They say you cannot pick your neighbors but this one picked us. A few weeks ago as our family returned and stomped into our Ham Lake house in our usually way, my youngest son noticed a ball of fur sneaking out from under our cedar steps. The animal cautiously moved along the cement block of our basement wall; away from the noise of the groceries being brought in. We had an opossum living under our Minnesota porch!
Living on acreage in Anoka County, we have seen our share of wildlife. We see deer almost nightly and have had raccoons in the trash. An assortment of squirrels, black, red, white and gray, play in the trees. Though we rarely spot them, we are aware that an occasional skunk will wander through the property. Our sandy soil is perfect for painted turtles come up from Coon Lake and lay eggs in the grass. There was the spring a few years back when the neighbor came over to let us know that a bear had been on their deck. And last fall we had a turkey knocking on the window to get in!
My experience with opossums was limited to Disney's, A Goofy Movie, when Goofy and Max visited Lester's Possum Park while on vacation. This guy didn't have little x's for eyes but did have the long ratlike tail! I had to read about them in the Opossum Wiki to see if it was some kind of threat or if it would swing from it's tail and drop down on me. (It won't thank goodness!)
The opossum hid himself under our front porch before I could get my camera out that day but this past weekend he was out in the yard again. I ran and got my camera. It took about fifteen minutes before I found him "playing possum" behind one of our giant oaks.
Don't play possum in your real estate transactions! If you are considering buying, selling or relocating to Minnesota acreage and need help from a professional Realtor, give me a call or visit my website for a FREE Relocation Packet. I specialize in acreage and lakeshore properties in the north and east Twin Cities metro area including Ham Lake, Lino Lakes and all communities in the Forest Lake School District! Serving Anoka, Chisago, Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota.
Copyright 2008 Teri Eckholm http://www.terieckholm.com/
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Cute story. Hopefully he doesn't cause any damage and moves on. Have a good spring.
J.
Aren't they SO ugly? That tail really creeps me out! Of course here in Tennessee they are EVERYWHERE! Well enjoy your new found critter!
Kathy Fisher Lexington TN Realtor
Haha.. We have them here in San Antonio. There is one that sometimes runs along the top our back fence at night. We don't realize the possum is out there but, of course, our beagle knows this no matter where he is in the house and insists on going outside... he runs out as fast as he can to jump on the fence and to bark and bay at the possum. Then it is really hard to get him to come back inside.
Sounds like a great place to live except the cold! I don't really care for oppossums but I do like the deer & turkey.
Nice picture, Teri. They usually don't like to come out in the day time. We found one in our dog's 25# food bag in the garage. He was so full, he couldn't move.
Dont play Possum is a great idea for Realtors, sellers and buyers. Laying down and playing dead in the face of the unknown...dont do it. Time to be creative in our jobs.
My experience with opossum is that they shy away from human contact. Most often I see opossum that, when faced with on coming traffic, thought playing dead would save them from becoming real dead.
Teri, when I bought my house near downtown Washington, DC, I had to call the Animal Rescue League to related a mom possum and a litter of babies from the blown in insulation in my attic. And my neighbors now have one under their front porch!
Beautiful picture! We don't have those here and I love to see the different animals all over :)
Teri!
Cute little critter...the have been know to chew their way around a house though, but it sounds like you know that!
Steve
Teri, Our neighbor has a female living under her ground level deck. We regularly see the "young'uns" coming out from the nest. Since the gestation period is only a few weeks, you'll find out soon if your "tenant" is a lady possum, Karen
TERI, I can't believe that possum let you get that close to take a picture. That picture is so CUTE!!
Teri, you have such great twists with your posts. And kudos to you, frankly being anywhere close enough to take a pic. of that possum would ick me out. Cute, yet very rodent like. Yes I am a chicken.:-)
Teri,
I am an avid animal lover and feels all beings have the right to live. Too many people are uncaring and inhumane about animals and wildlife. I think opossums are vey cute and your's is adorable! Thank you for caring about animals and wildlife!!
Hi Teri,
Funny story. We have them too in Orange County. Even though I'm in a residential neighborhood we are in the hills. If I walk outside at night I clap my hands just to let anything out there know I'm coming. One interesting evening I had a face off the a skunk and a possun dueling it out in my back yard.
Teri, I just have to comment on the You Betcha! That is so Minnesotan.
Jeff--We didn't read where he could cause damage. We do have to watch so that our dog doesn't notice him though.
