Night visitors

Each morning I can see several unknown animal tracks around the house, so I decided to put out a game camera. The camera senses the change in temperature caused by the critter entering its sensing area; the light is IR and invisible to the animals. My first catch was this Opossum heading God knows where, also a veritable herd of deer passing through at four in the morning. The camera has been moved to cover more of the property, so I am looking forward to taking a census of night time visitors.

 

It'll be interesting to see what turns up.

 

A small fox showed up several times last night along with the deer. I moved the camera closer to where the fox sits.

 

I need to set mine back up,packed them away while i decorated and with xmas i forgot,i shall do it tomo thanks for the reminder
Im off to google opossum as ive never heard of them until now

 

We now have opossum here because they snuck up over the border. They have the cutest little pink feet. They are carrion eaters and as a result they have nasty breathe. Know this from first hand experience!

 

Very interesting! Any more photos of your visitors Hydro?

I had to google an opposum too. Here's one.

 

I have been told that the Opossum's defense is to vomit a disgusting smelling mess on an attacker, I prefer not to find out first hand though. I just started this a few days ago, so if I get anything interesting I will post it.

 

I didn't know Possum kissing was a pastime!!! @CanadianLori.

 

I don't know about the vomitting stuff. It didn't do it to me.

I had caught one in a live trap one time and the silly thing hooked one of his incisors in the wires so badly tha his snout was stuck in there too. So I had to gently work the tooth lose to free him. Close up work. Then the little dummy wrapped his tail around the wire at the back and I had to unwind it so I could dump him out.

 

P

People who have had dogs tangle with them have reported it on another forum I belong to.

Doing my own research I found the following:

An opossum will work its jaw until excessive drool forms and it is actually blowing bubbles out of its nose! Heavy drooling causes a predator to think the opossum is sick and consequently unappetizing.


Alligator-mouth


Even before opossums have teeth, they will gape their mouth in a threatening manner. (The babies do not realize that this is only impressive when they finally have teeth!) This act alone will keep many predators (including humans) at bay.


Anal gland fluid


Fear can cause release of a greenish-colored anal fluid. Opossums cannot “spray”, and the only way this unpleasant-smelling body fluid can come in contact with you is if your clothes brush the anal area. It washes off easily.

 

They do "freeze" when they perceive danger. I had a giant giggle one night when my sister went out on the deck for a smoke. She is one of those people who moves slowly and so did Orzack (I named him as he was a regular visitor).. anyway Orzack crept up and sat down at the opposite end of the bench where she was sittin before he noticed her. And vice versa. They both froze. He with jaws agape, her with cigarette poised but not smokin' .... Totally cracked me up!!!

 

I was half woken up to my hens cackling away at 9.30am,they have been laying a lot still so i thought they were just bragging as they do,next thing my phone ringing and then my neighbours knocking on the back door,eyes half shut and hair looking like id been doing head spins in bed all night i crawled down the stairs,it seems 2 foxes thought they would chance having my hens for breakfast in broad daylight..how cheeky! good job they are penned in,i will set up my cameras some time today,new yr dinner is 1st on the list thou x

 

Talking about foxes, we get some of those too.





This is one of three urban foxes that regularly visit the garden during the twilight hours. On the estate you can often hear their duelling yelps long before they appear into view.

Some times they trample crops and gnaw on the scarecrow's legs but they do catch rats, I mean big rats, a job they share with the less regular ginger tom visitor, so they've earned their keep and can stay.

 

These cameras are great....seriously thinking of getting one when I move. Are they easy to set up?

 

They are very easy to set up. One of mine has default settings if you don't want to use custom settings, you simply set a slide switch to a number and it will take either photos or videos.

Here is an example: