This is the trap release mechanism, which has to be set  so that it is a hair-trigger.  After my beginners luck in catching Mr. Possum,  I had some conversations about the possums with the neighbors, one of whom saw TWO large possums walking over the fence easily , head first as it went down into our garden in broad daylight.   It came from the direction of our other neighbors yard, who has a lot of vegetation.    I was inspired to very  carefully re-bait the trap with the same thing that worked before, tuna and apples.  Two days later the trap is unsprung.

, and some of the tuna may have been eaten.

 Therefore either the trap was not set to trigger easily enough, or the remaining  possum has learned from his  friend’s experience of being trapped one way or another.  This seemingly well-set trap did not succeed in two more days.

 This is what the baited and set trap looks like.  A neighbor told us that they saw the animal control officer pick up the only possum we trapped.   He  simply reached into the trap, lifted the possum out,  and put him into his truck, even though the possum was hissing and baring his teeth.

Tomorrow  I will have set the trap four times, and they will most likely pick up the trap, whether we have caught another possum or not.