Hunting Wabbits, Opossums, and the Fox

When I mention the Virginia Opossums we catch in our fox trap, people always tell me how ugly or mean possums are, but I think this little lady is kind of sweet looking.  Her nose is a pretty pink, her eyes are clear and bright, and her ears are cute little circles.  Her tail leaves something to be desired, since it is mostly bald and rat like, but no one's perfect.  She even has little pink fingers!

We are having zero luck trapping the fox.  We've tried different baits, and different trap locations.  We bought a larger trap too.  We might have more luck if the possums would stop getting in the trap.  Brandon makes declarations that he's going to kill the possums, but so far, he always lets them go. 

If you zoom in on the picture above, you can see a tiny baby possum dangling from her belly.  

She ran so fast when the trap was opened, the the baby fell off into the grass.  Oh no!

It's so tiny!  It's eyes were sealed shut, and it's legs were wobbly.  It started making a little sneezing noise, which I read is to help the mother find the lost baby.  

I put it in the shade where she dropped it, and we stayed away.  Did you know there's an Opossum Society of the United States?  I did not, but they have a good summary of their life cycle and some funny myths about them.  Apparently the bifurcated Opossum penis led people to believe the the female was impregnated through her nostrils, and she then sneezed the super tiny (twenty can fit in a teaspoon) babies into her pouch!  Ha! Marsupials are weird, but not that weird!

Speaking of weird... Unbeknownst to Brandon, the mail lady and I were having a conversation in the side yard on Friday when he came walking around the house in his fox hunting outfit, and carrying a rifle.  He had vegetation stuffed in the brim of his floppy hat and was wearing his home made camouflage shirt.  She managed to keep her cool, but Brandon and I are still laughing about how funny he looked.  If only he had said he was out hunting wabbits in his best Elmer Fudd voice! Ha!  Spending so much time away from neighbors is having detrimental effects on our appearance!  Needless to say - he did not get the fox, despite the twigs on his head.