OT - possum penthouse in my roses

6 years ago

The third story of our house is a separate Victorian flat. One of the tenants called me (almost hysterical) yesterday to tell me there was a "raccoon or something" in the roses two feet below her window (the window is on the third story of our house). I asked her to take a picture of it and email it to me. I got it (below), and it was a possum, which had made a nest at the top of one of the very tall climbing roses. We have seen possums (on the ground) in our garden many times - but never one 3 stories up! Note how neatly it cut the rose canes to make use of them:

Jackie

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jacqueline9CA
Original Author

6 years ago

We are not worried about possums - we have seen them periodically on our property for the past 30 years. Only once did one get in anywhere, and that was my fault for leaving our basement door open too long. The next morning, when I went into our basement (which has to be approached from outside - not connected to the inside of our house), there was a tiny just weaned possum, who ran out. So cute!

We are very relaxed and appreciative about wild animals here in our urban jungle. My DH checks our attic traps periodically for our local wood rats - he makes sure all of the outside holes are closed. I don't know about possums in other places, but ours seem to be itinerant, and don't stay around very long - they move on. We have usually seen them only at night when we come home in the car, and disturb them as we drive down the driveway - they waddle away as fast as they can, which is not very fast.

About fig trees - that's interesting. The animals who love our figs, at least the ones we've seen, are always raccoons, not possums. Perhaps the raccoons intimidate the possums. My DH's car parks under one of our fig trees, and if he pulls in at night when there are raccoons feasting in the fig tree, they just hiss at him and the car, and keep eating!

As far as I am concerned, the birds and wild animals in our garden are welcome to the fruit in our garden - figs, plums, eugenia berries, olives, a wild/native type of cherry tree fruit (interesting - look and taste like cherries, except that the pit is 99% of the fruit, and only the skin is like a cherry). The fruit trees are all just volunteer descendants of ancient ones; we did not plant them and just let them do whatever they do. The only fruit or vegs I plant are tomatoes, which live inside of not one but 2 concentric large cages (to protect them from the deer, who take one bite and spit out the rest of the tomato on to the ground). I love watching the birds, squirrels, skunks, possums, deer, and occasional fox who visit us. The other day I even saw a mature male wild turkey strolling down the driveway - never seen that before. (Our house is in a dense residential area with 1/4 acre lots, and only 4-5 blocks from the downtown). With the foxes and the hawks who take the wild band tailed pigeons occasionally, I think we have the entire eco system, including predators. I love it.

Jackie

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Comments (20)

portlandmysteryrose
6 years ago
I love possums! Thank you for the wonderful, illustrated story, Jackie. What a clever creature with a fascinating nest. And how smart to choose one of your beautiful, enormous and protective climbing roses as a home. Possums are definitely wild, urban animals and not for pets to approach, but ours have been peacefully coexisting garden mates for 15 years. They enjoy snacking on our figs. Gosh, the babies are cute! :-) Carol
fig_insanity Z7b E TN
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
For myself, I HATE possums. You have my sympathies. Don't leave any cat/dog food outside, store any organic fertilizer (chicken manure/seaweed/fish emulsion) in animal-proof containers, make sure any pets are vaccinated against rabies. Possums are the ultimate opportunists. They're nasty creatures, literally. They'll eat anything (including their own dead, and my figs), live anywhere (including sewers...or your attic), and along with roaches and rats will probably out-survive humankind. I've never seen one build a nest in a rose, but they may have been forced out of their previous nest when you removed that big tree a while back. Then again, they may just be possums being possums, lol. As they multiply, they'll find ever more surprising (to you) places to insert themselves. My current nemesis is one that is almost totally black, who happens to have little fear of humans, unfortunately. Out of fifty plus fig trees, I have managed to eat five, count 'em, five, figs this year, when I should have already been making fig preserves.
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portlandmysteryrose
6 years ago
Your experience with possums sounds awful, John! Perhaps the masses of our most viscous have headed east and invaded your area. I encountered a raccoon in MN and a rat in my current garden that were spitting images of your fearless, rogue possum and its progeny, but my own possum sightings have been infrequent and benign. The little critters tend to freeze or run except when stunned from a fall while fig gathering in our tree. Of course, our possums are probably struggling to survive against cars, pesticides, encroaching development, more cars, etc. Carol
portlandmysteryrose
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Jackie, you may already be aware, but John's point about possums potentially finding an entry into your house is something to note. If a squirrel has created an opening and rolled out the welcome mat, possums might take up residence. Also an unprotected area under a deck is fair game. So far, knock wood, my possums have behaved themselves. I did have a one-way door installed in the attic space over my office this summer in order to eject an uninvited squirrel guest. Carol
fig_insanity Z7b E TN
6 years ago
OT....somewhat. Carol, I do live in the country, and that magnifies the critter problems, lol. Things that are fairly benign in a suburban setting when there are one or two of a kind, become headaches when you're facing dozens. Where I live, the deer outnumber people by a good stretch, and intend to actually starve the rest of us out; the coyotes only seem to eat pets and the foxes, not the deer; the raccoons live in bootcamps that train them in opening garbage cans...in spite of straps, locking handles and heavy rocks on top; the possums specialize in guerrilla warfare, lying in wait to eat any and all fruit of any kind JUST before it's ripe enough for a human to eat; the squirrels send out gold embossed invitations to their nut-gathering parties; the turkeys frantically scratch up mulch in search of grubs as if they were gold miners who have found the motherlode; the skunks are....skunks, and that doesn't include the neighbor's mules tramping through the perennials. Oh, should I mention they're draft horse hybrids so big I can't see over their backs? With feet the size of...well, they're big, lol.

