Thankful for a pillowcase to keep my nose warm!
Well, we are thankful for kind people like this man who adopted a baby alligator and has become famous for his care and concern for gators.
Mama is not sure she would snooze with Wallygator, but he is awfully cute in his swimming pool photos, and he seems to be smiling all the time.
Stay tuned for mama’s new fascination with possums, because of a book she read recently suggested by her friend in Santa Barbara who visited the Jurassic Museum in LA and met a possum who was being possum-sat until his family returned from vacation.
Did you know that possums are friendly and just like to be left alone to eat ticks, snails, snakes, and other things that are harmful to anthros? They have been on the earth for 30 million years, and they help clean up your yards and environs in a wonderful way…
More later…today it’s gator!
POSSUMS ROCK!!!
Wow, Loulou what a lovely story. All creatures deserve to be cared for and loved.
Yes, he really is a wonder but…I think I would have a possum….for sure a KITTY!
I’ve been possum-friendly, warily, since Founding Queen Cat Magic trained a great big stinky one to come and go on cue, using mouse entrails as rewards. That was about thirty years ago. I figured an animal that cat would want as a pet had to be good for something, and they are.
Possums will eat anything they can catch. They usually respect full-grown cats and dogs, though if it came to a fight the possum might win. Sometimes they become our pets’ pets. When not being baited with mice or leftover food they’ll happily eat the mess out of the sand pit, which is useful. But they will eat chickens if able to get at them.
Some possums will kill and eat kittens, too, or small puppies. I don’t know which is cause and which is effect, but there’s a correlation with the relationship between the possum and mother cat. One year a small cat gently slapped a large possum–hardly able to reach across the possum’s neck, but just showing me how docile her pet was. Other years the adult cats growled at the resident possum; I trapped those possums and released them at the state nature park, no cats allowed.
Possums don’t usually transmit any disease or parasite to humans, cats, or dogs, because they don’t host the same ones and they rarely get close to us. As composters they eat nasty stuff, though, and could potentially spread germs by touch, as flies do.
You might enjoy comparing notes with jehannamama.livejournal.com; she blogged about rearing a baby possum and keeping it as a clean house pet (not a very good one, she said, mostly interested in hiding).
YOU ARE SO KIND TO INCLUDE ALL OF THIS INFO IN YOUR COMMENT. MERCI, Priscilla!!! And yes, I will contack her for info. The little book is a jewel for youngsters learning to read and learn about little animals in the wild, but no, no possi for us as pets. Just let them be and clean up the area as they love to do! And they are so, so shy and guess what happens when they are afraid: they play POSSUM, haha.
We knew about possums but we really do NOT want a gator fursib.
Oh, I’m with you and I’ll bet you have a few in Florida, no?
I don’t think I would ever wanna be that close to an alligator, Loulou. Y’know…we used to have a possum that visited our house almost every day. He liked to eat the bird food that the mom left out for the birds. He was quite entertaining. ~Ernie
Oh, how sweet to have a possum in your yard, Ernie, but yes, better in the yard than in the house….
Not so sure about having a gator as a pet (eek) but possums are kinda cute. We have one that fairly regularly visits our front porch and helps himself to water which we have out for anyone needing a drink…and if the next door neighbor’s kitty who comes here for breakfast doesn’t eat all the dry food in a bowl, the possum does! Cute!
Hugs, Teddy
Well, this book on possi (!?) IS DELIGHTFUL! Mama is so grateful to her friend for recommenging it and it’s short but mama wants a possum now! I think in the yard or neighborhood is best. DO NOT EAT THEM!!!!!!!!Cruel and they love one another and love just being left alone to clean up the neighborhood.
Granny needs a possum right now…MOL…LouLou, one of my nicknames was Possum, now I know why…why not😹Extra Pawkiss from Heaven for a Happy Day🐾😽✨
Oh, what a wonderful nickname. LOVE possums, possi? Even I loved the story and pics as they are so, so cute.
Hmm, don’t know about hanging with alligators, Loulou, but we know that opossums are very handy to have in one’s yard.
Oh, we are so glad you have a possum. We have none here! Unless they are disguised as jaybirds.
Gators need love too, that’s quite the sweet photo!
This Wallygator is FAMOUS and about to win a contest for best pet!
I know a possum killed one of our blogging friends Purrseidon’s favorite chicken so now I don’t like them. XO
It could have been a sick chicken and put out of its misery, no? Haven’t seen that they kill chickens…will look into that.
We have possums that regularly dine in our back yard, they are just the sweetest things! Not sure how I feel about gators though, kinda scary LouLou.
I think to stick to possums is best…food bills are high for gators!
And possums are not likely to carry rabies; something about their lower body temp, which makes them less likely to be chased away from the leftover catfood by me.
They do not carry rabies, that is a fact. Maybe just an extra bowl for them???
Somehow neither creature appeals to me for a pet, though that gator has a harness on, I do hope he never feels hungry enough to take a nibble or a bite
If I had to choose, it might just be the possum…there are plenty of ticks around here, ughh.
THEY LOVE TICKS, more than anything, they eat 50 or more ticks a day! If they can find them that is.
I DIDN’T WRITE THIS!
I don’t know what ‘this’ is. Love from here.