An opossum is a very ugly creature. Of that there is no doubt. While some may consider them to be quite cute, the truth of the matter is that these are rather hideous creatures.
While you may not want opossum on your land simply because of the way it looks, the truth is that these animals pose some serious risks to the health of your family, your pets, and yourself. They have very sharp claws and teeth, and can do some serious damage to your pet should your dog or cat come in direct contact with them.
We all know that the primary defense mechanism for a possum is to play dead, but if your dog or cat continues to prod at them then it is not uncommon for them to fight back. These are wild animals after all, which means they can attack your pet.
While the scratches and bites may be serious enough to cause a severe injury to your animal, where the real concern that you should have is in the diseases and pathogens that these little critters carry. They are known things as rabies, parasites, and other kinds of pathogens and diseases that can be extremely dangerous to your pet. This is why it is so essential that you keep these animals away from your property with as much due diligence as you possibly can muster.
The problem is that you may not even be aware that an opossum is making its way onto your land. There are probably signs that they are there, but you may not be aware of them. You may have seen some tracks but didn’t really know what animal those were associated with. So, you may be wanting to know how to identify opossum tracks.
Like a human being, the opossum has four fingers and a thumb on each paw. This gives it the ability to be able to grip and grasp things much in the same way that a human being what. However, there are significant differences that an opossum paw has in comparison to that of other kinds of animals.
A raccoon is quite similar in terms of design to that of the opossum. It has a smaller thumb and bigger fingers just as the opossum dust, but there is a tremendously huge difference. What you will find is that the fingers on the possum hand are spread much farther apart from each other. A raccoon paw is designed so that each finger is in close proximity to one another, but that is not true of the opossum at all.
If you think about it, there paw would look very much like if you took your own fingers and thumb and spread them out as far apart from each other as possible. This is how the opossum paw track will look, but often spread even further.
If you find tracks like this, then it is likely that you have an opossum living on your land. It is time to start taking measures to try to keep the animal away.
Read more:
Opossum Control,
How to Get Rid of Opossums,
Opossum Feces.
