Possums are not highly destructive animals, but they can cause real damage in specific situations. Compared to raccoons, squirrels, or rats, opossums are relatively mild nuisances. They rarely dig, don’t typically chew through walls to enter homes, and tend to move on within a few days. That said, an opossum nesting in your attic or regularly visiting your garden can create problems worth addressing.
Garden and Yard Damage
Opossums are opportunistic feeders, and your garden is an easy target. They eat berries, grapes, tree fruits, nuts, and vegetables. According to the University of California’s Integrated Pest Management program, opossums near homes commonly visit vegetable gardens, compost piles, garbage cans, and outdoor pet food dishes. They also defecate on garden paths and patios, which is often the first sign homeowners notice.
The damage to gardens is typically moderate. Opossums don’t systematically strip plants the way deer do, and they don’t dig up lawns hunting for grubs like skunks or armadillos. They’re more likely to grab low-hanging fruit, knock over a trash can, or scatter compost. If you’re finding half-eaten tomatoes or disturbed fruit trees, an opossum may be the culprit, but the destruction is usually limited to whatever they can easily reach in a single night’s foraging.
Attic and Crawlspace Problems
This is where opossums cause the most significant damage. In urban and suburban areas, they den under steps, porches, decks, sheds, and, when they can find an opening, inside attics, garages, and crawlspaces. They build messy nests from sticks, leaves, grass, paper, and whatever debris is available, piling materials together rather than weaving them.
Once inside an attic, opossums can tear insulation and gnaw on wood and electrical wiring. Their urine stains ceilings and produces a strong ammonia smell. Droppings are cylindrical, one to two inches long, smooth-sided, and curled at the ends. Older droppings develop a white or yellowish mold. The combination of urine, feces, and nesting material can create real sanitation concerns if the animal stays for weeks.
You’ll know something is living in your attic from nighttime sounds: thumping, scratching, scampering, and sometimes hissing, clicking, or growling. Opossums are nocturnal, so the noise peaks after dark. If you’re trying to distinguish an opossum from a raccoon, raccoons produce more chattering sounds and leave droppings that look like dog feces. Opossum droppings are distinctly curled, and the animals produce a musky scent from their scent glands that raccoons don’t have.
Conflicts With Pets
Opossums generally avoid confrontation and are famous for “playing dead” when threatened. But cornered opossums will fight, and they have a full mouth of sharp, pointed teeth that can inflict serious injuries on dogs and cats. Most conflicts happen when a dog corners an opossum under a porch or in a yard at night. Keeping pet food indoors and securing garbage cans reduces these encounters significantly.
The Tick-Eating Reputation
You’ve probably seen the claim that a single opossum eats 5,000 ticks per season. This figure originated from a 2009 study at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, where researchers placed ticks on captive opossums and estimated consumption based on how many ticks disappeared during grooming. The number spread widely on social media and became one of the most-cited reasons to leave opossums alone.
The problem is that follow-up research hasn’t supported it. A comprehensive review of over 1,280 wild opossums across the United States found zero ticks in their stomachs or anywhere else in their digestive tracts. Researchers at one university examined 33 opossum stomachs under a dissecting microscope, cataloging everything inside. They found worms, a French fry, broken glass, and a mostly undigested shrew, but no ticks. In lab settings, only about 3.5 ticks per opossum actually fell off during observation, roughly 3 percent of the ticks placed on them. Opossums have lower body temperatures and lower blood pressure than most mammals, which causes ticks to feed more slowly on them rather than die.
This doesn’t mean opossums are ecologically useless. They eat carrion, insects, snails, slugs, and rodents, and they play a genuine role in cleaning up organic waste. Their low body temperature also makes them poor hosts for the rabies virus, so they rarely carry the disease. But the specific claim about tick control appears to be a myth.
How They Compare to Other Wildlife
On the spectrum of backyard wildlife damage, opossums rank relatively low. Raccoons are stronger, more persistent, and more likely to rip open soffits or tear apart ductwork to enter a home. Squirrels chew aggressively through wood, wiring, and plastic. Rats reproduce rapidly and contaminate larger areas. Opossums are solitary, nomadic, and often pass through a property within a few days without establishing a permanent den.
The main exception is when an opossum finds a sheltered, undisturbed space like an attic or crawlspace and decides to stay. In that case, the insulation damage, wiring risk, and sanitation issues are comparable to what any medium-sized wild animal would cause.
Dealing With an Opossum on Your Property
If an opossum is just passing through your yard, it will likely move on within a night or two. Removing attractants helps: bring pet food indoors, secure garbage lids, pick up fallen fruit, and fence off compost piles. Motion-activated lights or sprinklers can discourage repeat visits.
If one has moved into your attic or under your porch, exclusion is the standard approach. Wait until the animal leaves at night to forage, then seal the entry point. One-way exclusion doors let the animal exit but prevent re-entry. Be aware that in many states, live-trapping and relocating opossums yourself is illegal. New York, for example, prohibits moving any trapped animal off your property without a licensed wildlife control operator. Relocated animals face high mortality from stress, unfamiliar territory, and competition, which is why most wildlife agencies discourage the practice.
In states where removal requires a permit, opossums that are actively damaging property can generally be addressed through your state’s wildlife agency or a licensed nuisance wildlife professional. Regulations vary, so checking your state’s fish and wildlife department website before taking any action avoids legal trouble.
A Note on Australian Possums
If you’re searching from Australia or New Zealand, you’re likely dealing with brushtail or ringtail possums, which are a completely different group of animals from North American opossums. Australian brushtail possums are common roof invaders. They produce heavy bangs on ceilings as they run, leave urine stains with a strong ammonia smell, and cause property damage by chewing and scratching timber and wiring. In Australia, possums are protected native wildlife and cannot be harmed. Management typically involves blocking roof entry points and installing a nest box nearby as an alternative den site.