What should I know before getting opossums?

For this North American knowledgebase, “opossum” is now explicitly scoped to the Virginia opossum, Didelphis virginiana. The family Didelphidae contains many other American opossums, and Australian possums are unrelated marsupials in different orders. Facts on this page should not be transferred to every didelphid merely because the common names resemble one another. This account answers “What should I know before getting opossums?” by starting with the animal’s documented biology and taxonomic scope, then translating those facts into a responsible acquisition decision.

Identity and physical form

Virginia opossums have grayish guard hairs, a pale face, dark ears, a long sparsely furred prehensile tail, and an opposable first toe on each hind foot. Adults vary geographically and males are generally larger. They have 50 teeth, more than any other North American land mammal. The tail supports climbing and carrying nest material but is not used to hang sleeping adults by the tail.

Distribution and habitat

The native range extends from Central America and Mexico through much of the eastern and central United States; introduced populations occur along the Pacific coast, and northward expansion has reached southern Canada. Opossums use woodland, wetland edges, farms, suburbs, and cities, often denning in cavities, brush, burrows, or structures. Poor insulation leaves ears, tails, and toes vulnerable to frost injury in northern winters.

Feeding ecology and nutrition

They are opportunistic omnivores consuming insects, worms, fruits, seeds, small vertebrates, eggs, carrion, and human refuse in proportions that vary by season and region. The popular claim that one opossum reliably eats thousands of ticks is not supported by field diet evidence and should not drive wildlife policy. A nonreleasable animal’s diet requires a rehabilitator or zoo nutrition plan; cat food alone can create severe imbalance.

Behavior and daily activity

Virginia opossums are primarily nocturnal, generally solitary, and capable climbers and swimmers. When threatened they may flee, hiss, gape, drool, defecate, or enter an involuntary death-feigning state; “playing dead” is not a deliberate trick on command. They do not hibernate, though cold weather can sharply reduce activity. Daytime appearance can be normal for a nursing mother or hungry animal and is not proof of rabies.

Reproduction and development

After a gestation of only about 12–13 days, extremely undeveloped young crawl to the pouch and attach to teats. Litter production can exceed the number that survives in the pouch. Young later ride on the mother’s back and are weaned around three to four months. Females may produce more than one litter in a favorable year. Wild life is often only about one to two years, far shorter than exceptional captivity records.

Conservation and relationships with people

The species is widespread and assessed as Least Concern. Vehicle collisions are a major source of mortality. Opossums can carry parasites and infections, but sensational absolutes about being disease-proof are false; their relatively low body temperature does not make rabies impossible. A dead female may still have live pouch young and should be handled only through wildlife professionals because road and zoonotic risks remain.

What those facts mean before acquisition

A healthy wild opossum should not be acquired as a pet. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for an injured animal or apparently orphaned young and do not offer formula or water without direction. Nonreleasable educational animals require permits, secure climbing and denning habitat, species-appropriate nutrition, and veterinary oversight. Their short natural life history, solitary behavior, dental anatomy, and metabolic bone-disease risk make improvised household care especially harmful.

Build the support system before the animal arrives

Locate routine and emergency professional care that explicitly accepts opossums; a nearby clinic that treats “pets” in general may not have the equipment, legal authority, or species experience required. Confirm transport, quarantine, backup care, evacuation, and end-of-life plans. Price the adult enclosure, recurring food, environmental control, preventive care, diagnostics, and emergency treatment rather than using the juvenile purchase price as the budget.

Use observable welfare measures

A daily record for opossums should describe appetite, measured food, water use where practical, activity, resting location, social interactions, waste, body weight or body condition, and environmental readings relevant to species; Virginia opossum. Record what changed and when instead of assigning a diagnosis. Photographs and instrument readings can preserve details that memory loses. A sustained departure from the animal’s own pattern, loss of normal movement, breathing difficulty, collapse, neurologic change, major trauma, inability to eat or eliminate, or a failed environmental system warrants prompt professional advice.

Legal status and welfare are separate questions

Permission to possess opossums does not establish that a household can meet their needs. Laws can differ among countries, states, counties, municipalities, housing agreements, and agricultural or wildlife categories. Check Didelphis virginiana and the intended use with the responsible authority in writing. Never release a kept animal. Wildlife found outdoors should remain with or be transferred through the legally authorized rehabilitator or agency for that jurisdiction.

Reasons to stop before acquisition

Do not proceed with opossums when the seller cannot provide a defensible identity or origin, when the adult habitat is not already feasible, when specialized professional care is unavailable, or when the animal would be kept alone despite documented social needs. Missing permits, improvised food, unresolved household conflict, no quarantine space, and reliance on an untrained backup caretaker are practical stop signs. Declining or postponing this acquisition is a welfare decision. For an animal already in care, correct the conditions with qualified help rather than abandoning or releasing it.

What was corrected during scientific review

• Resolved the ambiguous common name to the Virginia opossum.
• Removed the thousands-of-ticks claim.
• Corrected death-feigning as an involuntary response.
• Separated typical wild survival from captive records and removed rabies immunity claims.

Research basis

Material claims in this foundational species; Virginia opossum account for opossums were checked against the sources below on 2026-08-22. Source scope matters: wild-natural-history references do not automatically establish captive husbandry, and veterinary husbandry guidance does not redefine wild behavior. Values that vary by breed, population, sex, age, season, or management are presented as ranges or qualified rather than converted into a false universal average.

• University of Michigan — Animal Diversity Web: Didelphis virginiana — taxonomy, description, distribution, diet, behavior, reproduction.
• Smithsonian National Zoo: Virginia opossum — identity, anatomy, measurements, reproduction.
• Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases: Are Virginia opossums really ecological traps for ticks? — tick-consumption claim.

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