WILDLIFE REMOVAL

Opossum Removal in Toronto, Oakville & the GTA

Live trapping for opossums under decks, porches and sheds, and in garages

Opossum removal for homes in Toronto, Oakville, Mississauga, Burlington and Milton. An opossum denning under the deck, porch or shed, or in the garage, is live-trapped by the licensed trapper on our staff and released within 24 hours, close to where it was caught, as Ontario's rules require. From late winter until late fall a female may be carrying young, so we check for them first. Then the way in is sealed.

Bitten or scratched by an opossum? Wash the wound with soap and warm water right away, then call your doctor or go to the nearest hospital and report it to your public health unit.

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AT A GLANCE

Opossums at a Glance

Size: House-cat sized, up to about 100 cm with the tail; usually 1.8 to 5.4 kg
Colour: Coarse greyish fur and a whitish face
Body: Long pointed snout, bare round ears, bare rat-like tail
How to tell: White face and bare tail; a raccoon has a mask and ringed tail
Active: All year; no hibernation, holes up in very cold spells
Where found: Under decks, porches and sheds, in garages and woodpiles
Health risks: Hisses and shows its teeth; can bite if cornered or handled

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Signs of an Opossum Under the Deck, Shed or Garage

If you’ve noticed any of these, call and a licensed technician will tell you what it points to.

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Garbage bins, composters or bird feeders raided overnight
Pet food left outside gone by morning
A grey animal with a white face and a bare tail under the deck, porch or shed, mostly after dusk
Tracks like small hands with the fingers spread wide; on the hind print the big toe sticks out like a thumb
A messy nest under the house or deck, or in the garage
An opossum lying still, mouth open and drooling, that is often playing dead rather than sick

Sick, injured or baby opossums

Don't pick up an opossum. In Toronto, call 311 for one that is sick or hurt. In Mississauga, call Animal Services at 905-896-5858 for serious injuries, or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for minor ones. A baby under about 18 cm, nose to rump, alone with no mother in sight, needs a wildlife rehabilitator.

Toronto Wildlife Centre: Baby opossum found alone

IDENTIFICATION

How to Identify Opossums

The Virginia opossum is Canada's only marsupial: the female carries her young in a pouch. It is about the size of a house cat, with coarse greyish fur, a whitish face, a long pointed snout, bare round ears and small dark eyes. The tail is bare and rat-like, a little under half the animal's total length, and it can grip. Adults usually weigh 1.8 to 5.4 kg, and males are generally bigger than females. With 50 teeth, the opossum has more than any other North American land mammal.

Opossum or raccoon: a raccoon has a black mask and a bushy, ringed tail. An opossum has a white face and a bare tail.
Opossum or rat: an opossum is the size of a house cat, far bigger than any rat. Only the tail looks like a rat's.
Ragged ears or a short tail: the bare ears and tail are prone to frostbite in northern winters, so an Ontario opossum can carry the damage.
Out in daylight: opossums mostly feed from dusk to dawn, but in winter they sometimes switch to the daytime.
Playing dead: a frightened opossum may hiss, drool and bare its teeth, then drop onto its side and lie still, sometimes for hours. Once it no longer feels threatened it gets up and leaves.

OUR APPROACH

How Our Opossum Trapping Works

Step 1
Find the Den and Check for Young
We find where the opossum is denning: under a deck, porch or shed, in a woodpile or in the garage. Opossums don't dig their own burrows and aren't strong enough to tear a way in, so they move into openings that are already there. From late winter until late fall, a female may have young in her pouch or riding on her back, so we check before a trap goes in and explain the plan for any young before work starts.
Step 2
Live Trapping
The licensed trapper on our staff sets a cage trap where the opossum travels, and only when the property owner asks, as Ontario requires. Every live trap is checked at least once a day, which Ontario's trapping rules also require. We don't kill opossums, and Ontario's wildlife law bans poison and glue for catching or killing wildlife.
Step 3
Release Within 24 Hours
The opossum is released within 24 hours, close to where it was caught. The province's guidance is within 1 km, so the animal stays where it knows the food and den sites. It goes onto private land only with the owner's permission. An opossum that is sick, injured or too young to release goes to an authorized wildlife rehabilitator.
Step 4
Seal the Way In
Trapping on its own doesn't fix the problem: while the opening is there, another animal can move in. Once we are sure the opossum and any young are out, the space under the deck, porch or shed is closed with galvanized wire mesh dug into the ground in an L shape, and gaps into the garage or house are repaired.

