Opossums are very resistant to rabies, so I wouldn't worry about that. I welcome them for their tick-eating reputation. I don't think they're ugly.

It makes me sad to see them killed on the road. A biologist I used to know raised baby opossums taken from roadkill. (They were in their mother's pouch.) They lived about three years. He told me opossums go on roads often in an effort to warm up their feet. They have an unusually low body temperature.

The worry for us is that opossums can carry a parasite that causes degenerative neurological condition in horses called "EPM"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine_protozoal_myeloencephalitis

Here's one that was visiting my cats food bowl regularly.

One of the KT'ers, Marylin C, is a possum rehabber and has some great stories to tell. I hope that she stops by.

Even though we live in the city, we have always had possum and raccoon come through our garden. I think the koi pond attracts them. Rarely do they cause problems.

As for the skunk that come through, I can do without him!

I love Marilyn's possum Christmas cards, having been a recipient. Totally great bug catchers and cute as heck! None in Colorado tho....

Yes, their lower-than-average internal body temperature makes it difficult for the rabies virus to survive. They eat a lot of bugs, and I don't mind having them around.

Sadly, one of my dogs has managed to catch several young ones. (Probably "teen" sized- old enough to leave mama, but too young to have learned "dog in the yard" street smarts). Anyway, he likes to bring them in the house...to my bedroom! Certainly not my favorite early-morning find!

We have them visit the yard at night a lot. Especially when we were putting out cat food they love cat food. If you ever have one show their teeth and hiss at you then you will see their ugly side. We had one that an animal had got hold of and literally ripped off the skin from the entire back. It looked like death walking. I thought sure it was going to die. We put out a big box and a pillow inside. It went in there and only came out for cat food and water which we put right outside the box. Amazingly the thing lived! And it was able to get around but had a hunch back. It was still coming around before the flood I don't know about now I can't see the back yard.

https://youtu.be/p8XNtiVQsHk Now that is cute.

I'm glad to have it in my back yard for its bug eating prowess. But I think it is ugly. Who knows it may think the same of me.

The weather is extremely hot right now, I bet it appreciates the full large bowl of water that I keep on the deck for the dogs (cleaned and filled daily, so no mosquito worries).

Do you think I should put a little dish of cat food out? I want it to keep an appetite for bugs but I don't want it to be hungry.

Love them. I used to have them but haven't for awhile.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to begin feeding wild animals, unless you are a licensed rehabilitator. Feeding brings them together in artificial populations, eating unnatural foods, and discourages them from hunting for their own food.

There are exceptions, of course. I would probably have offered free room and housing to Raven's injured possum, too. And I maintain two bird feeders all year round and a hummingbird feeder, for example. But I have known people to support dozens of feeders and attract hundreds of birds. That's not healthy for the animals.

So my advice would be for Lucille to not begin feeding the possum.

From what I have read, opossums don't really come together in groups. They must come together at times or there would be no little opossums, but there is no danger in starting an opossum ranch in my back yard.

Several years ago had 2 Rotties...big, goofy shedding girls. It seemed to be during a relatively short time (maybe a few weeks) they "caught" 4! One time the dog without a mouth full of fur was hoping the other would share. Three out of the four truly "played possum". The thing could have surely scared me to death. I was out in back yard, with a flashlight, getting as close as I dared to get a better look. Had some sort of "weapon"... broom or mop, I think. That critter never moved a muscle! After chasing dogs inside, they eventually just got up and waddled away... NOT very fast/agile. I wondered if they give off some sort of a scent that makes the "predator" decide it's dead, cuz dogs just lost interest. Unfortunately... one played dead permanently! EW!

We've raised a couple of clutches of babies and one singleton, from mothers killed on the road. (What do you call a bunch of baby 'possums? Clutch seems appropriate after seeing them ride on their mother's back.)

I too think they are cute when they're young. My kids were tasked with catching earthworms and grasshoppers, so that the 'possums would recognize wild food when we released them. The single baby was fostered just a couple of years ago, so my grandson remembers it well--once in a while I'll make the quick "chh" sound they make when calling to each other, to make him smile.

It's a passel of baby opossums...

25 years ago, we lived three blocks from the main street in a small town. The house next to ours was a four-story brick and slate Queen Anne built in 1885. (gorgeous!) One summer day, I noticed a mama opossum climb the giant maple tree near the side porch of the mansion, trot across the roof and somehow manage to climb up to the top roof another two floors up, and, I presume, down the other side. All with her brood of four clinging to her back! Never saw her/them again, but it was a great treat to see them at the time...

Lucille, if its been doing fine without your intervention, I wouldn't feed it. We have deer, occasionally rabbits, opossum, raccoons, chipmunks, one red squirrel, an owl and last year a bear, and I feed ONLY hummingbirds. The rest have gotten along without me until now and will continue to do so ;0)

In our old neighborhood one of the houses sold to a man who fed feral cats. What chaos that turned into, and I don't mean just the breeding populations of cats but also the opossum (many) and raccoons that were attracted to the food placed outside. We'd come home from somewhere after dark and catch sight of a slew of critters in the lane behind our house. It wasn't good for any involved, not the neighbors, not the animals.

I know someone around here is feeding deer because when I go out to shoo them out of the garden, they will sometimes step towards me, looking at my hands. 'what does she have for us'. I know it's tempting, I think they'd be easily tamed but I'm not going to start, they aren't hungry, we don't even have snow here every year.

Editing to add - with all the wildlife, we live within city limits. You may not have guessed that.

I decided not to feed it as has been recommended. There are plenty of bugs for it to eat. I live near a high school and one of my pet peeves is that the students litter horribly and that often includes leftover fast food. I don't know how far these opossums travel at night to hunt food, but if it is starving there are plenty scraps for it to find.

11:26 p.m., and my dog just caught another one! He dropped it when I said, "leave it". Got the dogs inside, and moved the little "playing possum" critter to the front yard to recover.

There must be a ton of them where Marilyn C lives in Texas. She has rehabbed hundreds of them. I don't think that they're cute but she does. God love Marilyn. She's such a good human being. She rescues all kinds of critters, cute or not.

I read once that the total opossum population at one point during a recent ice age was something like 22 individuals in a small valley in West Virginia, all the rest of them everywhere died off. That remaining population continued, bred, and spread and are the ancestors of all the opossums in America.

I like possums. I think I have a lot in common with them...we're both misunderstood scavengers. ;)