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I am sure you have heard about many of the great things opossums are good for, like opossums eat ticks. Opossums do many more things other than eat ticks. Did you know opossums are immune to snake venom? Just like the hedgehog and skunk! Opossums also rarely get rabies due to their body temperature being so low sometimes 94*, making it harder for the virus to survive. Opossums are also marsupials, yes just like the kangaroo! Opossums have a pouch under their belly that carries 18-25 young critters, smaller than a honey bee at birth! They have 13 nipples for their young opossum to eat on, twelve in a circle and one in the center. Opossums live in the pouch for the first two months of their life. Between two and four months old they start riding the back of the mother and do rely on her for food and shelter. Around four months old the mother opossum will kick the babies off at this point they are around 8 inches in length, so if you see one around that size leave it be it will be ok! As cute as they are do not take these opossums home and try and rehabilitate. Baby wild animals need to be in the wild where they belong. The opossum main diet consists of rodents, snakes, insects, dead animals (yuck), birds, eggs, pretty much anything. The opossum doesn’t go around eating ticks, how they consume so many ticks is by cleaning themselves as well as the rodents they consume have ticks.

Opossums get into your attic by pushing their way into the soffit, typically where the soffit meets the shingle. We call this a roof return or eave, this is the most vulnerable place on the home. Opossums will commonly be found in attics that have rats or rodents. They follow the scent left behind and hunt the rats while in your attic! So if you hear loud noises, running and digging with some squeaking, you probably have some national geographic going on above you. While the opossum is a great critter to have around, they are not a great critter to have in your attic. Opossums are covered in fleas typically, and carry some disease in their feces. Opossums leave droppings throughout the attic space, unlike a raccoon that will utilize a latrine system (going to the bathroom in the same area). Home owners insurance will cover the remediation aspect of a opossum removal project.