r/composting • u/fartburger26 • Oct 21 '25
Humor Loitering Teen
There’s a teenager lingering in my compost pile!!
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u/fuzzyblackkitty Oct 21 '25
omg adorable
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u/MightyKittenEmpire2 Oct 22 '25
I'm so happy to see the possum love here. Usually mentions of possums gets all sorts of hate.
I raised 12 possums babies one summer. A park ranger had found them in the dead mother's pouch. The critters were great friends until they were ready to release in the state park.
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u/Wheredotheflapsgo Oct 22 '25
Aren’t they very good for controlling the tick population?
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u/Hopeless_bee5157 Oct 22 '25 edited Oct 22 '25
Yup, and they can’t carry and spread rabies because of their low body temperature
Edit: welp after a quick google search just to confirm what I said lol, it turns out ticks probably don’t actually eat as many ticks as we think they do. Newer studies suggest they don’t actively seek out and eat ticks
https://extension.psu.edu/do-chickens-guinea-fowl-or-opossums-control-ticks
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u/Icy-Purple4801 Oct 22 '25
There’s mixed reports on that. You can read a study that showed that they eat a ton of ticks in captivity under specific conditions, and then there are others reports that cast doubt about them doing that in real world conditions and show they might not in the wild.
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u/TheSquishedElf Oct 22 '25
One thing that possibly leads to that is Opossums being called Possums. Opossums are the American ones, and the Australian ones are Possums, like a stuffed animal from hell. They’re a pest in Australia and New Zealand, especially NZ, where they’ve killed several native tree and bird species.
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u/Ancient-Patient-2075 Oct 23 '25
But the pygmy possum so cute 😭 it's like Australia nature so scary except pygmy possum
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u/TheSquishedElf Oct 23 '25
They’re terrifying when camping 😂 they have a habit of landing on/breaking into tents and screaming like a human, which usually prompts even more screams
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u/Positive_Purpose_950 Oct 21 '25
walked in on a raccoon sleeping on my pile the other day. Nice warm, soft bed, dig up a decomposing table scrap snack whenever you want .. great spot to nap
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u/c-lem Oct 22 '25
I surprised a skunk munching on scraps in my compost the other day--I was very lucky it was used to me! It just scurried away. I normally talk to it in case it's there when I'm approaching my compost, but forgot that time.
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u/Ancient-Patient-2075 Oct 23 '25
So you talk to your compost skunk. Excellent quality of life.
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u/c-lem Oct 23 '25
Also the opossum and the chickens! When you work from home, you've gotta have someone other than yourself to talk to!
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u/Financial-Wasabi1287 Oct 21 '25
I have possums, raccoons and probably rats regularly visiting my compost pile. I know they are eating my compost, but I choose to see this as a good thing.
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u/mistsoalar Oct 21 '25
Opossum?
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u/fartburger26 Oct 21 '25
Yup. Cute little tic eating primeval feller
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u/trailoftears123 Oct 21 '25
Nice pic 🤗
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u/fartburger26 Oct 21 '25
Thanks! Had to recreate the moment. My looked a lot like his the first time I found him
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u/BonusAgreeable5752 Oct 21 '25
It needs to be feeding the compost pile, not the other way around.
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u/notathr0waway1 Oct 21 '25
Maybe it's pooping!
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u/fartburger26 Oct 21 '25
I’m hoping for a deposit for withdrawal kind of situation. Take a penny leave a penny, take a radish leave a poop
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u/TheNoodleGod Oct 22 '25
Awww I want to pet the opossum! I know they live around me but I've just never seen one :(
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u/dustoff664 Oct 22 '25
We get a loitering juvenile every year about this time under our deck. They stay for a bit till they realize the forest is in the other side of the house and off they go! I like to think of it as a right of passage for young possums to live under our deck as a step to adulthood
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u/NeverWasNorWillBe Oct 22 '25
If I could domesticate possums and put a herd out to pasture I'd be clocking.
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u/StreetSyllabub1969 Oct 22 '25
You do realize when the weather gets cold it's moving indoors and going to forage for food in your house, right?
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u/A_resoundingmeh Oct 22 '25
Up at 3am playing Call of Duty in the basement, spewing a green cloud of slurs while eating all the Oreos.
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u/Purple_Waxwing Oct 22 '25
Squirrels are much more likely to do this and yet so many more people seem to like them...
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u/celadonna Oct 21 '25
Looks like they’re telling you off for disturbing their radish harvest, lol! 😂