Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Answer to EdBed's possum question

For mysterious reasons, I can't post an answer to your blog, it accuses me in red print of making mysterious errors but doesn't specify their nature. Very Kafkaesque,

Hey, he really is cute, for a possum.

If you garden, a possum is your friend. Eats snails! Yes, snails, and slugs, too. Maybe even puppy dogs' tails, and whatever else little boys are made of. Also eats insects. But as you just discovered, if you leave cat food outside, he likes that even better. He's a carnivorous-leaning omnivore, like us, but with a special French tastes for les escargots cru.

One thing you don't want to do is scare him into "playing possum," where he'll pretend to be dead and secrete some stinky exudate that will make him smell not just dead, but dead for about a week in hot weather. Yuck!

In the South, they are occasionally roasted with sweet potatoes. At a great butcher shop in the Fillmore District (before the neighborhood was gentrified) they offered possum around Xmas, always with the feet still on to demonstrate definitively it was real possum, not Fluffy the Cat.

So, two alternatives. One: live with him and let him clear your garden of snails and slugs, and don't terrify him. Two: call local animal control to move him somewhere. Three (that's three possibilities of two), keep your cat food inside, and let him eat snails. And hope he's not a she, which might eventually bring a possum explosion.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village

For mysterious reasons, I can't post an answer to your blog, it accuses me in red print of making mysterious errors but doesn't specify their nature. Very Kafkaesque,

Hey, he really is cute, for a possum.

If you garden, a possum is your friend. Eats snails! Yes, snails, and slugs, too. Maybe even puppy dogs' tails, and whatever else little boys are made of. Also eats insects. But as you just discovered, if you leave cat food outside, he likes that even better. He's a carnivorous-leaning omnivore, like us, but with a special French tastes for les escargots cru.

One thing you don't want to do is scare him into "playing possum," where he'll pretend to be dead and secrete some stinky exudate that will make him smell not just dead, but dead for about a week in hot weather. Yuck!

In the South, they are occasionally roasted with sweet potatoes. At a great butcher shop in the Fillmore District (before the neighborhood was gentrified) they offered possum around Xmas, always with the feet still on to demonstrate definitively it was real possum, not Fluffy the Cat.

So, two alternatives. One: live with him and let him clear your garden of snails and slugs, and don't terrify him. Two: call local animal control to move him somewhere. Three (that's three possibilities of two), keep your cat food inside, and let him eat snails. And hope he's not a she, which might eventually bring a possum explosion.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Giant Rat for Breakfast?

Next Article

Two Celebrities, Two Sad Incidents

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader