My tomato thief offed himself

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Dr. Kralenstein

Dr. Kralenstein

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Apr 14, 2022
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The Laboratory, United States
So I've had a tomato raider hitting my garden at night. I knew the squirrels weren't doing it because the tomatoes would be on the ground and almost totally eaten. Coons don't typically go for maters being too acidic, but these guys love them.

So little back story. Power went out Saturday night, I got woke up around midnight to a loud pop from the transformer. I reported the outage and fell back asleep. Next morning everything was kosher.

I went out to check the hens and garden, all was well. I go out this morning and I noticed the smell of death. I figured it was a bird or something I had blasted and didn't recover. Nope, it was this dude....

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He was laying a couple feet away from the bottom of my power pole where the x former sits on top. Apparently he grounded out the wire leads and sent himself to possum heaven.

Key take away, my tomatoes didn't get bothered the last 2 nights, and 2 day old dead possum smells very bad!
 
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It all worked out! Decomp happens fast with possums for some reason. I took one out the other morning and by evening it was a stinkin mess. Our heat doesn’t help. I trapped them for awhile and I would get one every night. I was trying to catch a Tom cat that sprays my house and poops in my yard. I got tired of dealing with possums daily. I never caught the Tom. Suburbia is good for possums. I appreciate the cleanup help with rats I off, but dang there are a lot. I took one out yesterday and I had two in my feeder last night. Clearly by sizes two different ones. I don’t treat them like rats and kill every one I see, but their numbers are still out of control here.
 
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Florida_Man said:
It all worked out! Decomp happens fast with possums for some reason. I took one out the other morning and by evening it was a stinkin mess. Our heat doesn’t help. I trapped them for awhile and I would get one every night. I was trying to catch a Tom cat that sprays my house and poops in my yard. I got tired of dealing with possums daily. I never caught the Tom. Suburbia is good for possums. I appreciate the cleanup help with rats I off, but dang there are a lot. I took one out yesterday and I had two in my feeder last night. Clearly by sizes two different ones. I don’t treat them like rats and kill every one I see, but their numbers are still out of control here.
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I usually leave them alone unless they're tearing up my garden. Had I caught him doing it, this would've been in the hunting gate under "M60B gets first possum" lol.
 
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Dr. Kralenstein said:
I usually leave them alone unless they're tearing up my garden. Had I caught him doing it, this would've been in the hunting gate under "M60B gets first possum" lol.
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After the trapping experience wised me up to how many there are I feel confident they’re doing very well population wise. I’m thinning out like one every 2 months. By seeing what’s on the main roads around my neighborhood cars are doing 10x that damage at least. 🤣

The one the other day presented a perfect side profile. 22cal 14 FPE at 18 yards and it was DRT. Small brains, but when you hit it it’s lights out. I think too many people take a shot when the possum is facing them and usually miss the brain. Often I think they just get the nose area. They start to think they are a tough kill. They just have a lot of bone at the front of their skull and it’s hard to do a good shot placement with how the shape of their head presents.
 
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Florida_Man said:
After the trapping experience wised me up to how many there are I feel confident they’re doing very well population wise. I’m thinning out like one every 2 months. By seeing what’s on the main roads around my neighborhood cars are doing 10x that damage at least. 🤣

The one the other day presented a perfect side profile. 22cal 14 FPE at 18 yards and it was DRT. Small brains, but when you hit it it’s lights out. I think too many people take a shot when the possum is facing them and usually miss the brain. Often I think they just get the nose area. They start to think they are a tough kill. They just have a lot of bone at the front of their skull and it’s hard to do a good shot placement with how the shape of their head presents.
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Yep, same with raccoons. Sloped forehead
 
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From the www:
“A range of wild animals, including toads, birds, lizards, rodents, and opossums consume ticks. Barnyard birds, like chickens and helmeted guineafowl, also eat the dreaded blood-sucking arachnid. Introduced fire ants will prey on engorged female ticks, devouring the blood or eggs within, and feasting on small hatchlings.”
 
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Florida_Man said:
They like garbage, cat food, and bird feed best here 😂

We don’t have many ticks here, never saw one from my yard. Of the hundreds of rats, mice, and squirrels not one has had a tick. Usually we one see them out at inland forest environments. Miles away.
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see the possum are doing their job LOL
 
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Florida_Man said:
They like garbage, cat food, and bird feed best here 😂

We don’t have many ticks here, never saw one from my yard. Of the hundreds of rats, mice, and squirrels not one has had a tick. Usually we one see them out at inland forest environments. Miles away.
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I'll see them on the rabbits here during the summer months. I won't eat them during that time since they carry some form worms that die off after the frost.
 
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Treefrog said:
But...

We're missing an important part of this...

What kind of tomatoes are we talking here? Cherokee purples? Early girls? Romas? Brandywines?

Inquiring minds want to know. (Glad your problem solved itself, too.)

Cheers,

J~
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This year just some beef steak, better boys, and 2 cherry tomato both 100 Row reds. I bought one yellow sweet, but it turned out they were both reds.

Got 2 jalapeño plants in there too, but they haven't given me big enough for poppers this year.

Everything was fine til the hailstorm at the end of May. It leveled my garden so I'm happy I'm getting anything!

My last 2 hens haven't laid in almost 2 years. They're just for show back there. I call them my feathered freeloaders. Once they go, I will probably get out of chickens. Feed is expensive and the upkeep isn't worth it, even with $4/dozen eggs. I sure miss those fresh eggs though.
 
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orangeokie said:
Doc you gonna get that electrocution hazard checked out by the power company?
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They came out and "fixed" it when they turned the power back on. These new power line connections we have here are a snap push lock deal so they can just attach it from ground with a long grabber pole. Basically an animal can grab the wire and if they apply enough force it will pop out of the connector and then you have a hot lead hanging there.

It's a stupid design, but I guess they figure no one is going to be up there 20-30 foot in the air playing with them.
 
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That little fellow be damn unlucky to do the same in Denmark, and if he did he would probably turn to dust at once, CUZ the only airwires we have here these days are the super high voltage transmission lines, okay you can also find the rare smaller transmission line in some god forsaken rural part of the country, but jump a street view car and have a look around in any city and you will not find god awful air cables here.

Power like fiber optic internet cables, belong in the ground.
 
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