Kathy--I don't think they look so bad if I don't see the tail...Kind of cute!
Shirley--Funny! Guess we are fortuate that our old dog cannot see very well anymore but he does smell him from time to time. We have to distract him from the scent with a dog treat to get him inside.
Sara--Spring is coming...MN gets a bad rap for the cold weather. The extreme cold is usually less than 14 days a year. April through November is beautiful!
Bonnie--I think that we scare him awake with our noise going in and out of the house. We only see him if we have just gone in or out. Love the dogfood story...I would have died finding this thing in my garage!
Ame--Great line for the photo huh?! See everything relates to real estate in some shape or other. :)
Rosario--He wasn't too happy with me taking his picture....He's a pretty good hider!
Patricia--I don't think I would want this guy in my house...He is bigger than my cat!
Sally--It is pretty cute...I had never seen one this close up before either! I am certain that you have other animals to photograph...I know you have the most amazing flowers in Hawaii as I have seen your photos of them.
Steve--We haven't noticed any damage but have noticed the mouse population has diminished since he has take up residence. If he becomes a nuisance, we will have to have him trapped and relocated.
Marchel--I have a very good optical zoom on my camera....And a husband standing by with a broom! :)
Karen--I think he may have been living under there last summer as we heard some noises but never saw anything....Always thought it was rabbits. We will keep our eyes out though! :)
Rebecca--This is where a camera with a very good optical zoom comes in handy....The rodent tail creeps me out a bit but notice I didn't put that in the picture!
Jean--As long as the animals do not destroy property, we try to live and let live. We do have to trap the mice, moles and gophers as they are damaging. If we can relocate the animals to another spot, we will do that rather than kill them. There is something cute about most living creatures if you take time to look at them.
Lynda--Oh my...That must have been some fight! Who won? The skunk or possum? The deer in the yard scare me as you never know which direction they will bolt in! We have learned to make some big noises when we go out at night too...Better safe than startled!
Gary--I use that phrase every few months in post titles as people think Minnesotan's say it all the time but it really is not said often in everyday conversation. I have run into a few people who have said the entire "Ya, sure, You betcha" line only a handful of times in my entire life...most were senior citizens from small MN towns. But it does get peoples attention and makes them think Minnesota.
Hi Terri, I like living with the wildlife. They never cease to amaze me. We have a group of wild turkeys lurking around...22 of them! We have one of those automated deer feeders...this year it was used more than ever with the hard winter...we have anywhere from 6-8 deer every day...not all the same ones. We only have 2 acres but they use it all. Nice post...have a great Easter.
Gary White--We have wild turkeys too...Great fun as long as they stay away from windows. I hit one with my windshield going 55 that was an experience. Last fall one was pecking at a basement window. Beautiful birds when they keep their distance. We also get the deer and had two fawns eating acorns in our yard every afternoon last fall. The big ones can be frightening...Best part of living on small acreage is enjoying nature! Have a wonderful day too!
Teri
Possum, I remember that movie the Goofy Movie, that was one of my sons favorite movies growing up, thanks for the pleasant reminder.
POSSUMS ARE FOUND ALMOST EVERYWJERE IN THE CONTINENTAL us. Glad that you have a new friend.
Gary--You are welcome. My boys watched the Goofy Movie over and over and over! :)
Gayle--They aren't as common in MN but our milder winters have allowed more to relocate. After this winter they may want to go south again. :)
Hi Terri. About 2 or 3 weeks ago I saw what I thought was the largest rat I've ever seen in my life... turns out it was a possum. You can imagine how shocked I was! I've lived in NYC my entire life and this was the very first time ever I've seen one.
We occasionally have a possum out here in the country, we had them in the middle of Austin (almost downtown, but off the greenbelt), and when I was a little girl growing up in the country, I had two baby possums, Tammy and Sammy, as pets.
As a horsewoman, however, I'm somewhat concerned when I see them as they are a carrier of EPM (equine protozoal myeloencephalitis. So I try to discourage them from hanging around the place and, if possible, relocate them to someplace where there's all the things they need but NO horses.
Vincent--LOL--They do look rather ratlike don't they? In NYC I think I would rather see the possum than the other. :)
Tricia--Pet possums? That's quite funny...I never would have thought of them as pets. We live on just over two acres and though a few people at the end of the block have horses most don't. Good information for all horse owners...thanks!