opossums are awesome little critters! they are called opossums because of an extremely old Algonquin word “aposoum”.
they devour absolute tons of ticks per year, and are super resistant to rabies and even some forms of venomous snakes! (which they also sometimes eat. how metal is that? 🤘)
they are also quite good actors and can play dead for several hours if needed!
I just want people to be informed. My story and moreso the linked article I added talks about some of the issues that even positive seeming misinformation can lead to.
Their poo is out of this world stinky, but otherwise they are very awesome.
I was trying to stick them in a bucket to clean their pen, but they kept grabbing on to the lip with their tails. It was hilarious. I like watching them climb also. They look like they should be bad at it, but they’re pretty good.
Awesome critters and no reason anyone should dislike them!
opossums are awesome little critters! they are called opossums because of an extremely old Algonquin word “aposoum”.
they devour absolute tons of ticks per year, and are super resistant to rabies and even some forms of venomous snakes! (which they also sometimes eat. how metal is that? 🤘)
they are also quite good actors and can play dead for several hours if needed!
neat little dudes! =D
I just shared some stuff on this very matter today, including some analysis of the erroneous study that started the whole misconception.
Opossums are still awesome, they just aren’t tick munchers.
went ahead and just deleted my original comment. i got 3 people commenting about it so I’ll just say I think they’re neat.
I hope you didn’t take it personally! 😮
I just want people to be informed. My story and moreso the linked article I added talks about some of the issues that even positive seeming misinformation can lead to.
all good. i got 3 comments all at once so I just figured it was for the best.
Heck, even I didn’t know it was false until I found the post! I’m surprised I saw a couple others mention it. The rumor is really widespread.
We feed ours dried mealworms as part of their diet, so I just assumed they eat whatever bugs.
i now know that they don’t eat many ticks, I was just excited cause I love opposums and I think they get a fairly bad reputation for being “vermin”.
i didn’t realize an article about them not eating ticks was posted today. i don’t think I’m on the instance that shared that.
i guess that’s why all the comments focused on the ticks thing.
i just think they’re neat.
Their poo is out of this world stinky, but otherwise they are very awesome.
I was trying to stick them in a bucket to clean their pen, but they kept grabbing on to the lip with their tails. It was hilarious. I like watching them climb also. They look like they should be bad at it, but they’re pretty good.
Awesome critters and no reason anyone should dislike them!
I think that the tick thing has ended up being a myth. There’s this link I found real quick but I don’t remember where I saw it originally.
I read the tick eating thing is an urban legend.
comment has been removed. apologies.