Looking out my Florida room window into my backyard, I was pleasantly surprised to see North America’s only marsupial in my garden – the opossum. Normally, nocturnal, it must have been hungry to be out during the daylight scavenging for a bite to eat. There is plenty to munch on – frogs, lizards, snakes, large insects and… ticks.
Opossums do not specifically seek ticks to eat, but they are prolific groomers and that is when they devour any ticks they have come into contact with. As I watched this magnificent mammal, it stopped frequently brushing its white hairs with its paws and licking its fur as if preparing for a hot date.
A recent study discovered that each opossum eats over 5,000 ticks annually. That might not seem like a lot, but the female ticks would have laid thousands of eggs hatching thousands of ticks. Stay as long as you want my furry friend!
naturechirp 
I love the opossum! We see them now and then under our bird feeders, but only in the middle of the night. How they survive our Maine winters I don’t know.
When we lived in N.C., a big old granddaddy opossum moved into the dog house we had on our deck. We fed him for years.
❤️
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Awe! That’s nice. We see them mostly at night coming through our backyard. It is amazing how wildlife can survive winters in the north! Thanks for sharing! Gary
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Right now we have two skunks, a woodchuck, a fox and three fat raccoons… as well as a herd of 13 deer.
😊
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They’re not as nice as our Australia possum. The Possum is adorable. 🙂
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Some people think they are the ugliest animals. I find them adorabe. Beauty isin the eye of the beholder I guess! Best, Gary
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Never saw this animal up close. What a diet!
Thanks for the follow, Gary.
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I see some in our yard occasionally. Thanks for the interesting post. 😉
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I just wrote about possums too! I think they also come out during the day cos they need more food for the babies.
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Thanks for sharing. Nice to now! Gary
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