Time for zero tolerance?

I have made no secret of the fact that I do not like having creepy crawlies and other foreign creatures inside my home. I have waxed lyrical to friends on many occasions about my policy of "if it has more than 4 legs and is inside, IT'S DEAD".

That's right folks, none of this bleeding heart, "scrape up the spidey-widey into a jar, and let it go outside" crap for me.. oh no, there is a good reason why I have so many heavy theological books strategically placed in various rooms of my house.

Well, I think I have reached the point where I need to revise my policy of how many legs a creature must have before it is dead meat if it finds its way inside.

Tonight I was quietly preparing my dinner in the kitchen, and heard some dreadful scratching noises upstairs... so I went up to investigate, but didn't find anything untoward. A few minutes later, there were more scratching and thumping and some impressively loud sounds. At first I thought that my 'upper room' had been visited by The Almighty, but then changed my mind to think that maybe one of the Bucknall Court resident possums* had found its way into the space between my downstairs ceiling and upstairs floor (there is a crawlspace of about a foot between the two), which would have presented serious problems if the critter was trapped, and couldn't escape, and died. (after a week or two,the smell would have been intolerable).

So once again, I trooped upstairs, and this time found evidence of a possum in my bathroom (dirt, droppings and scuffed footprints on the floor), so thought there must actually be a possum INSIDE somewhere... and sure enough, when I went into the spare room, there he was, sitting on the chest of drawers, large as life, staring back at me as if he owned the place.

I say "he" because, after extracting a very detailed description from me of the possum's appearance, the daughter of my next door neighbour (a self-confessed possum fancier) informed me that I had been visited by the Dad of the resident possum family.

After enlisting the assistance of a neighbour (the only male to be living in our block now), we managed, via a series of 'comedy capersesque' strategies to coax the possum out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the front door (I hope- I didn't actually see him go out, but heard him go down the stairs, and we did a pretty thorough patrol of the living room's nooks and crannies, and couldn't see him anywhere)

This was not a pleasant experience, and it concerns me as to HOW this critter actually got inside, as I am not in the habit of leaving doors or windows open, so there may be a 'secret entrance' that only the possums know about... That's a worry.

So, on the basis of this, I am seriously considering taking a zero tolerance stand with anything with more than TWO legs that I find inside my home.

Call me a redneck, I don't care... just keep those critters away from me!

* I have been informed that we now have a 'family' of three- a Mum, Dad and baby... all of which I'm sure take great delight in crapping and weeing all over my car, and leaving their mess all over my courtyard (and doing the same for all the flats).