My dog had been intermittently barking and whining at certain portions of the floor/wall for five days or so. After the first day or two of this, I'd grabbed a flashlight and taken the dog along to the basement to investigate, but we found nothing. I had assumed that there were probably ground squirrels, mice, etc. in the walls or floor and moved on with my life.
Last night, the dog started going crazy at the head of the basement stairs. After looking intently at a pile of boxes along the verge of the stairs, I finally saw a little possum face peeking out. I tried to shift the boxes and nab him, but he scurried down the stairs and disappeared into a little hole in the wall.
I immediately returned to the basement with a flashlight to investigate, and straight off found two juvenile possums who'd managed to climb off a concrete ledge and trap themselves in an empty plastic bucket. After several minutes of searching, I also found the possum that had been up on the stairs, but he scurried into an inaccessible hiding spot when I tried to nab him.
I moved the two trapped possums into a plastic storage tub with some old fleece pajama bottoms for bedding, some cat food, pear slices, and water on one side, and some shredded newspaper on the other side for a toilet. (Note: Even totally wild possums are extremely docile, and will not bite even if you pick them up and hold them. I wore welding gloves just in case, though.)
I set a live raccoon trap for the third escapee and baited it with cat food before heading to bed, but I discovered in the morning (as I suspected) that he was too light to set it off, and had just eaten the cat food. I drove to a local farm supply store this afternoon to buy a squirrel-sized raccoon trap, and just a couple of hours later I'd caught the third possum and placed him with his siblings.
They're all over eight inches, so mama possum must have said "time to fuck off" and shaken them off. It just happened to occur in my basement. There's an unseasonal freeze happening the next few days, so I'll keep them until it warms up and then release them into the wild. They'll probably then be eaten by a raccoon or coyote, but that's nature for you.
Last night, the dog started going crazy at the head of the basement stairs. After looking intently at a pile of boxes along the verge of the stairs, I finally saw a little possum face peeking out. I tried to shift the boxes and nab him, but he scurried down the stairs and disappeared into a little hole in the wall.
I immediately returned to the basement with a flashlight to investigate, and straight off found two juvenile possums who'd managed to climb off a concrete ledge and trap themselves in an empty plastic bucket. After several minutes of searching, I also found the possum that had been up on the stairs, but he scurried into an inaccessible hiding spot when I tried to nab him.
I moved the two trapped possums into a plastic storage tub with some old fleece pajama bottoms for bedding, some cat food, pear slices, and water on one side, and some shredded newspaper on the other side for a toilet. (Note: Even totally wild possums are extremely docile, and will not bite even if you pick them up and hold them. I wore welding gloves just in case, though.)
I set a live raccoon trap for the third escapee and baited it with cat food before heading to bed, but I discovered in the morning (as I suspected) that he was too light to set it off, and had just eaten the cat food. I drove to a local farm supply store this afternoon to buy a squirrel-sized raccoon trap, and just a couple of hours later I'd caught the third possum and placed him with his siblings.
They're all over eight inches, so mama possum must have said "time to fuck off" and shaken them off. It just happened to occur in my basement. There's an unseasonal freeze happening the next few days, so I'll keep them until it warms up and then release them into the wild. They'll probably then be eaten by a raccoon or coyote, but that's nature for you.
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