Identification

Weight: 4-121bs.
Diet: Omnivores. They will eat bird seed, suet, carrion, grapes, etc.
Habitat: See skunk.
Activity: Nocturnal/year around but will den up for a few weeks in extremely cold weather.
Procreation: Mating occurs between January and Mid July. It seems the farther the northern range of its habitat the earlier in the year the mating occurs. Females produce 5-13 young which they raise alone and even carry with them (Marsupial trait).
Symptoms: Occasionally, the owner will complain ofa skunk odor. Often the odor, if present, won't be as strong as a skunk's would. Usually, this odor will be noticed during the winter months. One client, whose house by the lake was built on posts, complained of noises in the walls. It appeared the opossum crawled underneath the building and up the walls.

Damage and damage Identification

Damage to house: Opossums are not known for causing damage, just a lot of panic in people who think they are a white rat. Other than living under sheds, porches or trailer homes, most of your calls will arise because the owner left a door open to the shed or basement or some other typically en-closed structure. They have been known to die in the insulation underneath mobile homes. Odor can also be a problem.Sometimes people think they have skunks when in fact they have opossums.

Lawn/Garden: They will eat birdseed and will spook homeowners who see them feeding off the seed that falls to the ground. They have also been known to eat grapes.

Feces: Usually not found. But if it is it will be catlike in that it will be pointed on the ends and about 2-3 inches long.

We would like to thank Kim A. Cabrera of Beartracker's Animal Tracks Den, for the images and information contained on this page.