Why are people scared of opossums?

They have a creepy quality about them, but I don't mind their presence.

I agree with OP. Adorable.

They look like snooty clowns.

I approached one in our yard (at night, they’re nocturnal) and it bared it’s teeth to me, so that changed my opinion of them.

R4 Don’t take it personally, many would bare their teeth at you. I like em!

This queen is some sort of expert

It's all bark and no bite, R4. They rarely, if ever, attack anyone. The baring of the teeth is just a defense mechanism to keep predators away. They are in fact really easily frightened and, if under too much duress, lose consciousness and appear dead—hence the phrase "playing opossum." The thing is, they aren't really "playing" when they're doing this. They're literally are unconscious.

They are fascinating animals, and the only marsupial endemic to the Americas. They really as harmless as a garden mouse, but they get a bad rap because they're bigger and look more intimidating.

I opened the lid of my BBQ grill and there was one inside (can't imagine how he got there). That fucker made a hiss that was positively demonic, and he lunged at me with fang and claw. Maybe it was a bluff, I didn't stick around to find out, but he was a fearsome beast so spare me the adorable little creature nonsense.

You cannot tell me this isn't adorable

[quote]he lunged at me with fang and claw.

MARY!

R9 please tell me someone has this on video. The thought of you running away in terror really did make me laugh.

Opossums are not scary nor dangerous animals, and it really is rare for them to attack someone. Raccoons, on the other hand, are much more aggressive animals.

"We knows 'em as good eating. Possum shanks with with redeye gravy, yes ma'am!"

Raccoons are cute as fuck tho

I know R14 was joking but they really are good.

The cuteness of opossums is highly underestimated

They are positively frightening, hideous creatures.

I'll admit I'm scared of the ten thousand strong flock of fruitbat that descend on my part of Sydney and brawl through each summer's night but these opossums are just adorable. They're just a ball of floof with big beautiful eyes. I'd swap any day.

I've read about people keeping them as pets (which I'm not even sure if that's technically legal), but they have a fairly short lifespan for an animal of their size. I think they only tend to live 3 years or so.

Their tails really gross me out

Agreed, R19, though I admit I find bats cute as well. The only problem with them is that they fly and are a bit unpredictable. I live in the Pacific Northwest and we have a lot of them here, although they're small ones, not the megabats you have in Australia. I remember one of them once flew straight at my mother's head and got tangled in her hair while we were camping.

Carrying babies...

Yes, people should just leave them alone. They're more help than harm!

I think they’re cute.

Is this you, R9?

I much more likely to befriend a possum than a human

A pair of them live in the woods behind my brother's home and they dearly love his fig and Japanese persimmon trees.

Most nights when his fruit is in season, they are up in the branches chowing down. He has enough to share.

They do look like a big rat, but a cuter one. The rat appearance can be unnerving.

Yeah I wonder why

R12 I know this thread is about possums, but you might appreciate this: a thrilling POV encounter between a mincing queen and a ferocious rabid fox.

The queen states in his other video that he needed 12 shots (8 rabies, 4 tetanus) after the attack.

After watching his follow up vid, I propose we retire the use of Mary!

I've never had a bad encounter with an opossum. Whenever I've seen one (almost always at night), it's given me no more than a passing glance before going along on its way. I can attest to raccoons being insane though. I grew up in the woods, and my grandmother had traveled to visit us once and was babysitting me and my brother for a weekend. It was summertime, so the doors were open, and we had a raccoon that got into our house and somehow managed to climb up into the kitchen cupboards. It was mean, too. It took her HOURS to usher it out of the house. I have vivid memories of her going to war with it using a broom.

That queen is an idiot for approaching the fox like that. If a fox is appearing confrontational, it most likely means it is rabid.

I'm a bit the same r22. I'm actually a bit fond of them, just afraid that the insane fighting over summer will bring one or two crashing through my window, and in panic they'll fly around- all teeth and claws and lyssavirus- terrified and smashing into everything and everyone, and hurting itself and us.

Just checked online and apparently I under-estimated- The locals are the mob from Hyde Park in the city, and they're a colony of around twenty-two thousand. Which is ridiculous for such a small park. And probably explains the fighting-territorial and mating, I assume.

Thanks op , I didn’t know that. I always confused them with raccoons which really are terrifying with their rabies.

They're ugly, OP. Not cute at all. They look like giant rats. Raccoons on the other hand are adorable. I wish we had them here in Norway.

possums will not hurt you !! they just look scary but they are harmless. please do not kill them

Not all opossums. Just the one that lives on his head.

What's the difference between an opossum and a possum? Same thing?

Yes, same thing.

They're fantastic and funny little creatures - ugly, yes, but endearingly so imo - and they're very beneficial to have on your property if you've got a yard or land of any kind. They eat ticks and other vermin and are otherwise very unobtrusive.

The rabies thing is definitely a myth. It's EXTREMELY rare for possums to contract it because of their naturally low body temperature. I think it's technically possible in some rare circumstances, but it almost never happens. Foxes, raccoons, and coyotes, on the other hand, are all very prone to rabies.

R14 may laugh but it’s not just country folks who used to eat possum. President Taft served a 26 pound one on a bed of turnips for Thanksgiving Dinner at the White House in 1909, though history does not tell us if it was as popular as the roast turkey, which was also served.

The Presidency has other possums in its history. President Harrison, an animal lover, had a pair of pet possums while in the White House. They were named Mr. Protection and Mr. Reciprocity and were popular in the press of the time.

