Possums are Everywhere!

by Ginger & David, M. Hawley, Douglas, Sylvia, Mary & Dan, Paul H, Sheila, D. Renaud
(Windsor, Hillsburgh, Ottawa, Waterloo, Reidsville, Bridgenorth, Trenton)

Ginger and David from Windsor wrote ... we had a beautiful Opossum in our back yard yesterday morning after daylight. Looked to be healthy, coat was fluffy and seemed fairly plush for winter. The little guy ambled through the snow and headed down our walk. We have a lot of feral cats here, and I noticed one old female watching the Opossum, but she kept her distance and didn't seem to threaten it. I apologize, no photos because we were in awe just watching the cute little guy! I had seen it once before at night, but this is the first daylight sighting. Any suggestions how to help the little guy over winter? Food we can put out at night that won't appeal to the feral cats?

M Hawley from Hillsburgh said ... I spotted a medium size possum on our compost container March 23, 1030 pm. We are on a sideroad, 3rd Line, almost 2 km north of #22, 6 minutes west of Hillsburgh. Property is 3 acres, part bush, part open density swampy wood area and fairly large lawn area.

Douglas from Ottawa wrote to report ... driving in downtown Oshawa at about 21:00, I was surprised to see an animal walking across the road. As I got closer I realized it was not a cat, then thought it might be a beaver. I stopped my vehicle and followed the animal into the empty parking lot and on closer examination on my headlights, seeing its white pointed head, long pink hairless tail, pink webbed feet and large black eyes, I knew it was an Opossum which I did not know lived in Canada or Ontario until coming home and finding your website online.

Sylvia from Waterloo wrote ... we have an upper and lower deck that have stairs to connect them. The upper deck has a 'breakfast bar' area that we have 2 large bird feeders on all winter to feed our feathered friends. In mid-March and we were now starting to see raccoons at night at the feeders on occasion (twice now). But for the first time that night we had a new visitor - a possum! It was quite large - certainly the size of a large cat - and it was eating the sunflower seeds that were on the ground. After enjoying some seeds it left for the stairs and we could not see it anymore. I was really surprised so I looked up possums in Ontario, and found this site :).

Mary & Dan wrote ... on October 7th we were enjoying a glass of wine in our living room around 8:00 pm and observed motion on the far side of our small pond. A critter then moved into the glow of a garden light and we could easily identify a possum. It then moved across our gardens and into our neighbour’s yard. Although we have a variety of wildlife continually visiting our yard, we have never seen a possum and we were certainly entertained by the event!Paul H from Reidsville wrote to tell us ... this fall we have had a lot of small holes dug in our lawn, and we've spotted a Possum walking around our backyard after dark. I assume that the two are connected. I think he/she may be holing up under our deck.

Sheila from Bridgenorth reported a sad and surprising find ... very sad to say I buried a little possum this morning that had been hit by a car and died on the road in front of my house. I did not know we had possums in this area just a bit north of Peterborough, Ontario. I expect the poor little chap was just looking for a place to spend the winter or maybe visit my bird feeder. It's always sad when a critter dies on the road. This is the first time I have seen a wild possum and it's a shame that it was a dead one.

D Renaud wrote from Trenton to say ... we saw a large white possum (no, not albino) near our front doorstep about 10 pm on Nov. 11th, 2018. We live in Trenton, Ontario in a residential area (house) with a large field behind us. It is owned by DND (Canadian Armed Forces). We are at the end of a dead end street (cul-de-sac). This possum stood and looked at me (I put the porch light on). He didn't attempt to move or snarl; just stood and stared as I did at him. I said nothing and in a few minutes he continued to walk slowly around the lawn with his nose to the ground and then wandered off around the side of the house where I couldn't see him anymore. This is the first time I have seen him, and hope it will be the last. Hope this info is helpful to you.