One Weird Night!

[Mary Kay]

back ground: I live in a semi rural area on 2 1/2 acres. My neighbors have the same or more. Lots of pines, ponds and open ground. We get our share of critters around here. Once a horse followed home from a walk and another time a goat dropped by and tried to come inside. Snakes and rats too, when we had our stable (turned chicken coop).
So anywho, last night Sheba (white german Shepard) was barking her head off. She had a possum trapped under an orange tree. Poor thing was dead, tongue lolling out, on it's back, no babies thank goodness. I managed to wrestle Sheba back in the house and went to tend to the razor toothed possum. I put a leaf rake under her and it started to bend so I grabbed her/His tail. All of a sudden that tail whipped around my arm in a death grip. 8-o The eyes were wide open and I could count the shark teeth in it's smile. If I had had an extra hand I would have slapped my forehead in a..."how stupid are you" gesture.
He was playing Possum..dead.
I managed to get to the fence and tip him over, it was a good 2 minutes of hanging my arm over the fence which is topped by barbed wire (old owners idea) before the possum let go.
It took me 5 minutes (and me without a vape) to get my heart beating again.
Mike is still laughing
Have you had one of 'Those" days?

 

[Rexa]

Can i say "WoW!"?

I take it, it didn't bite you did it? Or it was just wrapped around your arm?

 

[Mary Kay]

No bites! I would have had to take shots and I don't do needles! It just wrapped that naked tail around my wrist.
But we may have to go to the emergency room soon if Mike doesn't shut up!

 

[bmacva]

No bites! I would have had to take shots and I don't do needles! It just wrapped that naked tail around my wrist.
But we may have to go to the emergency room soon if Mike doesn't shut up!

Mary Kay,
Mike is another story. Let's just leave it at that, ok????

Otherwise, I think many of us would have done the same.

So, you can say that you officially saw a 'possum playing dead. I saw a raccoon in a trashcan once. Wow. I'm more impressed with your story.

 

[Mary Kay]

I would like to say it was 4:30 am and the dog woke me from a dead sleep. I would like to say that! The truth is if it would have happened at high noon, I would have done the same dumb thing!
I have seen chickens do the same thing, but picking up a possum playing chicken isn't as scary. I am not afraid of chicken teeth!
As for Mike... all i can say is please start raising the bail now..TIA

 

[mixxy]

I playin' possum experience with our old dog Milly (Cocker/BeagleX) many years ago. She got a possum in the back yard and was shaking it like crazy. I was screaming at Milly to drop it... but she wouldn't. I was so upset, and when she did finally drop it I thought it was dead for sure. I even went out with a flashlight to look at it several times, just to make sure My hubby was working nights at the time, and when I took him out the next day to "bury" the darn thing... it was long gone!

 

[Idahojo]

Mary Kay this story had me laughing, not as hard as I'm sure your hubby is laughing, but laughing for sure. I'm so glad you didn't get bit. That part is really scary. You could've been hurt bad girl!! Maybe you need to leave those critters for your laughing hubby to take care of, then you can be the one laughing. LOL

 

[DMacRae]

Whipping him over the fence was good thinking! Way to keep your cool!

 

[rejoice]

That would have scared me bad. I live in the country and yes possium do this.
Glad it did not hurt you. They can be real mean. Lesson learn do not pick up a possium until it is dead for a while. A long while. Make darn well sure it is DEAD.

 

[Siobhan]

This one made me laugh and squeamed me out a bit. I don't know why, but possums creep me out a little.

 

[Wildsky]

LOL living on the edge there MaryKay

 

[Kate51]

We have a little ****zu, doesn't eat a lot, one good bowlful usually lasts her a week. (She likes Our food better.)
A couple summers ago I noticed she was out of food awfully fast, so filled it again, next day it was gone. Well.....
A couple nights later, we were watching TV, all was quiet, and out of our bedroom, around the TV, behind the couch, and out to the dog's dish, like he'd done it before...a young possum! Don't know how long he'd been in the house, but he sure nuf had a route all coursed out to get to the dish!
I took him across the fields (with a good supply of food, of course) THREE times, until he guessed it was too much work to come back.
He'd been coming in through the garage door when it was open, and figured out the best place to hide during the day.

 

[Mary Kay]

While it's true they are not the prettiest of creatures, they are smart..except for the dufus one I "rescued" he was at the back door last night. The dog was in but the cats were on the patio table looking very confused at the biggest rat in the world. Well at least thier world.
We feed the dog and cats indoors by the way.

 

[The Widow]

Good one MayKay.
Not a lot of wildlife here, except occasionally one of those pretty black kittens passing thru the yard, you know, the ones with the bushy tail and the white stripe running down their back.

 

[Sexi]

Oh Mary how possum's can do this LOL.... had almost the same thing happen a few years ago. Had a rat terrier outside, about 3 AM he is going nutzo out there. I throw on a t shirt, grab the flashlight & head out the door as he never barked except for a good reason. He is looking toward our BBQ grill, but I see nothing. I am bending over & stuck my head under the burner shelf to have a closer look. As I was coming back out I felt something smack me in the back of the head. Scared me so bad I jerked up real fast & knocked myself out on the burner shelf. Woke up probably 30-45 seconds later with this dam_ed possum setting on the burner shelf staring at me.

After I got my wits about me, I am thinking now what do I do??????? Live in town, can't fire a gun & I would have had to shoot at the house where he was setting. I finally decided it was time to grab the hubby's bow & arrow......... Possum do make good fertlizer buried in freshly tilled garden.

 

[Sexi]

Oh then the skunk! I love cats & we have/had several neighborhood scavengers. I leave a bowl of dry cat food out if I know a hungry one is out there. I leave for work early enough it is still very dark out. Opened up the door one morning, & walked right out on the front porch right into a skunk eating the cat food.

I made it without getting sprayed, but I scared it enough he turned around & was ready......... I made it off the porch & to the car in record time LOL.

 

[Mary Kay]

LOL! I have never seen a real live skunk..other then the first 2 I married.
I wasn't thinking fast, I was paniced that the dog would get out and attact the possum while it was on my arm! German shepards are very smart, she can already open the sliding glass door from the outside, it won't be long til she figures out how to do it from the inside.

 

[Idahojo]

OMG Sexi! I don't know which story was funnier, yours or Mary Kay's!!. You do have some cahones though Sexi. Shooting at it with a bow and arrow. LOL You go girl!! Maybe we should rename you Grizzly Sexi!!! Or Sexi Crockett!

 

[Grandma Cas]

Wow!! The wildlife in the US seems to be very colourful.
The only wild things I tend to see in the UK are grey squirrels which... ahem! if my memory serves me correctly... er... umm... came from the US

 

[Mary Kay]

Cas! No complaining, it could have been worse, we could have sent possums! Or snakes, or Paris Hilton!