Opossums in Collin County, TX | Identification and Control
The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is North America’s only pouched mammal, a gray, white-faced animal about the size of a house cat with a bare, rat-like tail. It moves in under decks, sheds and crawl spaces, raids pet food and trash, and carries fleas. Rabies is rare in opossums. Of the 388 wild animals the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed with rabies in 2024, 0 were opossums.
An opossum living under your deck or shed? Our office sits where McKinney, Plano, Frisco and Allen meet, 5 to 10 minutes from most homes in those four cities. Call and we will find where it is living, whether there are young, and every low opening it uses.
Opossum
The opossum is a slow, night-active scavenger that borrows other animals’ dens and the dark spaces under houses, decks and sheds. Texas Tech’s Mammals of Texas records it statewide except the driest parts of the Trans-Pecos.
Risk Assessment
Choose a row for the full detail- Color
- Grizzled gray or blackish, with a white face and a bare tail
- Diet
- Almost anything, from insects and fruit to pet food and trash
- Threat level
- Low
- Nesting site
- Under decks, sheds and houses, in woodpiles, attics and old burrows
- Lifespan
- Usually 2 to 3 years in the wild
- Young to adult
- About 7 weeks attached in the pouch, two litters a year
- Size
- About 28 to 31 inches with the tail, 4 to 10 lb
What Does an Opossum Look Like?
A gray, cat-sized animal with a white face, thin black ears and a long, bare tail
An adult opossum has coarse, grizzled gray fur, though some are much darker, a white face with a long pointed snout and a pink nose, and thin, hairless black ears. Its long, scaly tail is bare, black near the body and whitish toward the tip. Texas Tech University’s species account in The Mammals of Texas describes it as about the size of a terrier, gives an average total length of 782 mm for males and 710 mm for females, about 31 and 28 inches with the tail, and an adult weight of 1.8 to 4.5 kg, about 4 to 10 pounds.
Its feet give it away. Each has five toes, and the big toe on each hind foot has no claw and works like a thumb, so the tracks look like small hands with the fingers spread wide. The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management, in its national reference on opossums, notes it has 50 teeth, more than any other North American mammal, which it bares with a hiss when cornered. It is out almost only at night and moves at a slow, shuffling walk.
How to identify an opossum by its white face, thin black ears and long bare tail, with the hand-shaped tracks and den spots it leaves behind
- A white face and a long, bare, rat-like tail, seen at night by a porch light or camera
- Hand-shaped tracks where the inner toe of each hind foot sticks out like a thumb
- Slow shuffling under the deck, shed or crawl space after dark, not heavy thumping overhead
- Pet food bowls emptied overnight and trash bags pulled open
- A gap under a deck, shed or at a crawl space vent that was already there, not one torn open
- An animal that hisses with its mouth open wide, or rolls over and goes limp when you get close
Other Names for the Opossum
Possum and opossum are the same animal here. Possum is simply the short, everyday form of the name, and both get searched about as often in Collin County. Its full name is the Virginia opossum, and the scientific name Didelphis virginiana means the Virginia animal with a double womb, a nod to the pouch the young grow in. Spanish speakers often call it a tlacuache or a zarigüeya.
The one name that causes confusion is possum on Australian websites and nature shows. There it means a different group of pouched animals that live only in Australia and nearby islands. The national wildlife damage reference calls the Virginia opossum the only marsupial, or pouched mammal, in North America.
| Name | What it means |
|---|---|
| Possum | The short, everyday name for the same animal. |
| Virginia opossum | Its full name, after where it was first described. |
| Tlacuache | The Spanish name used in Mexico and across Texas. |
| Zarigüeya | Another Spanish name for the same animal. |
| Australian possum | A different animal that lives only in Australia. |
How to Tell an Opossum from a Raccoon, Rat or Skunk
All four live around Collin County homes and turn up in the same places, under decks, in garages and at the trash cans. The face, the tail and the kind of damage tell them apart, and the right fix depends on which one it is.
