emmamark

Hi all, I’m a little concerned about an opossum we caught in a Havahart trap. We set Havahart traps along the borders of our chicken coops to catch raccoons, then release them the next day. Opossums and our own cats aren’t unusual to catch in these.

Overnight we caught an opossum, it was fine and then when we went to let her go she had bled out. She had no wounds externally, she wasn’t shut in the door of the trap (and even if she was this traps door is not heavy like some of these larger traps are). This includes her tail. I went and looked at the body and she had rectal prolapse, is it possible hemorrhaging could have caused her death? With no blood on the face, she must have bled solely out of her rectal cavity. A family member suggested she had a distemper. She was very small but full grown, she had some yellowing on the teeth. Before I saw the body I thought maybe her heart gave out.

There is a road down the hill so she could very well have been clipped by a car. I hate to think that she suffered and we didn’t notice something was wrong, someone could have put her down so she wouldn’t have suffered.

Any idea if this sounds like disease or trauma? I hope it is an isolated event and the animals don’t have anything.

Tartan

Perhaps she ate some rat poison. Some rat poisons contain an anticoagulant that causes animals to bleed out.

toverly

I agree with Tartan, it sounds like she was poisoned. Cruel way to die. Any animal can eat it.

Iceblossom

I would call my local County Extension Agent if your area has such things, or Animal Control if not and ask their recommendations. "Indiscriminate" poisoning is forbidden in many areas for one. If it is a contagious condition the body may need to be disposed of more thoroughly than normal. This is a page from California that's a pretty good breakdown of things.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74123.html

I'm not a big fan of 'possums, but they generally coexist pretty safely and easily with humans, sure you don't want to be bit by anything. Like rodents, I think the problems are more things like ticks and fleas and with the droppings than other forms of transmission, but then I don't get that close to them.

Most 'possums understand cat very well -- if you hiss at them they generally will scurry off. I have some tall fir trees along the back of my property and from time to time they will seek refuge there, but once the dogs come out they usually keep on going. My dog Rio would have been so ashamed of my current dogs, she would never let vermin in her yard and now I think we have a bunny living under the shed.

Snooze2978

When I lived in Florida I'd fine a bunch of cats roaming the neighborhood so I'd leave some food out on the back porch as I also had a cat that came and went as she pleased but stayed near the house. Anyway, these cats were not fixed so I put out a trap like yours to catch them and take them to the animal control center to be fixed and adopted. I knew raccoons came to eat with the cats but the oppossums were not received well by the cats and would be chased off. Funny how that goes with animals. Anyway, one morning I caught a baby oppossum all curled up sleeping when I got home as I worked nights. I let him out and as he was walking away he stopped, turned to look at me like he was saying...............see you tomorrow. And wouldn't you know it, there he was all curled up in the trap the next morning. Guess he found an easy meal. He only did that twice though. Catching the raccoons was another story. When I think about that little guy I have to laugh.

QuiltBaer

Loved your story, Suz in Iowa. Made me laugh too!

cashs_mom

My relationships with possums have not been congenial. We had one in the big tree in the backyard. It would go up there and sleep, I guess. One day my husband was painting some truck parts on the lawn. He was sitting on a stool and the possum fell out of the tree (who knew this could even happen?) and almost fell on him. He jumped up and the possum got up shook himself and wandered off. I kept the dogs in that day so we wouldn't have any confrontations and that night, there he was back in the tree. It took a while to convince him that he needed to live elsewhere.

We also had a young possum come in the doggie door that opens into the master bath. One of my dog woke me at 3 am on a Sunday morning growling and staring at the bathroom. I went in and there he was, sitting by the doggie door and looking a bit freaked out. I tiptoed out and closed the door hoping the he would just leave. I waited half an hour and when he hadn't left , I woke my husband. It took my husband a good 1/2 an hour to get him back out the doggie door. The bathroom door was closed so I'm not sure what went on but there was a lot of growling and hissing involved.

emmamark

Loved your story

mermaid

A few yrs back we woke to find a baby 'possum had fallen into a big bucket sitting on the porch steps. I fed him an apple, named him George Jones (his nickname was "possum"), and released him in the woods behind. They are ugly cute little critters!

Snooze2978

Since moving to Iowa, I had been leaving water and a little food out on the back deck for my Tuxedo that would go outside during the winter time and occasionally I'd find a oppossum out there eating at the cat food. I'd just chase him off. He came back twice but I guess he got the message. Never did see any raccoons come thru here though.