What Do Possums Eat? Complete Guide to the Possum Diet

Have you ever found your garden in disarray and wondered, “What do possums eat?” These nocturnal visitors might look cute, but they can be a nuisance when scavenging for food around your home.

Possums, also known as opossums in North America, are opportunistic omnivores. Their eating habits play an essential role in the ecosystem but they can become problematic when drawn to urban areas by human food waste.

In this guide, we’ll break down:

– The typical possum diet,

– Differences across possum species,

– What attracts them to your yard,

– How to manage their presence,

– And surprising facts like their ability to eat snakes and ticks.

Let’s dig in.

The Possum-Opossum Diet

Possums Are Opportunistic Omnivores

Possums eat both plants and animals. They are natural scavengers, meaning they’ll eat almost anything, alive or dead, that’s easy to access. This includes:

– Fruits and vegetables

– Insects and slugs

– Rodents and small reptiles

– Pet food and human leftovers

– Carrion (dead animals)

A 2009 study published in (The American Midland Naturalist) confirmed that possums show strong food plasticity they can adapt their diet based on available food sources in the wild or urban environments.

Superpowers of a Scavenger

Despite poor eyesight, possums have a highly developed sense of smell and hearing. They can track down food sources with impressive accuracy. In lab tests, possums demonstrated the ability to remember the food location for up to a year outperforming cats, dogs, and even rats.

They also have a robust immune system and are resistant to toxins and diseases, including snake venom and certain bacterial infections found in decomposing animals.

Possum Diet by Environment

In Urban Areas:

– Pet food (left outside)

– Garbage scraps

– Compost piles

– Fallen fruits from trees

– Garden vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, corn, and cucumbers

In the Wild:

– Insects (beetles, grasshoppers, ticks)

– Small animals (frogs, mice, baby birds)

– Wild fruits and berries

– Dead animals (roadkill, bones)

– Snakes and slugs
Fun Fact: According to the CDC, possums can eat up to 5,000 ticks per season. This helps reduce the spread of Lyme disease in wooded areas.

 Possum Species and their  Diet Lists

Do Possums Eat Chicken?

While possums prefer more leisurely meals, they can attack chickens, especially chicks or eggs. If desperate, they may bite the neck of a full-grown chicken. Their 50 sharp teeth make them capable of killing and partially eating poultry, though this behavior is relatively rare.

How to Protect Chickens:

– Use hardware cloth (not standard chicken wire)

– Secure coop edges and roof

– Avoid leaving food outside overnight

If you have to protect your chicken, use a hardware cloth with a fine mesh. Remember that even with a solid wire mesh, you must do everything possible to ensure your chicken coop is free from possums. Instead of using chicken wire, you can use a hardware cloth like this one, which is effective. You will love it, I promise.

Read More: Possum Poop: A Breakdown of Look, Smell, & Diseases

Can Possum Eat Ticks?

According to the CDC (Center for Disease and Prevention), virgin opossums can eat 95% of the ticks in their path, which is 5,000 ticks every season. This helps to keep the tick population in the garden or yard under control.

What’s more, ticks spread Lyme disease. When an opossum kills or eats the ticks, they reduce the spread of the diseases. Although they can’t get rid of the entire tick population since they’ll get bitten, they’ll destroy at least 90% of them.

An average opossum walking in the woods will eat about 200 ticks anytime they walk around the forest. 

Since the population of ticks spreading Lyme disease is increasing, many people are welcoming opossums to eat ticks in their yards. If you have a small group of possums, they can eat 10,000 to 12,000 Ticks each month.

Do Possum Eat Snakes?

Yes. Opossums eat small snakes and are immune to many snake venoms, including rattlesnakes and cottonmouth. Scientists have isolated a peptide called LTNF (Lethal Toxin-Neutralizing Factor) in their blood that neutralizes venom. However, they tend to avoid larger, more dangerous snakes like elapids.

Do Possums Eat Rats?

