Opossums in Louisville: An Organic Solution to Fewer Ticks on Your Property

Opossums, the nocturnal giant rodent, doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Commonly found on the side of the road as roadkill, a rare encounter with a live one in person probably didn’t leave a good impression. As they hissed at you, you probably immediately began to consider ways to trap and remove the creature from your property. But wait! If you are lucky enough to have an opossum living in your Louisville yard, don’t remove it, embrace it. (Not literally, of course). Opossums actually provide a great service to humans, making the occasional mischief they might cause completely worthwhile.

How Do Louisville Opossums Help Humans?

Ticks love opossums. They are a perfect medium-sized mammalian blood host. Or so the ticks think. An average opossum can have up to 200 ticks feeding on it at a time, which may seem like a bad thing. But that is where the amazing “eat anything” diet of an opossum comes in. Only about 3.5% of the ticks that try and feed on an opossum will survive the feeding, as the roles reverse and the opossum eats the ticks. The best approximations estimate that a single opossum can kill about 4,000 ticks per week.

More Opossums Means Fewer Ticks

While the opossum is well known for looking like a rat, they happen to be much cleaner than rats. They are extraordinary self-groomers, chewing and licking their fur and devouring the ticks that may be trying to get a decent meal. With such impeccable grooming and quick tick devouring appetite, opossums may just be the #1 enemy to Lyme disease. Opossums don’t selectively eat ticks; they eat plenty infected with Lyme. Lowering the number of ticks in your Louisville yard is the first defense against dangerous tick-borne disease like Lyme disease, and there is no better way than letting a natural predator (or forager in this case) do its job.

If you would rather not rely on an opossum to eliminate ticks in Louisville, or you just don’t live in an area where one is likely to cohabitate, call Mosquito Squad of Louisville today. Our Intensive Tick Treatment eliminates 90%+ of ticks on your property.