Possums will...Mess. You. Up.

[libnnc]

especially when their babies are around.

[sam sarrha]

1. They are extremely dangerous.. one SHREDDED a friends arm..300+ stitches

[winston61]

37. not really

If you're stupid enough to pick one up what do think will happen? There is a reason a dog or cat won't go near one. A possum will rip 'em a new asshole.

[AlGore-08.com]

2. Yes, they will - - but so will any wild animal if you corner it

'Possums don't normally attack unless they have absolutely no other option. Their first line of defense is to pretend to be dead.

[Taragui Junkie]

3. Vinegar

Grew up in Iowa. In the city. Looked out one night to see an adult possum digging through our trash at 3:00 a.m. Wouldn't budge when I tried to shoo it away. I filled a squirt bottle with vinegar/water mix, squirted him/her/it in the face. It didn't like it and reluctantly moved away.

I wouldn't get within four feet of one, though.

[BikeWriter]

5. Are you aware vinegar is an acid? Please don't spray it in any...

creature's eyes. There are humane methods of controlling wildlife.

[Syncronaut Seven]

7. So I guess the pepperspray and CN

are off limits too. :hide:

[BikeWriter]

9. Would you like vinegar in your own eyes? It is an acid!

[Syncronaut Seven]

12. I've had sulfuric 50% in my eyes, battery explosion.

also got hosed in the face with major volumes of pepper spray @ 3 paces Mayday 2001. That one was a bitch. I guess it's all relative.

Household vinegar is normally sold in 3% concentrations, has a fairly moderate PH and is relatively harmless. Works well to discourage the drug dogs too if sprayed on the back side of your bumpers.

Save the possums! :cry: Being nocturnal, they'll be spared the UV damage practically every other species on the planet is experiencing right now.

[BikeWriter]

13. The MSDS source I quoted says to avoid eye contact...

Where's your documentation refuting it or advising its use in animal's eyes?

[Syncronaut Seven]

14. Ya know, that's the fucked up thing about America.

It's OK to do all sorts of heinous things to people, but squirt a little salad dressing on a possum.

[BikeWriter]

15. Did I say it's OK to do all sorts of heinous things to people?

I said it's inhumane to spray acid in an animal's eyes! If you want to spray it on your trash, that's hunky peachy with me.

[Syncronaut Seven]

16. You should be here when I cook onions!

Talk about inhumane! even the neighbors cry.

Have you a pre approved possum repellent in mind? I'd hate to lose sleep over this. :rofl:

[BikeWriter]

17. Hey, you can mistreat animals all you want. What you can't do is...

prove to me spraying vinegar in a possum's eyes is not inhumane. Here's the treatment advised by the MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET.

EYE:FLUSH IMMEDIATELY AND THOROUGHLY WITH WATER FOR AT LEAST 15-20
MINUTES (TIMED BY A CLOCK). CALL A PHYSICIAN.
http://www.holycross.edu/departments/dos/website/public_safety/DISTVINE.HTM

[Syncronaut Seven]

18. So let me see if I can get in the spirit here.

So Mr. Bikewriter, when DID you stop beating your wife?

Did I get that right?

I'm just no good at these things. :rofl:

[BikeWriter]

19. I doubt the advisory on spraying acetic acid into animal's eyes...

will survive very long. I've posted my opinion on the subject.

[Taragui Junkie]

8. As I said, it was water and vinegar.

And it was pretty darn humane, especially for a 17-year old kid in Iowa.

[BikeWriter]

10. You recommended it here. Vinegar can be 4% acid! No animal...

should have that in its eyes!

[Guaranteed]

21. Well, I suppose he also could have used a gun or a baseball bat.

I think the point was to get the possum out of his trash with something unpleasant while not permanently hurting it.

[BikeWriter]

22. What is to say the acetic acid (vinegar) did not blind it?

Possums do not have first aid stations. They are not equipped with portable eyewashes. An animal even temporarily blinded by acid could wander into traffic. Vinegar sprayed on trash bags may be an effective repellent, I don't know, but I stand by my previous statements. Random solutions of acid should not be sprayed in possums (or any animal's) eyes.

[Guaranteed]

25. That's ridiculous.

It's a very weak, organic acid. Not even as bad as getting orange juice in your eye. There is no way vinegar is going to do permanent damage to any mammal unless you shoot it into their veins.

The possum is fine.

[BikeWriter]

27. I manufactured acetic acid for twenty-five years for a Fortune 500...

company. You can use it as an eyewash if you choose to. I choose not.

[Guaranteed]

28. Again, it's unpleasant.

Not gonna give any permanent damage, though. You know that.

[BikeWriter]

30. You may know that. I don't. I know when we got exposed we used...

safety showers and eye washes, as the MSDS advises.

[Guaranteed]

32. So you're saying that if I go pour some vinegar on my hand

I'd better get to the hospital?

[BikeWriter]

40. POUR IT IN YOUR EYES! See what that feels like!

If you still think it a good idea, talk to me!

