When you return, your visitor will be long gone.Īnother reason to love the Opossum is that it is a very clean and healthy animal. Don’t be alarmed if you find a opossum in your trashcan, simply tip the can on its side and leave for 10 – 15 minutes. I’m not suggesting opossums are blameless for they are not above crawling into trash cans (from which they can’t escape) and accidentally turning them over. The animal responsible for turning over trash cans, dragging them half-way across the yard and prying open the lid is the raccoon, not the innocent opossum you see munching away in it the next morning. They also eat beetles, ants, grasshoppers, grubs, earthworms, lizards, geckos, frogs and fresh carrion. They do not dig up the yard or eat your newly planted flowers, but they will eat the pests that will destroy your grass, kill your bushes and eat your flowers. Because of their slower metabolism, they are not as susceptible to the venom. They are the only mammal that routinely dines on snakes, including poisonous snakes. The Opossum are an omnivore leaning towards carnivore and will eat almost anything. Let’s start out with all the things they eat that we don’t want to share our back yard with. Either way, there is no doubt the lowly opossum should be welcomed with open arms.
We’ll never know if the opossum is grateful we are so messy or if they scurry around feeling harassed and under-appreciated. So what niche does it fill? Sanitation engineer. Why? Because the physiologic model is perfect for its ecologic niche and it doesn’t need to evolve to something better.
They have remained unchanged since the time of the dinosaur. Opossum may be aesthetically challenged, but they are probably the single most important wild animal to your backyard ecology.
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