| Species | Size and Color | Key Feature | Where Found |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Opossum
AKA: Possum, Tlacuache
Didelphis virginiana
This species
|
About 4 to 10 pounds, the size of a house cat. Grizzled gray with a white face. | Long, bare, rat-like tail, thin black ears and a thumb on each hind foot. Hisses or plays dead. | Under decks, sheds and crawl spaces, in garages and woodpiles, using gaps that are already there. |
Raccoon
AKA: Racoon, Coon, Mapache
Procyon lotor
|
9 to 29 pounds, often much heavier. Gray with a black mask. | Black mask and a bushy tail with dark rings. Tears soffits, vents and shingles open. | Attics and chimneys as well as under decks, often making its own way in from the roof. |
Norway Rat
AKA: Brown Rat, Sewer Rat
Rattus norvegicus
|
About a pound, far smaller. Brown with a gray to white belly. | A scaly tail too, but a brown face, small furry ears and no thumb on its hind feet. | Burrows 2 to 3 inches wide along foundations, porches, sheds and mulch beds. |
Skunk
AKA: Striped Skunk, Polecat
Mephitis mephitis
|
About the size of a house cat. Black with white stripes down the back. | A bushy black tail and the smell. Digs small cone-shaped holes in lawns. | Under decks, porches, sheds and slabs, with a den hole dug at the edge. |
Opossum vs Raccoon
The Opossum in Three Numbers
0 of 388
Of the 388 wild animals the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed with rabies in Texas in 2024, 0 were opossums, while 205 were bats and 136 were skunks.
Texas Department of State Health Services, 2024
50
The national wildlife damage management reference reports that an opossum has 50 teeth, more than any other North American mammal, which it bares with a hiss when cornered.
Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management
32
Hennessy and Hild searched the stomachs of 32 wild Virginia opossums in 2021 and found no ticks or tick parts in any of them, which casts doubt on the idea that opossums eat thousands of ticks.
Hennessy and Hild, Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, 2021
Are Opossums Dangerous, and Do They Bite?
Not usually. An opossum would rather freeze, hiss or play dead than fight, and the wildlife damage reference on opossum damage says it generally avoids pets and livestock. A cornered or handled opossum can still bite, and that mouthful of teeth makes a deep wound. The bigger worry is what it carries. The same reference notes opossums host fleas and ticks, and the Texas Department of State Health Services’ page on flea-borne typhus names opossums among the animals whose fleas spread it, with cases now reported in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Fever, headache, body aches and a rash after flea bites are worth a call to your doctor.
Do Opossums Carry Rabies?
Very rarely. In the state’s 2024 report on rabies in animals, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed rabies in 388 wild animals, 205 bats, 136 skunks, 35 foxes, 11 raccoons and 1 coyote, and not one opossum. The wildlife damage reference calls opossums more resistant to rabies than other mammals, but not immune, so the old saying that they cannot get it is not true. The CDC’s page on rabies calls it a disease of mammals and advises washing any bite or scratch at once with soap and water and getting medical care quickly.
Do Opossums Really Eat Ticks?
Probably far fewer than the internet says. The claim that an opossum eats about 5,500 ticks a week came from a study of captive animals. Hennessy and Hild, writing in the journal Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases in 2021, searched the stomachs of 32 wild opossums from Illinois and found no ticks or tick parts at all, and none of the 23 earlier diet studies they reviewed had found ticks either. They concluded ticks are not a preferred food. An opossum in the yard is no tick control.
When Opossum Activity Needs Fast Action
A Bite or Scratch
Wash it at once with soap and running water and call your doctor the same day, as the CDC advises for any wild animal bite.
One That Will Not Move
An opossum that stays in one spot near the house for more than a day may be sick or hurt. Keep children and pets away and call for help.
Fleas on Pets or in the House
An opossum living under the deck brings fleas close to your dogs and cats. Treat the pets and get the opossum out from under the house.
Young Under the Deck or Shed
Young ride with the mother, in her pouch at first. Do not trap her or close the opening until the whole family is out.
Why You Have an Opossum Under Your Deck or in Your Garage
An opossum is looking for two things, easy food and a dark place to sleep through the day. Texas A&M AgriLife’s guide to managing opossum damage names pet food, fruit on trees, pecans, bird feeder seed and garbage in trash cans as what draws them to homes. Pet bowls left out at night, open trash, compost and fallen fruit are the usual reasons one keeps coming back.
