How big do opossums get?

The opossum is nature’s craziest of animals. Many of us know this creature for the unusual way that it defends itself from predators. The primary means by which it tries to avoid being captured and killed by those that would try to make a meal out of it is by playing dead. When it does this, it also releases a chemical that gives off a rather bad smell. To the predator, they believed that the animal is dead and is beginning to rot and so they avoid attempting to eat it. While this is a rather crazy way for an animal to defend itself, it actually does work quite well and is saved many opossums from becoming some other animal’s dinner for the day.



The opossum is a rather hideous looking animal, to be honest. They may look kind of cute when they are younger, but they continue to grow up to be one of the ugliest looking animals you will see. With a long slender snout, gritty looking teeth, and beady little eyes, this little creature is quite a hideous little animal.

There are many things about the opossum that make it kind of unusual in comparison to many animals. However, it is not that much different than many others in terms of the size in which it reaches. Most standard possums reach to about 15 to 20 inches in length. This is roughly about the same size as a house cat would preach. The weight of opossum is quite similar to that of the cat as well. Most will weigh somewhere between 10 and 13 pounds on average, but this depends greatly upon the diet and living conditions that the animal exists in.

If there is plentiful amount of food, then the possum is much more likely to be on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of length and weight. This usually occurs in areas where the animal is close to where humans live. They are able to get a lot of food from the people that live in the area through garbage and other means, ensuring that they have a regular staple of food.

In the wilderness, this is a different story. There is much more difficult to ensure a ready diet every day, so the animal in many instances will only reach to about 14 or 15 inches long, and way no more than nine or 10 pounds.

This is true of virtually any animal you will find. The ones that are able to live off of the good fortune of human beings are often much more healthy than those that are living fending for themselves in the wild. This is quite understandable for sure. Read more: Opossum Control, How to Get Rid of Opossums, Opossum Feces.