Some animals are outgoing while others prefer to live their lives behind the scenes. opossums, also known as opossums are in the latter group. But even though they go out of their way to avoid the spotlight, opossums sometimes wind up in human spaces, prompting the need for Durham’s wildlife control services to come and remedy the situation.

What Winter Means for Wildlife Citizens Like Opossums

Winter is a difficult time for most members of the wildlife society. Food is scarce and this coupled with low temperatures make survival difficult for animals like opossums. This is why they adjust their habits each winter. One of those adjustments is a switch-up in their foraging schedule. During winter, instead of going out at night to find food, opossums venture out during the day. They do this because winter night temperatures tend to be higher than daytime temperatures.

Another adjustment opossums make in the winter is in their sleeping habits. Unlike many other wildlife citizens that enter a winter survival state called hibernation, opossums remain conscious for most of the winter. They cannot afford to hibernate because they do not accumulate fat stores to keep them during the long period of inactivity associated with hibernation and neither do they gather and store food. This means they must still seek food during the winter. Since winter for opossums means foraging during the day, they replace their typical nocturnal activities with long bouts of sleep during winter nights.

They also change their nesting habits during the winter. In warmer seasons, they change dens frequently but when the cold season arrives they spend longer bouts in one den and are more likely to spend the entire winter in one spot.

Winter Homes for Opossums

In keeping with their tendency to shy away from the spotlight, opossums typically live away from human spaces. Their preference is for spots below woodpiles, in the hollow portion of trees or in rock crevices especially during fair weather. But this often changes in the winter as colder temperatures make it difficult for them to stay warm in those outdoor dens.

When the temperatures plummet to really low levels opossums love to curl up in warm spaces. These warm spaces are sometimes the homes of Durham residents. These homes are ideal possum shelters as they provide two very important things, warmth, and food. Your Durham home becomes a winter haven for opossums and other wildlife animals because it is warm (of course you’ll heat up your home to keep yourself and your family warm). It is also an open self-serve buffet of ready meals such as leftover meals and pet food. opossums typically eat insects and fruits in the wild but they will also chow down on the things people leave lying around.

 

Keeping opossums Out This Winter

You can keep opossums away by removing the things they might eat. Since they are omnivores, this will be a very wide range of things in the meat and vegetable categories. You should also ensure that no breaches exist through which opossums can get into your Durham home.

Like pretty much all other wildlife intrusions, a possum intrusion brings inconvenience and the threat of diseases. If you are concerned about possum intrusion in your Durham home this winter, you should get in touch with the expert humane wildlife control team at Skedaddle. If a possum has entered your home, the poor thing is simply trying to survive. In order to safeguard your space and at the same time ensure the survival of the animal, you should definitely get expert wildlife technicians to help.