# What is this critter?



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Opossum.


They are great for eating ticks and while they ain't pretty, they are actually pretty darn good to have around. They are harmless.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)




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## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

The one in your pic looks healthier than mine.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Could be a young runt. The tail is all possum though.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

We used to feed our cats on the front porch but 'possums and '***** would come up and steal the cat's food. When our grandson was little my wife took him to the storm door and pointed out a 'possum, the kid backed up and said "mouse,mouse, big mouse" I guess a cartoon mouse does resemble a 'possum.


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

Armadillos are really Possums on a half shell


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

chandler48 said:


> Armadillos are really Possums on a half shell



I used to hear that all the time when I lived further south. Don't think I've seen an armadillo since I moved to tenn.


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## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Same here. Used to see the 'dillos all the time... usually squashed in the road... in FL. But not here in MD.



mark sr said:


> I used to hear that all the time when I lived further south. Don't think I've seen an armadillo since I moved to tenn.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

While on the Opossum subject, have you ever witnessed the odor emitted by an Opossum playing dead? They don't seem to do it every time and it seems to only be under certain circumstances.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Yes. Just go into my garage when they are raiding the cat food. They stink.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Windows on Wash said:


> Yes. Just go into my garage when they are raiding the cat food. They stink.


 They stink, as in most animals having a natural body odor?

That's not the odor I'm talken about if that's what you saying. I'm talken about an odor that would - *gag a maggot* - and you would vacate the garage as fast as humanly possible.:vs_laugh:
So *Ole Shep *bites the Grinner across the back, lower canines in one rib cage and uppers in the opposite rib cage. By the crunch / cracking sound one would bet every rib bone in the possums rib area was broken. The smell is so bad *Ole Shep* has to back off along with his master. Observation time: in just a few minutes the Opossum runs off unscathed.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

A relative up north has insulated houses for feral cats she adopted. A possum shares the food bowls. She found this one night.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

The garage cat and the possum will eat out of the same bowl at my house too. There are two of them.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

It has longish ears and long legs. Could it be a dog? If you look at the very beginning of the video, something big flies by or runs by. Probably flies. The animal on the ground may be slinking because of that if it was a raptor.
First thing I thought of was a type of fox. Possums have long fur & are rounder. More head to body ratio.

My cat has a ring-tail


I don't know about there, but here, there are a lot of exotic animals running free, or that have mated with native animals.
I was reading about the ring-tailed cat in Texas that has spread by climbing on railroad cars.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

> A possum shares the food bowls.


Back in the early 90s before I had a heat pump I heard the dog barking one extremely cold night so when I went on the porch to get firewood I looked his way. I expected to see him with chain stretched out towards the house but instead he was looking inside his house barking like crazy. When I went over there to check I saw a 'possum in his house. I guess the 'possum was looking for a warm dry place to bed down and evicted the dog.


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## Davejss (May 14, 2012)

Opossums are awesome. They eat ticks by the thousands.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Hmm.

That's a funky-looking possum. Doesn't look at all like the ones we have here, which look like the one in @Startingover's post.


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## Cedrus (Feb 25, 2011)

From my 1938 cookbook: Roast Opossum. After removing hair, gutting and cleaning...prepare stuffing. 1 minced onion, opossum liver (chopped), 1 cup bread crumbs, 1 chopped sweet red pepper, dash of Worcestershire sauce, 1 chopped hard cooked egg, salt.


Brown the onion in fat and add liver. Cook until tender add other ingredients. 

stuff opossum and roast in a moderate oven. Baste every 15 minutes with drippings. Skim fat from pan gravy. Serve gravy separately, with baked yams or sweet potatoes. Serves 10.


Let me know how it turns out...


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## Mike Milam (Mar 3, 2017)

Had a 'possum' in one of my trash cans about 15 years ago. I walked in the house and got a 22 Cal. pistol I had and shot him in the trash can. Satisfied one shot one kill, I put the weapon back in the house. When I came back out I realized the round went through the possum and through the bottom of the plastic trash can. Being as far as it was from the house, my hose wouldn't reach. I ended up carrying 5 gal buckets of water out to clean off my driveway. I regretted shooting it. Should have just kicked the can over and walked away.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I've ate 'possum once and remember it being greasy, never had a desire to try it again.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Mike Milam said:


> Had a 'possum' in one of my trash cans about 15 years ago. I walked in the house and got a 22 Cal. pistol I had and shot him in the trash can. Satisfied one shot one kill, I put the weapon back in the house. When I came back out I realized the round went through the possum and through the bottom of the plastic trash can. Being as far as it was from the house, my hose wouldn't reach. I ended up carrying 5 gal buckets of water out to clean off my driveway. I regretted shooting it. Should have just kicked the can over and walked away.


Don't feel guilty about being un-aware of the traditional way of dispatching a Opossum as I've discovered that's not a well known fact.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

SeniorSitizen said:


> Don't feel guilty about being un-aware of the traditional way of dispatching a Opossum as I've discovered that's not a well known fact.


