3 posts tagged “opossum”

Now which of you Voxy neighbors deserves the credit for turning me on to this Etsy vendor, Motley Mutton?

Baby Opossum necklace

SON.OF.A.BITCH - I hate when the intrawebs crashes during Save of a big post. I will accept that the Gawds were trying to tell me "too many words" and now give just the highlights:

• Bedtime. Unusual smell. Dead "cat toy" under my bed? No.
• Flea control working... big dead fleas found everywhere (many bite me on their last statement). These are too big to be a "natural lifecycle" infestation.
• Espressa doesn't sleep on the bed. Cats don't wake me up to go out this morning. I open the door to the backyard and they all stay inside. Something isn't right.
• Another whiff of unusual smell. Definitely dead something. Might be coming in through my bedroom window.
• In backyard to investigate. Flies hovering - don't scatter when I annoy them. Gazillion fleas attack my legs. Definitely dead or injured something.
• Remember City of Long Beach notice about Murine Typhus, a flea-borne disease believed to be spready by fleas on small rodents, opossums, and wild cats.
• Accept that avoding the problem will not cause it to suddenly go away and be replaced  by a fresh spring breeze, scent of tuberose, or sexy men's cologne.
• "Suit up" to investigage... long pants, tucked into socks and duct taped closed. Long sleeved shirt, duct taped to my wrists. Industrial gloves. Double plastic bags. Can of bug spray.
• Head out front to approach backyard from side. Find a Mexican woman as set up a temporary store in my front yard & side yard to sell balloons and crap to people at elementary school graduation across the street. WTF?!? Through a polite bitch fit. She moves across the street.
• Resume "carcass quest". Run through list of men I could maybe call to do this for me. Realize there are no names on the list.
• Find a BIG no-longer-playing DEAD OPOSSUM in the side yard, directly across from my bedroom window.
• Gazillion gallons of bug spray. Can't hold breath long enough to tie off bags. Throw the mess in the trash - thankful pickup is in 2 day - bummed that means zillions of ants, flies, and worsening smell.
• Confirm animal control is not open today.
• Confirm & re-read city notice from animal control about Murine Typhus.
• Make cats stay indoors - hoping majority of fleas are killed by spray and lack of host.
• Vow to find super-incredible-carpet-flea-powder that I know is somewhere in my home, waiting to be used again.
• Decide maybe I really will go order that $329 Dyson vacuum cleaner.
• Call vet and leave message asking if Murine typhus is problem for felines or just humans - and if I should be watching for anything else or if the flea control is all I need to do.
• Medidate on the joys of being a single female homeowner.

We've apparently hit the "just right" temp combo and I'm dealing with the flea infestation from hell. I even found one on my shirt while driving to work today.

I put more Advantage on all the cats tonight (well, most of the cats - I'm not sure how much actually got on espressa cause she's FAST) - so now the fleas are attacking me. I think I'm gonna need to bomb the house - difficult to do with 2 indoor cats who like to hide in unreachable locations when something unusual seems to be in the works.

Stop biting me!!

I probably need to attack the backyard too. I don't really have a yard - just a big cement slab - but while watering last night I looked down at my legs and thought, why does it feel like those dirt specs are biting me?!? I hosed off the "dirt" and the biting stopped. I know I have loads of ants out there but that didn't seem to be what was on me. Where fleas would be living, I dunno. I've got a lot of weeds this year so that might be their shelter - but what's their host? Maybe if I get someone to cut down the weed I'll find out, huh?

Probably doesn't help that I have an opossum, and her babies, going through my backyard every night (not enough to host the amount of fleas that were on me - let alone however many more might be out there). Nor does it help that we've had a warning in Long Beach about some flea-borne illness that's been detected in the county (no significant symptoms and treatable with antibiotics).

And tonight the cats were chasing something in the kitchen. I assumed it was a monster American cockroach (been seeing them outside at night - get 1 inside the house a few times a year) but noooo... it was a mouse. A very large (and very frightened) and possibly flea infested mouse. I'm not sure how it got in - am hoping one of the cat's caught it outside and brought it in to torture. Otherwise, I have far bigger probs to worry about - like the access hole it would have required and what else could get through it. Though, realistically, if it entered on it's own it was through the back door, just like everything else. I really need to install a cat door.

Lucikly, I'm not afraid of mice (nor the baby oppossum who got in 2 years ago) so I eventually captured him in a towel and set him free outside.

Does Dyson make a "fleas and other annoying pests" model?? And does it come with a robot that can run it through the house while I'm working? (don't suggest a roomba - with the amount of cat fur in this place, it would clog, stop, and catch on fire in under 5 minutes. trust me - my Hoover Wind Tunnel has caught on fire twice!!)