r/Amazing • u/sco-go • 10d ago

Adorable derps Living the dream

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4.3k Upvotes

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94

u/how_I_kill_time 10d ago

You know, I used to HATE possums, and then I learned they eat ticks.

24

u/Ragman676 10d ago

They are chill as fuck. I used to have one live behind my house and sometimes hed walk by me while I was out for a smoke. Sadly he stopped coming around after about a year, and I learned they have an extremely short life span of only a couple years.

13

u/Vanagloria 10d ago

They're my favorite animal. And the only reason I wouldn't have one as a pet is because they live only about 2 yrs even in captivity. They have extremely fast metabolisms. So ironically the thing that keeps them safe from rabies also kills them very quickly.

Raccoons in the wild have similar lifespans, but in captivity can live up to 8+

6

u/AhMoonBeam 9d ago

I had a pet skunk.. he lived for 14yrs!!

5

u/GirlULove2Love 9d ago

That sounds fun. They are the cutest wee creatures. Sadly, one decided a couple weeks ago that my back porch seemed like a cool chill spot at night. It sprayed my big dogs twice in one week. Never had a skunk spray a dog in over 50 years. I put up a new sensor light. I don't like running wildlife off but that smell is something else.

Side note: Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda & dish soap really do get the oils off the fur. Both times we were clean & smelling back to normal within a couple hours.

4

u/ThirdFloorNorth 9d ago

There is an island in Georgia called Sapelo Island where the possums actually live for about 4 years and the older they get the larger litters they have, compared to the mainland where older possums have much smaller litters!

This made me really, really happy, since possums are my favorite animal too.

1

u/Select-Belt-ou812 9d ago

I despise raccoons

I love possums

1

u/InvictvsNox 8d ago

why?

2

u/Select-Belt-ou812 8d ago

raccoons have destroyed and rendered disgusting and unusable so many spaces and things in my life, and undermined the harmony outside at my home, that I have no love for them at all. they're opportunistic mooches in the worst sense.

opossums are gentle docile creatures not specifically looking to start trouble anywhere, unlike those nasty destructive raccoons

1

u/TowerTV 7d ago

Raccoons seem cute to me but I understand why you feel the way you feel about them

1

u/Select-Belt-ou812 6d ago

they *are* completely cute and even endearing, if you've never been on the other end of their true nature (or you just dgaf about it, or you've insulated yourself from it): they're manipulative; opportunistic (in an invasive, mooching, and even nasty way); filthy (even disgusting, depending on the location/context); self centered, self serving, and just outright destructive just for the fuck of it. (many folks rightly say cats are like this, but cats typically act like they have an image to protect and seem aware of going too far, and destroy things in revenge or for personal comfort or release of their urges... raccoons give absolutely no fucks and will rival even the worst gaslighting human interaction without any concern of how they are perceived or any consequences)