that come around for dinner. I leave out yogurt for them. They love it!
I like dannon fruit on the bottom fat free.
They like peach, strawberry-banana, raspberry
My friend bought the store brand one day, I told him I don't think they will like this ...........
I tasted it & really didn't like it.............
Guess what - they didn't like it either.
Picky possums???????

I have successfully raised orphaned opposum that fit into my palms. Heating blanket, bottle feeding with fur-bearing formula, litter trained until they could be released into the wild. They are the only marsupial in the NA continent. They are not mean, nasty or ferocious as people indicate. Raised with beagles, cats, kdis, etc. Never bit or harmed anyone. This was done in acknowledgement of the Game Sciety as it is illegal to harbor them. Released in about 5 months.