The second litter will be sufficiently grown to leave the mother by fall. Females mate again after the first litter of the season is able to live on their own. The young are weaned at about 14 weeks, at which time they are about 9 inches long, not including the tail. When the young become too large for all of them to fit inside the pouch at one time, some will ride along by hanging on to the mother’s back. No bigger than one-half inch and weighing less than 0.13 gram, they do not let go for about 8 weeks, during which time they continue their development and growth.Īt approximately 11 weeks of age they can leave the pouch for short periods. Like other marsupials, the blind, helpless young find their way into the mother’s pouch where they each attach to one of the 13 teats.
After a short 13-day gestation period, the tiny, hairless young are born. The resultant two litters yield an average of about 7 young each. There are typically two mating seasons for opossums in California: January through February, and June through July. Fortunately, they are not aggressive unless cornered, when they may hiss, growl, and show their teeth.
Having lost much of their natural fear of people, they will even enter a home through a pet door in search of food. Opossums that live near people may visit vegetable gardens, compost piles, garbage cans, or food dishes intended for dogs or cats. It eats both fresh meat and carrion and is often seen feeding on road kills, a habit that makes it vulnerable to also being killed. In its foraging, the nocturnal opossum is a true omnivore, feeding on fruits, nuts, green plants, insects, snails, snakes, frogs, birds and their eggs, and small mammals such as meadow voles, mice, and rats. They have complex but flexible social relationships, with overlapping home ranges that allow high populations to develop when food is plentiful. The nest components appear piled together rather than woven or stacked. In urban and suburban settings they may den under steps, porches, decks, garden tool sheds, and if accessible, in attics, garages, and beneath houses, where they make an untidy nest of sticks and whatever else may be available. They take shelter in abandoned burrows of other animals, in tree cavities and brush piles, and beneath other dense cover. While their natural habitats are diverse, ranging from arid to moist and wooded to open fields, opossums prefer environments near streams or wetlands. The opposable toe on the hind foot assists in holding on to small branches or similar structures. All of the toes have a claw except for the opposable thumb on the rear foot. Their feet resemble small hands with five widely spread fingers. Opossums are about 2 to 3 feet long, including the tail, and weigh up to 15 pounds, although most fall within the 4 to 7 pound range. With its long hairless prehensile tail, the opossum can carry things such as nesting materials and even hang upside down from a tree branch. IDENTIFICATION AND BIOLOGYĪn opossum is about the size of a house cat, has coarse grayish fur, a pointed face, and hairless, rounded ears. The opossum is not native to California but was introduced in San Jose in 1910 from the east coast of the United States and has now become well established throughout much of the state.
Marsupials are distinguished by their abdominal pouch used for carrying their young.
The opossum ( Didelphis virginiana) is the only native North American marsupial. A: Hind foot track b: front foot track c: trail pattern d: hind foot, note unusual arrangement of the toes e: front foot.
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