Backyard Critters

I was in the backyard with the kid and wife two nights ago. It was about 7:00. My wife grabs my arm and points to the gate between our yard and the neighbor's, which was open, and there was an opossum walking through the opening. I texted the neighbor and he came, and over a couple of High Life's he said he was aware of an opossum for some time but just forgot to tell me and it has been under my shed.

This is the first, that I am aware of, opossum I've had in the yard. Should I worry about it or just leave it alone? I am thinking of just leaving it alone and it will leave us alone. On the farm we would just kill it, but suburban Des Moines ain't the farm.

Anyone have experiences with an opossum? What should I do with it?
Just so you know, at night, there are probably hundreds of critters in and around your property.
 
Live in Ankeny and a few weeks ago I spotted a family of 5 foxes playing in a yard a few houses away. Have spotted them running through our yard recently.
I’ve spotted several foxes in NE Ankeny this spring. They make me a bit nervous for my small elderly dog, but I think they would leave most canine alone. Don’t they typically eat rodents and rodent sized critters?
 
They will help themselves to your dog and cat food. Keep garage doors shut.
 
I have a nature preserve at the edge of my backyard. With as often as I grill/smoke/use the flat top, it's a constant battle in my backyard after hours, for who can get to the grease traps first. Coyote, fox, opossum, racoon will usually make an appearance. It gets crazy when the coyotes fight against each other though. I assume they all get fed pretty well by the neighbors with as many chipmunks, rabbits and squirrels we still have running around. They don't need to put in the effort to chase the rodents around I guess.
 
Just read the majority of individuals choose to not pronounce the o. So if that's the case is it A or AN if you choose not?
If you spell it with an "o", then precede it with "an". If you start it with "p", then precede it with "a". If you pronounce it "pos-sum", then precede it with "a".
 
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One crawled under my front porch and died this spring. First smelled it in the unfinished part of my basement, so I thought there was a dead mouse somewhere down there. Never could find anything. After about a week, the smell was strong enough to be noticed outside, which led me to stick a rake under the porch (it's set low to the ground) to see if there was anything to drag out. Not pleasant.
 
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I've seen foxes several times in that area.

I'll go on late night walks around ankeny every so often, have seen foxes all over the city but definitely a good number in the northern half.

Ditto, we’ve seen them around all the storm water intakes in the green spaces around Ashland ridge a lot.
 
My old dog actually found a dead possum in a park campground in winter. I circled around multiple times to check it was still there, and then called the ranger since it was in a campsite. I explained I wasn’t sure it was dead or playing possum. Ranger thanked me next time I saw her, said it was dead and she wanted to examine it to make sure it was not tortured by people. Apparently that’s a thing since they are slow and not particularly dangerous. She said they are rarely rabid and pretty cool creatures. She thought it was natural causes and took it into the woods, but it made me really sad that people torture them.