They're not blind. Contrary to popular belief, opossums aren't blind at all. They just have terrible eyesight during the day. Their pupils are always dilated, and as nocturnal animals, an opossum's eyesight improves drastically at night.
Possums and opossums are not normally blind as adults. The idea that they can't see comes from their generally poor eyesight, which especially hampers their vision during the day. This is due to their permanently dilated pupils. They see much better in the dark than during daylight hours, suiting their nocturnal bent.
Reasons Why An Opossum May Be Active During The Daytime
The most common time that you will see an opossum active during the day is if it is a female that has a litter of young opossums to look after, and the demands of being a mother will sometimes mean foraging at different times of the day.
MISCELLANEOUS SMALL MAMMAL BEHAVIOR
Short-tailed opossums are very sensitive to light and noise. Excessive ultraviolet light exposure may lead to retinal melanoma. Short-tailed opossums have well-developed olfactory systems and rely heavily on their sense of smell.
Possums like to operate under the cover of darkness, so anything that you can put in your garden that mimics the reflective eyes of a potential predator or lights up when they enter the garden should help scare them off.
In addition to ammonia and mothballs, possums will also steer clear of odors of vinegar, garlic, onion, peppermint, and camphor. These strong scents are often used as natural repellents to keep opossums away from gardens, trash cans, and other areas where they may be unwanted.
Possums are repelled by the stench of garlic, ammonia and mothballs. So go ahead and scatter those around where you think possums might hang out.
Carbon dioxide gas is the most appropriate technique to euthanize opossums. Opossums also can be humanely killed with a gunshot to the head, if legal and safe in your area.
As mentioned, the possum has terrible eyesight, and so it will avoid light as much as possible because of the fact that it is at its most vulnerable during the daylight. Shining a bright light on it will cause it to move away from that light and away from your home.
“Opossums are shy, harmless animals who are the size of an average housecat,” says Lynsey White, director of humane wildlife conflict resolution for The Humane Society of the United States. “They do not pose any danger to people or pets and [they] want to avoid [us] if they can.”
Opossum are not aggressive: their open-mouth, defensive hissing is merely a bluff to look vicious. And if that doesn't work they play dead when really scared! If there is an opossum in the backyard, don't worry. They aren't a threat, and more than likely they will be moving on in a short while.
Opossums are more likely to growl, hiss and show their 50 sharp teeth than to bite. They are a relatively placid animal and like to avoid confrontation at all costs. However, if cornered they do have the ability to bite.
Opossum droppings average 1–2" in length, are smooth on the sides, and may be covered in white or yellowish mold growth. Fresh opossum droppings are brown in color. A unique characteristic of opossum fecal matter is that it tends to curl as the animal excretes the waste.
Opossums are inhibited animals, especially in daylight or under artificial light, but are by no means stupid. Results from some learning and discrimination tests rank opossums above dogs and more or less on a par with pigs in intelligence.
Motion sensor lights on your roof are a great way to keep possums away from your home. These bright lights scare off the nocturnal possum, preventing it from checking out your roof as its next home.
Being nocturnal, opossums aren't very fond of harsh light. If there are particular problem areas in your yard that opossums love to get into, try installing more light sources to steer them away. Motion detector lights and floodlights are perfect choices to scare them away.
Main predators include dogs, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, large hawks, and great horned owls. The chance of rabies in opossums is extremely rare. When frightened, opossums bare their 50 sharp teeth and hiss or growl. However, they would rather avoid confrontation and be left alone.
Large Pets
Possums are naturally skittish creatures who spend much of their time avoiding predators. Potential predators include domesticated dogs and cats. If you want to scare away a possum, you might want to try keeping a dog or cat around the house. The larger, the better!
Sprinkle Cayenne Pepper
Spice is unappealing to possums and most other pests, so you can stave them off by sprinkling the spice over your plants and soil. Similarly, you can boil water with hot sauce or cayenne pepper and pour the mixture into a spray bottle once it cools.
Produce loud noises
Possums are shy animals, and they will usually avoid areas with a lot of noise. You can make noise by playing music, banging on pots and pans, or using a loud air horn.
Bleach - Spray a solution of bleach (one part) and water (10 parts) around areas you want to keep possums away from. Mothballs - Spread mothballs around to keep them away, or even to flush them out of areas they like to hide in. Molasses - Mix one part molasses with four parts of water in a spray bottle.
The neighbors may complain too if the sounds are too loud. Possums hate the sounds of predator animals, such as grunting, hissing or screeching. Those may be the best sounds to use to scare them away.
Do not feed possums almonds, cheese, onions, dairy products, green potatoes or junk food. Put food in containers in high, sheltered areas. Spread the food throughout the enclosure to promote natural foraging. Possums need fresh water daily.
Did you know possums hate the smell of garlic? That's right! So, you could consider crushing garlic pods and spreading them around the area. They even hate mothballs and can't stand the smell or sight of them.