Don't get me wrong. I love animals. I love wildlife. I just wish I had more of the benign types! lol.

I will grant that the skunk problem is less with the arrival of the coyotes...go figure: of all the things they could eat...

Sorry for going OT, Jackie ;)
fig_insanity Z7b E TN
6 years ago
Jackie, the raccoons love my figs too, but they prefer them at least semi-ripe. In the past, they've been the primary culprits. But they haven't had the chance to eat them this year, because some of the possums at least, have taken a liking to unripe figs. I'm talking figs that would destroy our intestines, they are eating by the hands full, lol. I've caught them as late as mid-morning up in the trees, when normally you'd never see a possum out in the heat of the day. Grrrrr.

The greatest loss to me isn't in fruit or produce, though. As I mentioned, the coyotes have done away with our foxes, either through predation or competition. The foxes were welcome beauties that also kept the mice and voles under control, and I miss them :(
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
6 years ago
We can't bear to kill anything, not even rattlesnakes, and mice and roof rats are caught in live traps and taken away to a wild area. It's so dry here and the coyotes come to visit so there is a balance in nature although we're always sad when a rabbit or ground squirrel we've gotten to know is no longer there.
cathz6
6 years ago
Fig_Insanity, that's awful that you have worked so hard on your figs and the "critters" have had them all. I have found that red pepper wax works for mammals. One is for deer the other is for insects but both work to deter mammals. The wax helps it to stay on and active even after rain. It will last a few weeks. You'll have to experiment for the timing. Some deer were working over a Taxus capitata regularly yet with repeated applications they finally gave up. It takes longer once they get into the habit. They red pepper wax would be hot for you too but hot soapy water should remove it and if it doesn't you could peel the figs until you no longer need to use it.

Cat
portlandmysteryrose
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
There's a wonderful and informative article called "Making Peace with Possums" on the DFW Wildlife Coalition site: dfwwildlife.org. Carol
needmoremulch
6 years ago
The big problem with possums down here is that they spread EPM - equine protozoal myeloencephalitis. It used to be rare, but my parents have had a few horses come down with it. It causes permanent nerve damage. The are very proactive about keeping possums from taking up residence in the barn.
jacqueline9CA
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks Carol - that is a great article!

Jackie
portlandmysteryrose
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Jackie!

Good luck with your wildlife park, John! Maybe it would help to kick back with some fig pate and a Zootopia DVD? :-)

Carol
summersrhythm_z6a
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I don't think we have possums here, not sure though. Don't want them here, just started to grow some fruit trees. I know nothing about possums, but I have a couple possum fur lined rain coats. Possum fur is not pretty, but it's very warm in the wet snow/ ice rain. On the country property there is a huge hole next to the house. Is this a fox hole/raccoon hole? I hope it's not a possum hole. We can hunt/ trap here, might have to trap them and drop them off at a church......should I flood the hole and see what comes out? I'd love to have a fox in the yard.
fig_insanity Z7b E TN
6 years ago
Carol, sometimes it seems like I LIVE in Zootopia, lol. I haven't had a chance to read the article, yet, but I will.

At least I have a few leftover jars of last year's jam...
fig_insanity Z7b E TN
6 years ago
Summers, possums range over the entire eastern USA. Of course the population size varies from one area to another, and you may just be lucky to live where they're less abundant. They used to be thought of as a southern animal, but they've moved north . But rest assured, they WILL find you, lol.
jacqueline9CA
Original Author
6 years ago
I don't think possums dig underground dens. Personally, I would never flood any large what-looks-like-a-den-hole. Why don't you set up one of those mini sports cameras, and see who is using it?

Jackie
portlandmysteryrose
6 years ago
That's a great idea, Jackie! We weren't sure if my office attic contained a roof rat or other critter. Our uninvited guest was identified with a camera and its Arlo software system which can be viewed via computer or phone. (Set up by a local humane pest evictor.) After we spotted a fuzzy tailed visitor entering and exiting under the roofline, we named the system "squirrel cam." Then our pest evictor installed a one way exit to prevent reentry. Carol
summersrhythm_z6a
6 years ago
That's a den hole?! Now it's getting more interesting. Hope it's a fox den. I have dog food for them. Thanks for the camera idea Jackie.

John, write a country song about possum and your tree?? :-)

It's coyote and black bear country over there. I hope no possums, will move 2 potted Jujube trees there this month..... have a few apple trees and 1 cherry tree. Good luck to your trees.
Vicissitudezz
6 years ago
Okay, so my Southern zodac sign is the Possum.

Also they are sort of namesakes, since the species name is Didelphis virginiana.

Scavengers are kinda gross, but necessary. I'm glad they clean things up that I'd rather not see.

Virginia

OT - possum penthouse in my roses

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