What's In Your Garage??
By fishtiger58
@fishtiger58 (29820)
Momence, Illinois
October 16, 2017 10:13am CST
I was reading a post from @Tampa_girl7 this morning about them seeing a wild boar in her dad's yard. Pretty scary stuff. I hear in some areas of the United States the wild boar are growing in numbers and they are mean and dangerous. I'm pretty sure we don't have those in the Chicago area. At least not that I have heard. What we do have is opossums.
I have an unusual story to tell about opossums. We have a large barn garage on our property. The former owners built a huge work bench in the barn and my hubby decided to keep it when we bought this house. The work bench has two very large drawers on it, you need two hands to open it. It's way to big and heavy for me to open.
A month ago or so my hubby needed something out of that drawer. He reached down and opened the drawer without really looking and reached in to get what he needed and got nipped in the hand by something. He looked down and in the corner of that big drawer sat a opossum just sitting there looking at him. He was shocked.
He got one of our 5 gallon buckets with a lid and, seriously I'm not kidding, scooped that opossum into the bucket and put the lid on it. Then he drove out to a wooded area about 5 miles from our home and let it go. My husband said he just kind of sauntered off.
About a week later he walked into the barn and sitting right in the middle of his work bench was another opossum. Say what!! This one was a bit more skittish and took off into the depths of our barn. So the search was on. It took my husband about 2 hours to catch him. But catch him he did, same way as the first and took another drive out to the woods.
As for getting nipped by this critter. We kept that scratch my husband got clean and did a bit of research on opossums. Apparently opossums have a very low body temperature. And because of that rabies and other nasty things can't live inside the opossums bodies. There is no known case of an opossum having rabies. We were greatly relieved but continued to watch his scratch carefully. Thankfully all is well with that.
My husband has a habit of leaving the barn door open overnight and that's how the opossums got in. I am still freaked out about that and so when I am going into the barn I slam the service door a few times and stamp my foot.
My husband has been making sure the doors are closed before night these days. I think that's a fine idea.
14 people like this
13 responses
@BarBaraPrz (47677)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
16 Oct 17
I don't have a garage, here or at my previous place in Hamilton. When I was getting the junk carted away from the shed in Hamilton, we found two opossums huddled in the corner. They had made themselves a nice home there with leaves and bits of insulation. Unfortunately, the new owner tore down the shed (it wasn't that old) to put in a driveway in the back. There had been a garage there but a big bad ole tree fell on it so I had it torn down and the shed put up in its place.
The one of yours that showed up the next day was probably the wife wondering where hubby went... "He just stepped out to get a paper and never came back."
They are kinda cute critters, though, aren't they?
3 people like this
@snowy22315 (182204)
• United States
16 Oct 17
I would freak out if I saw a possum in my drawer for sure..even a mouse would probably freak me out.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (182204)
• United States
24 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 I have never had a mouse in the house but once or twice have had them in the ductwork. Not sure how they get into those places. Thank God it never made it into the house!
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
@snowy22315 We have had a few right as the cold weather starts, we get them and then no more thankfully. I hear they have collapsible spines so they can get in the smallest of spaces.
@LadyDuck (472060)
• Switzerland
17 Oct 17
We have wild boars coming down from the woods and there are many. They come to eat everything they can, this is why the wineries have fenced all the areas with grape, to stop attracting those big wild boars, they can easily kill a man with those big teeth.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (472060)
• Switzerland
24 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 They are dangerous. The hunting season for the wild boars has just ended here.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
26 Oct 17
@LadyDuck I'm glad I don't live in an area where the wild boars are.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
the wild boar in the United States are becoming a problem in the southern states I have heard, and very mean and dangerous.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (83103)
• United States
16 Oct 17
Opossums can be nasty and I'm glad that your husband didn't get infected from that bite. We had an opossum in our garage once and my daughter tried to chase it with a broom and it held it's ground, showed it's teeth and hissed at her. I didn't think my daughter could move that fast and the opossum pretty much owned the garage. This was years ago and thankfully I don't have any critters living in my garage now.
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
Yes I was happy we were able to get them relocated, they can be nasty and we are so glad they are gone.
@JudyEv (342145)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 For years all I knew about rabies I learnt from 'Ol' Yeller'! So I gather even if an animal has rabies it won't necessarily attack. Is that correct?
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
27 Oct 17
@JudyEv Correct, most animals won't but after a certain time when the rabies make them crazy that's when they become dangerous and will attack.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
26 Oct 17
Many of the wild animals in the US can and do carry rabies.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61101)
• United States
9 Nov 17
Possums are just so ugly that they freak me out, I would not be thrilled to come across one up close and personal.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
9 Nov 17
Me either, I now stamp my feet before I go in the barn, freaks me out
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (69033)
• United States
16 Oct 17
I'm the only person on my block with a garage who uses it for a strange and novel idea: parking my car in it. Most of the "critters" in the garage are spiders and crickets, but that's because I haven't sprayed in a while.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
Yea what a novel idea, hubby has his precious boat in there I would love to park my car in there but no room lol.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
they sure are ugly little things. I will have to take a look online but thankfully no more presently.
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
22 Oct 17
I'm glad the bite didn't get infected and that he has re located them...
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
We are too, we didnt' want to kill the poor thing, hope he has found a new and better home.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (20040)
• United States
24 Oct 17
wow. He should look in the drawer before getting something out next time. My mother had found one under the house once.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
26 Oct 17
That did it for him, he looks before he leaps these days lol.
1 person likes this
@paigea (36315)
• Canada
16 Oct 17
Our cat's bed is in the garage. I have gone to let him in only to discover a strange cat sleeping in his bed.
I don't know where he slept.
Birds get into the garage as hubby keeps the doors open all day.
So far only stray cats have come in throug the little cat door.
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
Oh wow we haven't had birds yet that I'm aware of. We do have a couple of cats around the neighborhood but so far not in the barn.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (117146)
• Anniston, Alabama
16 Oct 17
We have them here too. The dogs treed a mom with a few babies on her back. We caught one a few months later and took it off, like he did. and last night another was eating the cats food and he was not scared of us but Tony ran him off the deck, it was pouring rain. I will trap this one and take it off. We have a small animal cage we use.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
Yes so do we, but hubby used that bucket and it's worked great.