A furry guest....

I live about 15 miles from San Francisco, directly across the street from Golden Gate National Recreation Area. We have everything up here. Deer, coyotes (they're a pain in the butt during mating season, howling all night. In fact, the other night I went for a walk and a coyote walked right past me), foxes, mountain lions, skunks, raccoons and opossums. Which leads me to my story.

Last night I went downstairs to do some laundry. I heard a noise, and what do I see? An opossum. I have no idea how it got in the house. I scared it and it ran into our spare bedroom, which we use as a storage room. I searched for it until 3 am but couldn't find it. I had to go out today, but resumed my search as soon as I got home. Finally I found it hiding under a tool box. It was, of course, "playing possum" ,not moving. I covered it with a towel, put on some gloves, and picked it up by it's tail which is the safest way to handle an opossum. It wasn't very big, about the size of a six month old cat. I put it in a storage crate and carried it outside. It must have been really frightened because it urinated in the crate. I released it in the open field across the street. I wonder if it was part of a family and if I will have any other surprise guests.

I'm also thankful none of my cats got downstairs. That could have been a nightmare.

Oh my god I would have been scared to death. I don't think I could have handled that very well.

And I am glad your cats didn't see it. That could have been a very bad situation.

I am glad you and the kitties are okay. And I hope you don't get any more unwelcomed furry visitors

Good thing your brave! I would have had to call Animal Control if Jerry wasn't here to get it out. My mom and dad about 15 years ago had a baby bunny in their basement!!! We were shocked when we found it!

Poor little guy must've been scared. Good thing indeed that your cats didn't find it first!

I've had opossums in the house twice. My stupid dogs mauled the 2nd one. The first one was a baby, about the size you mention. The same stupid dogs had slobbered all over it. It was under a low table, hissing and snarling like some kind of Tasmanian Devil. I swept it outside, fearing a bite, or rabies. It went "dead" but then it toodled away about 10 minutes later....I then started online research about 'possums, as we call them here in Florida.

Interestingly, opossums seem to be immune to rabies, maybe because their core body temp is lower than most other mammals. They are also very unlikely to bite, preferring to bluff, then play dead.

My brother is a vet, and assured me that a kitten-sized (not counting tail) 'possum can live on his/her own.

They don't stay in any one place, but roam around like little gray hobos.

Here's a good website:

http://www.opossum.org/

Here's my wet unhappy "playing possum" baby possum once he was swept out onto the back deck (poor ugly baby!):

If you ever get an adult possum in a trap or cornered it does NOT play possem - those things are nasty with nasty sharp teeth - I would not trust handling them. They can be viscious if they want to.

Well, looks like it might not be over yet. Yesterday morning, I heard a noise downstairs, looked around but didn't see anything. When I got home from work, I discovered a bunch of boxes had been knocked down while I was gone. So I think there are more, but I haven't been able to find anything yet. I might have to set out a trap. Wish me luck.

Good luck trapping them!
Nelle - aww, that baby's so ugly it's cute!

possems and cats seem to get along for some strange reason i saw a huge opossem eating out of a cats dish side by side with a couple of other feral cats there was no hissing or problems. I was shocked to see them aall act like the other didnt even exist??

I also saw a skunk and cats interact peacfully like that

I have to agree, Pushy! It IS so repulsively adorable, LOL!