So I have this trap door in the floor of my enclosed porch that leads to under the house, right? I use it to feed the stray cats around here so they have someplace safe to eat/so that they'd stop killing the flying squirrels. It's under the radar so the HOA doesn't throw a fit lol.
But opossums and raccoons tend to show up too. One night a skunk even did, but that's beside the point. Anywho, so the past few weeks the opossums had been coming back after having not shown up for a few months. One of them seemed frightened tonight by something and was just kinda sitting in the corner. If I had to guess it may have been spooked by the giant small-dog-sized raccoon that shows up sometimes. Anywho, it was kinda scared, so I walked over to it and started petting her tail. Far enough from the teeth that I could gauge a reaction without getting bit. Because my god, if you've never been bit by an opossum, let me tell you...it hurts badly. I was rehabbing a baby one about eight years ago now and she got my hand when I was giving her a bit of an apple on a stick, and my god she drew a lot of blood. Liked the apple though.
So anyway, when I pet her tail she actually got LESS tense, so I started petting her back, never getting too close to the mouth still. Very timid, but not frightened by me. I pet her for a while until she started walking away, so I knew she was safe. Gave her a handful of cat kibble and went back inside.