[Taragui Junkie]

43. Good grief, lighten up.

You've never gotten vinegar in your eyes before?

Yes, it stings. Yes, you get over it.

For one thing, I never said I shot it in the eyes. I wanted it to smell something stinky (worse than the garbage) and go away. It worked. The possum did not stumble away blindly. There was no permanent damage to that overgrown, worthless rat.

Lighten up, Francis.

[BikeWriter]

49. The name is not Francis, and you said you sprayed the possum...

in the face. That is commonly where their eyes are. Call it an overgrown, worthless rat. It still feels pain.

[mongo]

47. You are supposed to lovingly let it tear your arm to shreds

Giving it a gentle shove from the trash while saying NO! BAD POSSUM!

Generally speaking though, you can chase just about anything off (including bears) banging two pots or frying pans together at it.

Just don't try that on skunks.

[Kingshakabobo]

39. It's animal cruelty. What do you think happened to these guys?

[AlGore-08.com]

6. I once used a squit gun full of water to ground a bat caught in my house

I had no idea that it would work, but apparently they can't fly when they're wet.

[uppityperson]

33. You can drown in water!! That's inhumane!

Bet you can't fly when you're wet and drownded either. :sarcasm:

[BikeWriter]

11. MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET- DISTILLED WHITE VINEGAR

EYES:WILL CAUSE EYE IRRITATION - SMARTING
AND REDDENING OF THE EYE.
http://www.holycross.edu/departments/dos/website/public_safety/DISTVINE.HTM

[redqueen]

38. OH MY GOD! IT HURTS AND TURNS YOUR EYES RED!

CALL THE POLICE IMMEDIATELY!

CALL AN AMBULANCE!

:eyes:

[Taragui Junkie]

44. Maybe I should have squirted it with Visine.

[Hissyspit]

4. Raccoons are mean, too. Careful with possums...

they don't necessarily run and when they bite, they won't let go. I think one scratched one of my cats' face last weekend and she got abcesses. She's fine now.

[Shell Beau]

24. A lot of them carry rabies, too!

[AlienGirl]

20. HOW TO PICK UP A POSSUM!

Take a towel and throw it over the opossum's head so he can't see you. Very quickly grab the base of his tail, then slide your other hand under his belly so you're supporting him. "Aim" the (covered) head away from your body.

Hope that helps for next time!

Tucker

[MountainLaurel]

23. Is there a story

You'd like to share with the class?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

34. I'm the reason for this

I had an incident last night with an opossum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=3234597&mesg_id=3234597

Hey, it scared me, OK? :)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

26. I get possums in my house....

all the time, coming in through the cat door. Never had a problem with them -- I leave them alone, and they just wander around looking for a noshe. They've left the cats alone, too. Once I had to fish one out of a secretary in the basement -- he had climbed in a document hole and gotten caught stuck. I put on some thick gloves, grabbed a tail, and slipped him out.

I give them a healthy respect and space and it seems to work out.

[BikeWriter]

29. That's cool. Respect their teeth and take precautions. :-)

Thank you for not harming them!

[Hand]

35. Respect their teeth indeed--all FIFTY of them!

:wow: Seriously now, wouldn't anyone with half a brain NOT want to piss off one of those?

[Shell Beau]

31. I found a dead one in my backyard last year. I guess my big dog got

to it. I thought it was a rat at first, but low and behold it was a possum. They have some teeth on them, I wish that he didn't get in my yard, though. I felt bad.

[winston61]

36. just got two babies out of my garage

They're kinda cute when they are little, but my God, what stinky shit! Worse than a tom cat. I baited my live trap with a cut up pear and they both walked in. Took them down to the creek and they have not come back.
I don't see any reason to hurt them, just call animal control. Here where I live they will lend you a trap.

[BikeWriter]

41. Thank you, Winston. You did the right thing.

[FizzFuzz]

42. This Possum is trying NOT TO BE SEEN

Mr Fuzz and I surprised one raiding our garbage can one night. We sat there with the brights on her/him and watched as the possum did the best "oh crap I'm busted" act I ever saw. Guilty expression, fumbling around in circles, looking like, "its all a terrible misunderstanding!!" And then waddling slowly as fast as he/she could TOWARDS the car (instead of two quick steps into the darkness behind the house--what a doofus). Ostentatiously looking away, "I won't look at you. If I don't look, you can't see me" while basically waddling across a lit stage.

She/he got to the shrubbery and scooted away.

We laughed our asses off! :rofl:

[doc03]

45. Possum encounter

This happened when I was maybe 10 years old while visiting my Grandmother in West Virginia. I went to her garden to pick some tomatoes for dinner and ran across a possum that I thought was dead, I picked it up by the tail and brought it down to the house and left it on the porch and brought my grandmother out to see what I had found and it was gone. After reading these posts I guess I was very lucky that day, they do have a nasty set of teeth! Then again this was West Virginia and the possum was lucky he wasn't the main course.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

46. I call the big one Bitey.

[BigMcLargehuge]

48. LOL!