For shelter it borrows rather than builds. Texas Tech’s species account lists woodpiles, rock piles, the space under buildings, attics and burrows dug by other animals among its dens, and notes it is not good at digging its own. So it moves in wherever a gap already exists, under a deck, porch or shed, through a loose crawl space vent, an open garage door or a pet door. It is not a sign of a dirty home. A tidy yard that backs onto a creek or greenbelt still sees them.
Where Opossums Live Around Collin County Homes
In the wild, opossums keep to woods and the trees along creeks, which Texas Tech notes lets them reach far into open country. Around homes they use the dark, sheltered spaces a property offers, under decks, sheds and porches, in crawl spaces, garages and woodpiles. The wildlife damage reference on opossum biology says they use burrows other animals have left and build messy nests. On acreage they also take eggs from chicken coops, and their droppings can carry the parasite behind a deadly nerve disease in horses.
Opossum Pressure Across Collin County
Opossum calls in our service notes come most from McKinney, usually an opossum under a shed or deck or seen on a camera at night, and from Frisco, where we have found them digging under back fence lines. Most have come in summer, when the spring young are out of the pouch and moving around.
Homes that back onto creeks, greenbelts and parks anywhere in Collin County, including Plano and Allen, give them the wooded stream edges Texas Tech describes, along with the pet food and trash that keep them close.
Opossums do not hibernate and are active all year in Collin County. Texas Tech’s species account puts the Texas breeding season from January or February into June or July, with litters usually born in February and June, so spring and early summer are when mothers with young look for a safe den.
Pattern from published Texas opossum breeding biology (The Mammals of Texas) and Pest Me Off opossum calls, which have come mostly in late spring and summer.
Why Opossums Keep Coming Back
How Pest Me Off Removes Opossums
Opossum removal is four steps, every job. Getting the animal out is only half the fix, because the gap it used still invites the next one.
Inspect and Identify
A free inspection from the crawl space and deck to the roofline. We confirm it is an opossum and not a raccoon, skunk or rat, find where it sleeps and every low opening, and look for young before anything else happens.
Remove the Humane Way
Live traps or one-way doors sized for an opossum, set where it comes and goes, and handled within Texas wildlife rules. When there are young, we make sure the whole family comes out together.
Clean Up and Assess
We clear nesting material and droppings from the access area, then show you the damage and the exact way in, from the gap under the deck to a loose crawl space vent.
Seal It Out for Good
Every opening is closed with materials an opossum cannot pull apart, including wire mesh along the base of decks and sheds where it would dig under. This is the rodent proofing and exclusion work that keeps the next animal out.
& Other Companies
How to Get Rid of Opossums Yourself
The best DIY work takes away what drew the opossum and closes the low spaces it sleeps in. The wildlife damage reference on opossum control puts both ahead of trapping.
Why Some DIY Responses Fail for Opossums
Most DIY opossum trouble comes from closing a space before the animal is out, and from Texas rules on what may be done with one once it is caught.
Sealing the Gap Too Soon
Closing the space under a deck while an opossum or her young are inside traps them there. They die under the deck and the smell lasts for weeks.
Trapping and Driving It Away
Texas Parks and Wildlife lists the opossum as a fur-bearing animal, and its rules on nuisance fur-bearing animals allow one to be moved and released only with the department’s authorization and the permission of the owner of the release site.
Repellents and Scare Devices
The wildlife damage reference says no repellent is registered for opossums and no frightening device works on them. Mothballs, ammonia and lights leave the food and the shelter in place, so the opossum stays.
Common Opossum Questions
What is an opossum, and is a possum the same animal?
How big do opossums get?
Do opossums bite, and are they dangerous?
Do opossums carry rabies?
Is it true that opossums eat thousands of ticks?
Why do opossums play dead?
Are opossums dangerous to dogs and cats?
What do opossums eat?
Why is there an opossum under my deck or shed?
Can I trap an opossum and release it somewhere else?
Is an opossum out in the daytime sick?
How do I get rid of opossums?
An Opossum Under the Deck? We Get It Out and Keep the Next One Out.
We find where it sleeps and any young, get the whole family out humanely, clean up the nest, and close every low opening so nothing moves back in. Wildlife removal across McKinney, Allen, Frisco, Plano, and all of Collin County.