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Don't Kill Those Possums #7389967 12/30/18 05:01 AM
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HS2 Offline OP
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Well, who'd a thunk it? It turns out the lowly possum serves a benefit.

Possums: Killers of Ticks


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390037 12/30/18 12:26 PM
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Great info up


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390045 12/30/18 12:58 PM
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They will get a pass from me from now on up

"I had no suspicion they'd be such efficient tick-killing animals," Ostfeld said.

Indeed, among other opossum traits, there is this: They groom themselves fastidiously, like cats. If they find a tick, they lick it off and swallow it. (The research team on the project went through droppings to find this out. All praise to those who study possum poop.)

Extrapolating from their findings, Ostfeld said, the team estimated that in one season, an opossum can kill about 5,000 ticks.

What ecologists are learning is how complex the interaction of ticks and mammals can be.

For example, foxes probably serve as a host for ticks seeking a blood meal. But foxes are great at killing white-footed mice -- the species in the environment credited with being the chief reservoir of the Lyme bacteria.

Likewise, Ostfeld said, opossums, waddling around at night, pick up lots of ticks. Some ticks end up getting their blood meal from the possum. But more than 90 percent of them ended up being groomed away and swallowed.

"They're net destroyers of ticks," Ostfeld said.


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390053 12/30/18 01:14 PM
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I’ve always given them a pass.


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390068 12/30/18 01:35 PM
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don k Offline
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Around here I haven't see a tick in years. The fire ants have wiped them out.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390099 12/30/18 02:15 PM
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In the woods they get a pass, around the chicken coop all bets are off.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390108 12/30/18 02:25 PM
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I give them a pass or relocate them, depends how I feel at the time.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390555 12/30/18 10:01 PM
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They get a pass from me. When I first built the house I'm in now we found a possum on the back porch about weekly, so often I kept a "possum stick" on the back porch. A hand snare made of PVC pipe and a piece of rope, and a possum cage we nick-named the "Drunk Tank" after George Jones. (points if you get that reference). I'd drop the open cage in a creek bank on the way to work and pick up the (hopefully) empty cage on the way home.

I had no idea what the tick-eaters they are, I've just always thought they were so ugly they're cute. And yes, I have seen them crawl out of dead cows.


"I have no idea what WW-III will be fought with, but WW-IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390576 12/30/18 10:21 PM
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I catch them all the time when trying to catch the feral cats around here. Just open the cage and let them go.

Let my Lab out one morning and she brought me back one with a bunch of babies. Had to round them all up and give them back to thier momma who was unharmed by the Lab.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390589 12/30/18 10:34 PM
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'Jury's still out on whether they eat quail eggs. 'Kill 'em all 'til I know for sure.


...and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen. 1:28
Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390652 12/30/18 11:20 PM
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Drivers in Mt Vernon didn't give them a pass this weekend,,saw several dead in the middle of the road.


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390740 12/31/18 01:17 AM
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and fox's, they eat the rodents ect that host the ticks


hold on Newt, we got a runaway
Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390751 12/31/18 01:30 AM
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With these tic eating animals and animals that eat animals with tics... why do we still have tics?
I blame pigs, it is always the pigs.


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390753 12/31/18 01:32 AM
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Oh they eat quail and eggs I assume. Raised quail and the stinky buggers would reach through the chicken wire and grab hold of a quail and eat him alive while pulling chunks out of them. I kill em'.


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390788 12/31/18 02:00 AM
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Yeah they prolly do attract a lot of ticks. I seriously doubt that they can remove the majority of tick infestation on their body as they simply cannot lick most of their body surface. The data from the study would seem to indicate these critters are highly infested with ticks.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390940 12/31/18 06:12 AM
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My wife has a “pet” one that lives in the creek behind the house. Fat little sucker, well fed on table scraps...


Originally Posted by Sneaky
I believe in science and I’m an insufferable [censored]
Originally Posted by beaversnipe
Actually, BBC is pretty damn good

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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7390981 12/31/18 12:17 PM
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Thanks for the info.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7391280 12/31/18 04:53 PM
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No free pass from me. I control their population just like coons.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7391283 12/31/18 04:54 PM
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Always give them and dillos passes

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7391297 12/31/18 05:14 PM
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No reason to kill something if I’m not going to eat it and I’ve tried possum ONCE....never again.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: TooLow] #7391299 12/31/18 05:16 PM
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Originally Posted by TooLow
Always give them and dillos passes


Originally Posted by Sneaky
I believe in science and I’m an insufferable [censored]
Originally Posted by beaversnipe
Actually, BBC is pretty damn good

"You Cannot Simultaneously Be Politically Correct And Intellectually Honest!"
Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7391324 12/31/18 05:36 PM
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Not only ticks, but rattlesnakes, copperheads and water mocassins are also on the menu. Opposums are immune to snake venom and get a lifetime free pass.

Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: Cast] #7392197 01/01/19 02:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Cast
I’ve always given them a pass.



Same here, their lifespan is so short I figure what the hell, they dont usually cause a big problem anyway. Easy to trap and relocate if needed.


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: majekman] #7392248 01/01/19 03:38 PM
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Originally Posted by majekman
No reason to kill something if I’m not going to eat it and I’ve tried possum ONCE....never again.

I kill mice, rats, and coyotes, I am not eating them


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Re: Don't Kill Those Possums [Re: HS2] #7392256 01/01/19 03:46 PM
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Never saw the reason for killing them in the first place. Don't see where they do any harm and they are kind of cool. One of the few mammals that have remained unchanged for millions of years. There are fossils of possums that are nearly identical to the ones wandering around today. Can't say that about many things. Possums and dillos always get a pass from me, just have no desire to kill or bother them.


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