Maybe you’ve heard people say opossums are dirty or full of disease. Actually, opossums are surprisingly clean animals.
They spend a ton of time grooming with their tongues and paws, kind of like cats do. If you spot one, it’s probably not the messy critter you imagined.
Opossums help out by eating bugs and even ticks, keeping your yard and neighborhood a bit cleaner. They’ll also eat dead animals or leftover food, quietly playing an important role in nature.
Maybe learning a bit more about these misunderstood animals will change how you feel about having one nearby.
Opossum Cleanliness and Grooming Habits
Opossums really are tidy creatures. They spend a lot of time grooming, which keeps their fur free of pests like ticks and fleas.
Because they groom so much, they don’t often carry diseases like rabies.
How Do Opossums Keep Themselves Clean?
Opossums groom themselves in a way that’s pretty similar to cats. You’ll catch them using their mouths and paws to clean their fur.
This constant grooming gets rid of ticks and other parasites. It lowers the risk of disease for both them and the places they visit.
Opossums have a lower body temperature than a lot of other mammals. Ticks don’t survive well on them.
They also eat a bunch of ticks while they’re grooming, which helps with tick populations around your home or garden.
Common Myths About Opossum Hygiene
Some folks think opossums are dirty or always carry diseases, but that’s just not true. They’re actually quite clean and do their best to avoid spreading illness.
Because they move slowly and come out at night, they don’t interact with people much.
Opossums do scavenge fallen fruit and dead animals. But they clean up these leftovers instead of making messes.
They act more like nature’s janitors than a source of dirt.
Comparison With Other Wild Animals
Compared to raccoons or rodents, opossums come out cleaner. Raccoons usually carry more parasites and can leave bigger messes.
Opossums’ grooming habits keep them neater and healthier.
Since they’re marsupials and the only North American species of their kind, they’ve developed some unique cleaning behaviors. Even their long tails help them balance and carry nesting materials, which keeps their dens tidy.
Health Risks and Disease Concerns
Opossums can carry a few health risks that might affect you, your pets, or your family.
Some risks come from bacteria they spread. Others are linked to parasites like fleas and ticks.
There’s also concern about viral diseases, but those are less common than people think.
Bacterial Diseases Carried by Opossums
Opossums can carry bacteria that cause illnesses such as leptospirosis.
This disease mainly spreads through contact with the urine of infected animals, including opossums. If you touch water or soil that’s contaminated, or come into contact with opossum droppings, you could get leptospirosis.
Watch for symptoms like chills, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, and rash. Leptospirosis can affect both humans and dogs.
Try to avoid direct contact with opossums or anything they’ve soiled. Clean up areas where they’ve been, use gloves, and wash your hands well to lower your risk.
Parasites: Fleas and Ticks
Opossums often carry fleas and ticks, which can bite you or your pets. Fleas might cause itching and can carry some bacterial diseases.
Ticks are more concerning. They can spread Lyme disease, which can cause serious health issues if you don’t treat it.
Here’s the thing: opossums actually kill a lot of ticks when they groom themselves. Still, they can carry a few that might hop onto your dog or a family member.
To reduce risk, keep your yard free of wood piles and tall grass where ticks thrive. Use tick prevention on pets and check for ticks after being outside.
Rabies and Other Viral Diseases
A lot of people worry about rabies, but honestly, opossums almost never carry the rabies virus. Their body temperature runs low, which makes it tough for rabies to survive inside them.
So, your chances of getting rabies from an opossum? Pretty slim compared to most wild animals.
But let’s say you spot an opossum that’s acting weird—maybe it’s aggressive or just looks exhausted. Keep your distance and call animal control.
Rabies attacks the brain and can be deadly for both people and pets. It’s smart to be cautious, but you really don’t need to panic about opossums and rabies.