Because people are stupid and don’t care for real nature. They’ll bitch and moan about bugs and mosquitoes everywhere, but freak out if they see a possum or a bat. They’ll cry about cats in their yard but don’t realize the rodent population is booming because there are no more stray dogs or cats. I’m thinking of putting a bat house up but I’m sure some neighbor will complain about RABIES.

R44, you are not nearly as smart as you think you are.

R44 are you seriously suggesting having stray dogs and cats around is a good thing? Do you seriously not know how much damage cats do to the wild bird population?

They have the shortest gestation period of any mammal (they are pregnant for just 12 days) and can have up to 16 babies.

That's interesting R47; the fact that they're marsupials probably has to do with this. The babies stay in their mother's pouch for three months after they are born and there is significant growth during that period. Marsupials are very strange.

An opossum named Keltie Knight works on Entertainment Tonight.

My neighborhood (in the city) has both possums and raccoons active at night.

The possums are hideous but harmless and actually beneficial.

The raccoons are adorable but destructive and can be dangerous.

'Possums look like cats with radiation sickness. However, they are harmless. It's normal to recoil when you accidentally encounter them, but raccoons are much more vicious and will not hesitate to reach out to bite or claw you if they think you have them cornered.

I live in the foothills of Santa Barbara and opossums, skunks, raccoons, etc., are a way of life here and we all try to coexist. However, a possum killed my mom's aggressive chihuahua that got too close to it, leading me to believe that they aren't all that docile. Further, have you ever smelled opossum shit? It is FELONY nasty. For this reason alone, I can't imagine anyone wanting one as a pet. They are cute, though.

The possums in the first 10 posts or so look adorable. The urban ones I've seen in LA look more mangy and less cute -- they are harmless though. They get an unfairly bad rap.

I'm only afraid of possums if I accidentally corner one. I encountered a YUGE one that had gotten inside my covered roll out garbage can last summer. When I opened the top the beast was down there just sitting. He had torn through all the garbage bags and I assumed couldn't figure out how to get out in the pitch blackness. I was shocked when he looked up at me, bared his teeth and hissed just like a cat. I left the top open and went back inside and thankfully a few minutes later the fat thing climbed out and waddled back into the woods.

But if raised from babies and treated like a pet they seem to be quite endearing creatures.

Opossums look like giant rats. Raccoons are cuter.

People are afraid ( not scared) of opossums because they resemble Uncle Frank.

Is it true that they eat them in rural parts of the south?

r57 is unfamiliar with "The Beverly Hillbillies."

A friend of mine used to work with a guy who rescued a pair of orphaned possum babies (their mom had been hit by a car). He named them Scotch and Soda.

What concerns me is my dog....I assume if a dog gets into it with a possum, it's going to get ugly. That cuts down on their adorableness quotient, at least for me. Has anyone had this unpleasant experience?

r60 — See r52.

Australian possums are complete pests. They invade garbage bins and any cranny in your house and ceiling.

They urinate everywhere and bite.

^^^ What does cranny mean in Australia?

^ a small, narrow space or opening.

It's useless trying to keep them out with chicken wire. Their claws can pull the chicken wire from its nailed stays. It's all sport to them.

Has a possum ever tried to mate with Frankie Grande?

Possum pet.

Possums are from Australia, O'possums are from Ireland

There are other marsupials in the Americas.

There are 334 types of marsupials. 100 are found in the Americas — primarily in South America, but thirteen in Central America, and one in North America, north of Mexico. That is the O'possum.

They look like Nosferatu.

Plus creepy long tails.

And the hissing! They're like DL regulars in marsupial form.

In general, possums only attack if they perceive a threat to themselves or their babies, so they're actually defending (though it may feel the same to their foe). They don't hunt creatures that are bigger than they are, such as people, dogs, cats, etc. -- they eat bugs, snails, worms, grubs, etc. -- and whatever's growing in your garden (fruit, vegetables, tender herbs). Their fangs are scary but that's pretty much all show.

Apparently eat ticks, too.

They're Filthy McNasties!

I live in West Hollywood, and In the warmer months, I'll leave the front door open, but the screen door closed for air and for the cats to look outside. Last summer, Ithe cats were very still, at attention, staring at something intently. I thought it was another cat, but it was a baby possum, who was hissing at them. The possum visited us a few nights (I think it lived under the porch), and I'm sure it gave us a bad case of fleas, which took me 9 months to get rid of.

Possums here in the northeast are a problem.

While they don't really carry rabies and are far less destructive/dangerous than raccoons, there's this:

An opossum is a huge threat to outdoor pets . An opossum will grab a rabbit or chicken through the wire of its' cage and eat as much as it can pull through. Yes, the animal is still alive during this and the remains are left to be found the next day.

Gruesome.

R73, I've heard of raccoons doing that, but not possums. Are you sure you're accusing the right culprit?

I'm sure.

I trap my possum pests. I'd like to drown them but I can't.

[quote][R9] please tell me someone has this on video. The thought of you running away in terror really did make me laugh.

I suppose you could look at this video and imagine the Diana Scream over it.

They are very short lived in the wild. Only about 2 years. In captivity, about 4 years.

I've got a possum curled up in a trap on my roof, right now.

(There's some blood on the wire)

There can be up to 20 babies in a litter. But the mother opossum has only 13 teats. She eats those newborns who aren't fast enough to claim a text.

^ Wow!

[quote]However, a possum killed my mom's aggressive chihuahua that got too close to it, leading me to believe that they aren't all that docile.

To be fair, who HASN'T wanted to kill aggressive chihuahuas?

R80 Wow I didn't know texting became to lethal!

R9 did you pass out?

It looks like Anderson Cooper!!!

^ So true!