Opossum Biology
Like the raccoon, the opossum is a very adaptable animal which has a large and expanding range throughout North America. Many people consider opossums to be varmints at best and pests at worst, although for the most part opossums don’t pose a very serious threat to anything at all. Still, they can be annoying creatures and their breeding means that they can advance their numbers quite quickly.
Integrated pest control has at its base a focus on understanding the particular biology of certain pests. Through a comprehension of their living habits, their eating habits, and their life cycle, pest species can be controlled through the least toxic methods available. In this article, we will take a look at the biology of the opossum.
Eating habits
Opossums are omnivorous and opportunistic, just like their fellow urban mammal pests the skunk and the raccoon. What this means is that possums will eat just about anything that is available to them. When it comes to co-habitation with humans, this diet will consist mostly of garbage, although opossums do also enjoy a wide range of pet foods.
Living habits
Opossums are widely thought to be tree dwellers by nature, but in fact they prefer to den underground or in other areas that offer more escape than a single tree (possums can’t jump tree to tree like a squirrel, and they are not very fast on the ground either). Cities are perfect for opossums because of the wide range of readily available opportunities for shelter they present; opossums also will not create their own shelter, preferring to move into vacant dens instead.
Life cycle
Unlike raccoons, possums are not very bright animals and possess few natural defences. Still, their numbers spread at a pace that is very similar to the raccoon. Part of this is due to the fact that they are able and willing to consume a wide variety of food, but for the most part possums can attribute their success, and their pest status, to their breeding habits.
Opossums are marsupials, animals with pouches, the only representative of the group found naturally in North America. They differ from their more famous Australian counterparts in two ways; first of all, they are notoriously short live - the average possum will die between the ages of two and four. They are also able to give birth to a very high number of young; as many as a dozen at a time, all of whom live in the mothers pouch for about three months. After leaving the pouch they are ready to go out on their own within half a month.
Possums obviously reach maturity very quickly and in large numbers, and they also produce offspring at a high rate. Female opossum may give birth to four or five litters in a year; incubation in the pouch means that she may actually have two litters on her at once, a total of a possible 24 possums! Controlling mating populations is therefore the key to controlling the numbers of these animals.