Are Opossums Good to Have Around Your Yard?
While the answer is a pretty easy no to most people, in reality, it’s a bit more complicated than one might expect. First, of course, possums can cause some damage to your yard or your house, but they can also protect you and your family from potentially dangerous insects. Of course, there’s a lot more going on behind everything, so let’s look as to whether or not opossums are good to have around your yard.
Cons
The most common assumption is that opossums aren’t great to have around your yard. While that holds up pretty well for most aspects (as you’ll see with this cons list), there’s a good mixture of benefits and disadvantages to having opossums around your property.
However, this section is about the cons. One of the most common cons is the fact that possums are omnivorous. This con means that the animals are willing to eat virtually anything in your yard: any meats, seeds, plants, gardens — it doesn’t matter. However, they’re still attracted to gardened flowers and fruits, which serve as decent calorie and carb machines for the little guys. If you have a major opossum problem in your property visit getridofpossums.com to learn more about humane removal techniques.
As such, they can commonly cause quite a bit of damage to your yard. After all, if they’re going to be uprooting plants and eating things around your yard, it’s going to leave quite a mess. Whether it’s in the form of possums’ acidic urine, feces, or other dangerous leftovers, there’s a lot that they can leave behind that can damage your yard. Of course, that’s also on top of the physical damage that their tiny claws and teeth can cause.
Opossums can use these same tools to harm you or your family too. While they’re not going to go out of their way to attack you, they won’t refrain from fighting back against you if you attempt to remove them or get too close. These animals can be dangerous to you in many situations, meaning that they’re frequently not very wanted around the yard.
Keep in mind that If you’re not too sure what to do, then call a professional at District Wildlife Solutions. They’re willing to not only take care of any opossum problems but also help you work through whether or not your situation is a problem or not.
Pros
Now that we’ve mentioned the cons of having opossums in your yard, let’s consider some benefits. After all, every animal has its usefulness, even if not seen upfront.
The most significant aspect of leaving a possum alone in your yard is its ability to hunt for food. While that’s not great if it’s your garden, these animals also enjoy not-so herbivorous appetites. That would include fleas and ticks, which a single opossum can eat upwards of 5000 of during a season.
Opossums can even kill upwards of 90% of an area’s fleas or ticks, just in a small group. The same thing applies to cockroaches and even rats, mice, and dead animals. So while it might seem gross to many people, it’s an incredible benefit to having an opossum within your yard. It doesn’t make it worse that they’re generally resistant to venom and many poisons, meaning that they’ll go after anything that would disturb them as much as you.
Again, that includes yet another group: snakes. Of course, there’s a lower chance of you encountering snakes around your house if there are any opossums nearby. It’s incredible just what these small animals are willing to do, not only to eat but also to clean up around your yard. With the ability to eat or get rid of virtually anything small and ground-living, opossums are a must-leave for anybody dealing with a significant snake or tick problem.
Choosing What’s Right for You
Of course, you’ll have to weigh the pros against the cons. While these opossums can be incredibly helpful in removing some harmful animals, they can also decimate a garden, kill your yard, and potentially harm you or your family. It’s totally understandable to dislike the idea of leaving opossums to roam your yard at night, but at the same time, if you’re dealing with snake problems or have large numbers of ticks, it might be best for you to have them humanely removed.