Possums feed on most rodents, including rats. Possums are more scavengers than hunters. 

What that means is that they don’t go around looking for rats. However, if they find a rat along the way, they’ll catch it and eat it. Possums will only kill and eat rats when they are starving or desperate for food or when the rats become too aggressive.

If you live in an opossum infested neighborhood, you might have noticed a reduction in the rodent population. 

Opossums were once used in Brooklyn to check the rodent population. The local council thought that once opossums finished the rat population in the city, they would die of starvation. That was a bad idea because possums have managed to survive since the era of dinosaurs, thanks to their dietary eating pattern.

Besides that, opossums are also resistant to rat poison. They have a strong peptide in their blood that counters the poison. The only poison they can’t resist is neurotoxins. Other rodents and possums eat include cockroaches, crickets, slugs, beetles, rats, mice, and snakes.

Read More: How To Trap Possum: [The New Guide]

What Do Baby Possums Eat?

Baby opossums can eat everything when they’re big enough to leave their mother’s pouch. Baby opossums can feed on cockroaches, worms, and slugs. 

Their favorite diet or food is snails. Moreover, baby possums can’t survive on milk because marsupial milk is different from formula or cow’s milk.

Besides, the baby possum can’t suckle like other animals, so giving it bottled food won’t work and may cause aspiration and death. 

Baby opossums drink their mother’s milk until they are 90 days old. Baby opossums won’t last even three days without food. In other words, if you plan to take care of this creature, you may need to be extra careful so that it does not die.

Opossum Diet in Captivity

An excellent diet for captive possums will be insects that are rich in protein, small mammals that are high in fats, and fruits or nuts that are rich in carbs and calcium. A captive opossum can feed on anything because it is an omnivore. 

The opossum will eat both plants and animals. In the wild, an opossum is used to eat various vegetables, grasses, leaves, fruits, grapes, carrion, snails, slugs, and worms. 

However, an opossum in captivity must be fed a balanced diet daily. Ensure that 70 to 80% of the food includes vegetables, and 20 to 30% should consist of meat.

Does Opossum Eat Plants?

Opossums can eat plants and nuts although it’s not their primary food source. Despite being omnivores, they can be herbivores. One type of opossum known to feed exclusively on plants is the common Ringtail possum. 

Plants and nuts provide a lot of calcium in the diet, which helps with bone formation and tooth growth.

The mother opossum will always feed her child calcium-rich milk until the baby is 90 days old. Besides plants, opossums feed on grasses and leaves near the water sources. 

They also feed on plant materials like fruits, leaves, and bulbs. The animal’s diet changes with the season, depending on the kind of food available.

Opossums can also eat dead weeds and weedy vegetation that contains high amounts of calcium. They are more likely to feed on decaying plants than well-nourished plants.

What Does Opossum Eat in Winter?

Possums eat the same food during the summer. They are herbivores and insectivores, meaning they eat a variety of foods that are easily accessible during the winter. 

In the winter, some of their food sources include rodents, snakes, insects, eggs, grains, and fruits.

What Can I Feed a Possum in My Yard?

If you’re looking to attract possums as natural pest controllers, offer:

– Overripe fruits (apples, bananas, melons)

– Vegetables (especially wilted or fallen ones)

– Dog/cat kibble in moderation

– Water source nearby

Note: Avoid feeding sugary or salty processed food it can cause obesity and fur loss (dermatitis).

Are Possums Good for the Environment?

Yes! Possums are ecological janitors:

– They clean up carrion and waste.

– They help control insect and rodent populations.

– They reduce tick-borne diseases.

They pose minimal risk to humans and pets and rarely spread diseases.

Final Thoughts

Possums eat various foods, from insects and fruits to garbage and small animals. While they can be a nuisance in gardens and chicken coops, they also offer surprising ecological benefits—especially in controlling ticks, pests, and waste.

If you’re dealing with possums in your yard, balance is key. Either take steps to repel them or embrace their pest-reducing powers.