Around here, the traditional way is to hit one with your car or truck!


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## taylorjm (Apr 11, 2013)

I know they sure get mad when you go in the garage and throw a bag of trash in the barrel they are in, then put the lid on the trash can. After a few days, drag the can to the road, pop off the lid and there's one very unhappy opossum hissing at you. Glad there weren't any security cameras around to catch my little dance and girly scream.


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## rusty baker (Feb 13, 2009)

Original does not look like a opossum. Neck is too long. i see them all the time around here at night.


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## rusty baker (Feb 13, 2009)

mark sr said:


> I've ate 'possum once and remember it being greasy, never had a desire to try it again.


Raccoon is greasy too. But then, so is duck. I don't care to eat any of them again.


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## Highlander86 (Aug 14, 2017)

Looks like a weasel or a marten or similar. A possum is too short and chunky.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Highlander86 said:


> Looks like a weasel or a marten or similar. A possum is too short and chunky.


I agree; it's much too long, skinny and lithe. The hair's all wrong, too. It also has an alert expression.

Possums always look kinda stoned. :vs_cool:


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Davejss said:


> Opossums are awesome. They eat ticks by the thousands.


I think they also eat more garden snails than ravenous Frenchmen! (And -women.) 

No need to buy any more snail rid, etc.


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## JohnnyVirgil (Jun 9, 2019)

it almost looks like a pine marten with mange. The ass end looks bald.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4lhRzcJnWng/VXrM9_HkCaI/AAAAAAAAHpI/k_jgDOAO2xc/s1600/_MPB2698.jpg


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

It trots like a Coyote and if mange is present it's common for the tail to be absent of hair. Or the same could be said for a Gray Fox.


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## JohnnyVirgil (Jun 9, 2019)

SeniorSitizen said:


> It trots like a Coyote and if mange is present it's common for the tail to be absent of hair. Or the same could be said for a Gray Fox.


Yeah a small coyote or fox is also a good bet. It doesn't really hop like a Marten would..


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## Highlander86 (Aug 14, 2017)

Maybe an otter.


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## JohnnyVirgil (Jun 9, 2019)

Highlander86 said:


> Maybe an otter.


Otters are way closer to the ground and they kind of waddle. At least river otters that I'm familiar with in local ponds here in NY.


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## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

Definitely NOT an otter!! Speaking of otters, we go to an aquarium on the NC outer banks that has a nice river otter tank with glass sides. On one visit, some of the staff came out to prepare an activity near the tank and we asked. They said it was time for "otter enrichment" which meant tossing in a hundred or so minnows for the otters to chase and eat. I believe that just supplemented other feedings and was designed to let them "be otters" and hunt. Pretty wild scene and interesting... as long as you weren't a minnow!



JohnnyVirgil said:


> Otters are way closer to the ground and they kind of waddle. At least river otters that I'm familiar with in local ponds here in NY.


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## spitz1234 (Jan 1, 2019)

One word.....Chupacabra

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

spitz1234 said:


> One word.....Chupacabra



The Goat Sucker...?


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Are we gonna take bets on this deal? I am still going with possum.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Bet what?


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## Missouri Bound (Apr 9, 2011)

The only thing that video shows is that you need better cameras.


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## KaseyW (Nov 23, 2012)

Not sure if this is any help, but here's what Photoshop thinks your critter looks like after several adjustments. To me, it seems to be some type of canine. Based on other parts of the clip, the proportion of the legs to the torso is similar to a German Shephard Dog. I think it has fairly large ears, and the back end is definitely hairless or shaved or ... Depending on which adjustment I make, the fur shows as either reddish or golden and, yes, it really does look like there are dark bands on the tail. Personally, I'm thinking it may be an alien.:surprise:


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

KaseyW said:


> Not sure if this is any help, but here's what Photoshop thinks your critter looks like after several adjustments. To me, it seems to be some type of canine. Based on other parts of the clip, the proportion of the legs to the torso is similar to a German Shephard Dog. I think it has fairly large ears, and the back end is definitely hairless or shaved or ... Depending on which adjustment I make, the fur shows as either reddish or golden and, yes, it really does look like there are dark bands on the tail. Personally, I'm thinking it may be an alien.:surprise:



That photo looks like it has a box on its back. . . maybe you're right. :surprise:


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## KaseyW (Nov 23, 2012)

S'not a box.:biggrin2: I know it's hard to believe but I didn't change any of the features or dimensions of the critter. I only adjusted things like light and contrast. In this one it's looking away from the camera,


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## JustinW (Jan 15, 2020)

Haha, what a fright that must of been re-watching the footage! Luckily it's only a harmless possum, we get heaps of them here in Australia.


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## Oldmaster (Jan 14, 2020)

I guarantee it's a mangy fox.


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