Background

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The only marsupial in North American is the Virginia Opossum and we love opossums! Opossums are nocturnal and carry their babies in their pouch while they develop. Opossums are opportunistic omnivores which means they eat just about anything. They especially like eating bugs (including disease-carrying ticks), snakes (including venomous ones), and dead matter.

 

Fun Facts

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• Opossum vs. possum: opossums live in North America and possums live in Australia, although they are often used synonymously..

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• Opossums will ‘play dead’ when threatened, so please do not assume an opossum is dead and dispose of it.

 

Opossum Concerns

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If you find a baby opossum, please bring it in for care. Young opossums will accidentally fall off of mom, and she does not come back for them.

 

If an opossum is smaller than a dollar bill from nose to the base of the tail, it is too small to be on its own.

 

Opossums don’t usually stay in one place for long, but some will build temporary dens. If you have an opossum living in your yard, or walking your fence line and bothering the dogs at night, you can use humane methods to break up the pattern the opossum has developed without trapping or hurting the opossum.

 

Opossums are deterred by certain smells. If you have an opossum living in an area where you would rather they didn't, such as under a shed, you can put ammonia on a few rags and put them under the deck to get them to move on. If an opossum is walking along your fence line regularly, you can spray coyote urine to change up their pattern of using that path.

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Please do not trap and relocate opossums! Not only does this open up the niche for another critter to move in, relocating a wild animal can be harmful. You are taking an animals out of an area they are familiar with, and dropping them off in a place where they don't know the food and water sources or the roads. If you are having trouble with an opossum, please give us a call for more help!