The North American Opossum, Didelphis virginiana, is a highly adaptable marsupial often encountered in backyards and gardens across the United States. Possums are classified as omnivores, meaning their diet is composed of both plant and animal matter. They are opportunistic foragers who eat whatever is most readily available, which allows them to thrive in varied environments. This dietary flexibility often brings them into conflict with gardeners, as they do consume plants. The following sections explore the possum’s diet and provide methods for protecting your garden from their foraging behavior.
Understanding the Possum’s Omnivorous Diet
The possum’s success stems from its ability to consume an extensive range of food sources. As an omnivore, the animal actively seeks out animal protein, which constitutes a large part of its natural diet. This includes invertebrates such as snails, slugs, earthworms, and various insects. Small vertebrates and carrion also figure prominently in their foraging, making them effective natural scavengers. They consume mice, rats, frogs, and even snakes, showing a resistance to the venom of pit vipers. Possums also readily eat eggs and scavenge on roadkill and other dead animals, which provides them with calcium. In residential areas, they consume outdoor pet food, unsecured garbage, and human food scraps.
Identifying Favorite Plant Foods
Possums are attracted to gardens due to the availability of soft, accessible plant material. They show a strong preference for ripe or overripe fruits and vegetables over tough, woody stems or mature leaves. Specific garden items that attract them include soft berries, grapes, and fallen fruit like apples or persimmons. In the vegetable patch, they target crops like tomatoes, corn, and squash, especially once the produce is mature and easy to chew. Possums also seek out tender new growth and shoots, which are softer and more nutritionally dense. Damage often appears as irregular chewing on low-hanging or ground-level items, or on fruit that has fallen from the branch.
Strategies for Garden Protection
Protecting a garden from possums involves non-lethal exclusion and habitat modification. Physical barriers are the most reliable method for protecting specific plants and entire growing areas. This involves erecting fine-gauge netting over vulnerable crops like berries, or constructing cages made of sturdy wire mesh around vegetable beds. For fruit trees, securing a smooth metal or plastic sleeve several feet high around the trunk prevents them from climbing.
Modifying the environment to make it less appealing is another effective strategy. Secure all outdoor food sources, including pet food, bird seed, and garbage containers, using tight-fitting or locking lids. Promptly removing any fallen fruit, nuts, or overripe produce from the ground eliminates an easy food source that attracts nocturnal foragers.
Passive deterrents can supplement physical barriers by making the garden an uncomfortable place to visit. Motion-activated sprinklers or lights can startle nocturnal animals, encouraging them to forage elsewhere. Scent-based deterrents, such as commercial sprays or homemade concoctions utilizing strong smells like garlic, chili, or vinegar, can be applied to plants to make them unappetizing. Blocking access to potential den sites, such as spaces beneath porches, sheds, or decks, will also encourage the nomadic possum to move on.