- Author: Kathy Low
A few nights ago something tripped the motion sensor lights in the front of my house. When I looked out the window to see what tripped the lights, to my terror I saw a possum, technically an opposum (Didelphis virginiana), the size of a big cat casually snooping around the planters in the front yard. Making loud noises didn't seem to scare it away, so it was time to do my research on the creature.
Possums are native to the East Coast and were introduced into California in 1910. Weighing up to fifteen pounds, they're generally two to three feet long, including their tail. Possums carry a variety of diseases such as tuberculosis, spotted fever, and leptospirosis. They may also be infested with fleas, ticks, mites and lice.
Possums can climb trees to escape predators. When they feel threatened they may growl and bare their teeth. They do get into fights with cats and dogs. They've lost most of their fear of people. And once they move into a neighborhood they'll take up residence as long as there is food, water and shelter for them. Nocturnal creatures, they feed on fruits, nuts, birds, bird eggs, frogs, mice, rats and other small mammals, frogs, insects, snails, green plants, and pet food. It will eat both fresh meat and road kill. As you can deduce, they are true omnivores and scavengers. Remove any fallen rotten fruit or nuts and don't leave pet food out overnight to make your yard less hospitable to possums.
They take shelter beneath dense cover, brush piles, tree cavities, under porches, decks, beneath houses, under steps, and garden sheds. To prevent them from taking up permanent shelter you need to exclude them from their shelter with a fence. Cut back any dense cover, and clear your yard of brush piles.
To learn more about possums and building an effective fence, see the UC Integrated Pest Management Pest Note on opossums at http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74123.html.