Re: RC: Re: ridecamp-d Digest V00 #5

[Bette Lamore <woa@stormnet.com>]

Hi Michelle
Of course you're correct (Possy even had a little pouch) but to my
husband she was always a little rat, because of her tail.  If it had
just a little hair on it I think he could have been more accepting.
After all, he sleeps with my cats and dogs on the bed.  Couldn't figure
out how to do a hair transplant on her and Rogain does not work on
opossums.  My kids even referred to her as "the rat". I must admit, she
did have some resemblance, but much cuter. Let's just say that if she
did look like a big rat, she was of halter quality.
She is now in Bakersfield, touring the elementary schools, being an
ambassador for all opossums who have gotten a bum rap. I guess if I had
to lose her, at least she's self actualizing. 
Thanks for clarifying so that people didn't get the wrong impression. I
wish they would legalize them in CA. They make wonderful pets when
acquired at birth. Don't you activists get on my case! She was an orphan
and I hardly think that the balance of nature was threatened because I
saved a little creature from being Coyote food.
Oh, before they can be carriers of EPM, they have to have a bird as part
of the cycle. Since she was an indoor opossum and we did not have any
birds and the horses were not allowed in our house (I'm sooo cruel) the
risk was minimal.
Bette

MBlanchrd@aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 01/01/2000 4:22:57 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> ridecamp-d-request@endurance.net writes:
> 
> << broke my heart but not my husband's who was tired of sleeping
>  with a rodent--no not me--the opossum) and had a pet gray squirrel >>
> 
> Forgive me for possibly starting another unrelated thread, but opossums are
> NOT RODENTS. They're not even closely related. Possums are marsupials and
> co-existed with the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous, long before rodents even
> considered evolving!
> And you may want to reconsider keeping them as pets. They've been fingered as
> carriers of the protozoan that causes EPM in horses.
> Michelle Blanchard
> MBlanchrd@aol.com
> 
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=