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oh poor possum younglings
Saturday, June 3rd, 2017 11:23 pmLast week, the dogs were at Qiao's place. One night, they were barking and digging by the A/C unit, but Qiao couldn't see what they were after. The next day, Serena caught a young opossum. Qiao got it away from her and put it outside the fence. At first it played dead, but later it was gone, so it must have been ok enough to walk away.
A few nights ago, Serena somehow got out of Qiao's yard. This is the 2nd time she's done that, with no signs of disturbance along the bottom of the fence. She must be climbing out. At my house, when she was younger, she used to be able to climb the fence at the corners, until I put up extra fencing there. In another spot, she was able to climb the fence while bracing her backside against a wood fence which was parallel to it for a short section - until I blocked off that area.
Now I've put up extra fencing on the corners of Qiao's yard. But there are also some trees right along the inside of the fence - I still have to decide what to do there. She may be using the trees to help her climb too. In the meantime, the dogs are staying at my place again.
Tonight, I sat down outside on the driveway, to take in the night air and sounds for a bit. Serena was wandering around behind the garage. I glanced to my right, and saw something move. There was an animal shape on a low branch of the nearby Juniper bush... with a skinny hairless tail. My first thought was "Rat!" (it was the size of an adult rat) - I jumped up and back away from the bush. Both dogs jumped into the bushes after it, and Serena caught it almost right away. My next thought was, OMG maybe it's another baby opossum! I yelled at the dogs and ran after Serena and picked her up until she dropped the animal. Sure enough, a young opossum. I struggled to get both dogs inside the house, so they couldn't go after it again. Then I went to check on it with a flashlight. It was breathing and had its eyes open. I didn't see any bleeding wounds. So hopefully it wasn't badly hurt. I just checked again, and it is gone. Hopefully it will find a better place to hide now. I'll keep the dogs tied up tonight, just in case.
A few nights ago, Serena somehow got out of Qiao's yard. This is the 2nd time she's done that, with no signs of disturbance along the bottom of the fence. She must be climbing out. At my house, when she was younger, she used to be able to climb the fence at the corners, until I put up extra fencing there. In another spot, she was able to climb the fence while bracing her backside against a wood fence which was parallel to it for a short section - until I blocked off that area.
Now I've put up extra fencing on the corners of Qiao's yard. But there are also some trees right along the inside of the fence - I still have to decide what to do there. She may be using the trees to help her climb too. In the meantime, the dogs are staying at my place again.
Tonight, I sat down outside on the driveway, to take in the night air and sounds for a bit. Serena was wandering around behind the garage. I glanced to my right, and saw something move. There was an animal shape on a low branch of the nearby Juniper bush... with a skinny hairless tail. My first thought was "Rat!" (it was the size of an adult rat) - I jumped up and back away from the bush. Both dogs jumped into the bushes after it, and Serena caught it almost right away. My next thought was, OMG maybe it's another baby opossum! I yelled at the dogs and ran after Serena and picked her up until she dropped the animal. Sure enough, a young opossum. I struggled to get both dogs inside the house, so they couldn't go after it again. Then I went to check on it with a flashlight. It was breathing and had its eyes open. I didn't see any bleeding wounds. So hopefully it wasn't badly hurt. I just checked again, and it is gone. Hopefully it will find a better place to hide now. I'll keep the dogs tied up tonight, just in case.