As if my dogs were not obnoxious enough, we have a possum hiding out in our fence. Not just any possum, but a MAMA possum. With babies. Before you get all "awww how cute and sweet," on me, just stop. It's a huge rat. Yes, a marsupial one, but a rat nonetheless. And I know it eats wood roaches but for them, I have Raid (I know - not very much in line with my environmental blog).
Our dogs, who between them have less than half a brain, think that Godzilla has invaded our backyard. To hear them bark, they've found Osama Bin Laden. And while he's always had the size and strength to jump our six-foot fence, our Irish Setter Zach never realized his super-canine abilities. Until Mama Possum came to town. Now, not only can our neighbors see his huge red head atop the fence line, but they can hear him in Dallas. Or at least Conroe.
We have a battery-operated "Rat Zapper" (isn't suburban life fun?) designed to let rats and field mice know that we have no intention of sharing our deck or hot tub with them. So far, it's nabbed two of the baby possums. Sad I know, but as Darwin outlined in his vast chronicles, it's survival of those with the ability to landscape. In my efforts to be an Earth-friendly species neighbor, we bought some non-toxic "Critter Repellent" that, using the distilled scent of possum predators, hopefully drives our little furry squatters to the yard of another family.
Unless they all learn how to pull weeds - then they can stay.
1 comment:
Our neighbor kid found a baby possum in thier backyard. I learned two things that day...the North American possum is really called an "opossum" and when the neighbors called the local wildlife org. to ask if the mother will find the baby and take it back, they were told the mothers are typically dumb and always loosing thier babies.
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