Stop digging up my flower bed!

[ggeen]

My Beagle, Kirby, scared an opossum up the fence a couple of weeks ago at midnight. Oh, if you check the EXIF data is says 7PM -- all my equipment is set to ZULU time. Well, I was mowing the lawn this evening when I notice that my plant beds are all torn up.

Below is the suspect in question. I'm debating putting out little WANTED posters.

[JohnT]

It's probably looking for something to eat. Put out a bowl of dry dog food for the opossum. It will serve as a distraction from digging in your flower bed.

[celticmama36]

They love dry cat food, too. While trying to tend to neighborhood strays, we've managed to attract possums and racoons, too. Yayay us haha

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by celticmama36

They love dry cat food, too. While trying to tend to neighborhood strays, we've managed to attract opossums and raccoons, too. Yayay us haha

They might prefer cat food actually. I just wasn't sure if Glen had any.

[ggeen]

<=== Having a dog and not a cat, no, I have no cat food. The little critters already get into the bird seed and I think in the bird bath too. I'm not sure that I want to encourage them any more that I have. My yard has lots of cover for small critters to hide in. Honestly that is what its for. It just caught be my surprise last night when I had to redistribute the mulch in the plant beds up front.

Anyway, if there were any grubs left, I hope that the fella got them all.

[DHaass]

If you feed wild animals you will only be feeding more wild animals in short time. If you have food available, other than what's naturally in the ground, you are only asking to increase the occupancy rate in your yard. Animals know to come back to a constant food source. They do talk to their friends. If that's what you want to do, have at it. Otherwise the only thing you can do is ensure you don't leave them anything else to eat that would cause them to come back. They will eventually quit coming back. I'll trade with you; I have skunks.

[corralup]

I have skunks too, Doug! Well, I also have mice/rats, racoons, possums, snakes. As long as they all stay outside my house I'm ok with it. My dogs try to keep them out of my yard. I think they rather sleep though.
To save your garden you can use repellents. Sometimes they work. It worked for a while for my house. http://www.critter-repellent.com/
Or you can wait for him to get run over by a car. I heard they don't live very long.

[ggeen]

Thanks Doug. I failed to write down my unintended consequences on this one. Before making any big move, I always write down the unintended consequences of my actions. Then again, I had rabbits and field mice from the day I moved in. On which the snakes feed on. I will have to sit down and decide what I wish to do from here. The fellas just moved some mulch and dirt around. I will have to decide if I'm willing to live with that and what risk to my pet these critter, all of them, are.

The dog is only 5 y/o and very capable of taking care of himself now. He is up-to-date on all shots and I keep him in flea/tick medicine monthly. The only thing that really scares me is if the dog actually catches the opossum in the yard. Then what?! Hmm.

[TXForesterII]

Originally Posted by JohnT

It's probably looking for something to eat. Put out a bowl of dry dog food for the opossum. It will serve as a distraction from digging in your flower bed.

Good advice. At one time my dog seemed to be going through a lot of dog food. Then I caught the culprit on my deck. They hiss loudly when you corner them under a chair.

[picman]

Almost a million Google hits for "opossum recipes"

[DHaass]

Originally Posted by ggeen

Thanks Doug. I failed to write down my unintended consequences on this one. Before making any big move, I always write down the unintended consequences of my actions. Then again, I had rabbits and field mice from the day I moved in. On which the snakes feed on. I will have to sit down and decide what I wish to do from here. The fellas just moved some mulch and dirt around. I will have to decide if I'm willing to live with that and what risk to my pet these critter, all of them, are.

The dog is only 5 y/o and very capable of taking care of himself now. He is up-to-date on all shots and I keep him in flea/tick medicine monthly. The only thing that really scares me is if the dog actually catches the opossum in the yard. Then what?! Hmm.

The opossum will most likely be killed by your dog than the other way around. I'm surprised it even comes in the yard with a dog out there.

[timberwoof]

Get a trap and take it out to the country side. Your local animal control may have one you can rent.

[celticmama36]

Originally Posted by DHaass

If you feed wild animals you will only be feeding more wild animals in short time. If you have food available, other than what's naturally in the ground, you are only asking to increase the occupancy rate in your yard. Animals know to come back to a constant food source. They do talk to their friends. If that's what you want to do, have at it. Otherwise the only thing you can do is ensure you don't leave them anything else to eat that would cause them to come back. They will eventually quit coming back. I'll trade with you; I have skunks.

We've been visited by those, too. Those occasions haven't been too pleasant

I've gone outside on occasion to find young possums eating side-by-side with the cats. The funniest thing was when all of a sudden one of them decided to "play possum" in the food bowl. It is amazing how fast they go from being wide awake to 'dead'.

While there have been a few hissing episodes between them, overall the cats and the possums seem to get along just fine.