HEALTH RISKS

Are Opossums Dangerous? Bites and Rabies

A frightened opossum puts on a show: it hisses, growls, drools and shows its teeth, and it may then play dead. It can bite if it is cornered or handled, and males can turn aggressive in the mating season when they feel threatened. Rabies can infect any mammal, but the province says opossums are rarely infected in Ontario. The animals that spread rabies most often here are bats, foxes, skunks and raccoons. Rabies spreads through bites, or saliva in a cut or in the eyes, nose or mouth. If an opossum bites or scratches you, wash the wound with soap and warm water right away, get medical care and report it to your public health unit.

Rabies doesn't spread through an animal's blood, urine or droppings, but Ontario says to talk to your family doctor or local health unit after contact with them, because other diseases and parasites can still be a risk.
Ontario requires cats, dogs and ferrets over 3 months old to have rabies shots. Keep pets away from an opossum: injuries can happen when a dog or cat goes after one.

RISKS AND DAMAGE

What Damage Can Opossums Cause?

Raccoons often tear open a way in; opossums usually don't. They move into spaces that are already open: under decks, porches and sheds, into garages, and through gaps into the house, where they can leave a messy nest. Outside, they raid garbage, compost, bird feeders and pet food, eat garden produce and fruit from the ground, and will take chickens, ducks and eggs.

Raided garbage, compost and organics bins
Pet food and bird seed eaten
Messy nests under the house or deck, or in the garage
Chickens, ducks and eggs taken from pens left open
Garden produce and fallen fruit eaten

An opossum crossing the yard will usually move on by itself; one denning under the deck or in the garage is worth dealing with, after checking for young.

CAUSES

Why You Have Opossums

Opossums come for food and stay for shelter. They eat almost anything, and around a house that means garbage, compost, pet food left out, spilled bird seed and fallen fruit. For a den they use spaces they didn't make themselves: the gap under a deck or shed, a woodpile, a hole in a building and, in winter, a burrow some other animal dug. Opossums are wanderers, so many only pass through.

What Draws Them In

Garbage and organics bins left out overnight or with loose lids
Compost without a locking lid
Pet food served outside
Bird seed spilled under feeders
Fallen fruit and ripe garden vegetables
Chicken and duck pens left open at night
Woodpiles, brush and rock piles near the house

How They Get In

Open space under decks, porches and stairs
Gaps under sheds
Garage doors left open or poorly fitting
Ground-level holes, cracks and warped siding
Old burrows dug by other animals

HABITS

Life Cycle and Habits

Habitat

Opossums live wherever there is water and plenty of food: woods, fields and marshes, and towns and farmland too, ideally near a stream or wetland. Dens are in crevices, woodpiles, rock piles, old burrows, under porches and inside holes in buildings. They are solitary and nomadic, with a home range of about 4 to 20 hectares, and young ones roam until they find a range of their own.

Diet

Opossums eat almost anything: insects, worms, slugs and snails, mice and rats, eggs, grasses, berries and other fruit, garden vegetables and garbage. Their diet is much like a raccoon's, but some differences in food and foraging hours seem to keep the two from clashing much.

Life Cycle

Breeding can start as early as January, and litters can be born as late as September. A female usually has one or two litters a year. The young are born 11 to 13 days after mating, about the size of a dime, blind and furless, and crawl into the pouch, where they stay for about two months. For roughly another month they ride on their mother's back. At about 3 to 4 months they are weaned and go off on their own. In the wild, opossums often don't live past 2 years.

Seasonal Behaviour in Ontario

Opossums are active all year in Toronto and don't hibernate. In very cold weather they stay in the den for short spells, and since they can't store food for winter, they move into burrows dug by other animals. In winter they sometimes feed in daylight. From late winter until late fall a female may be carrying young in her pouch or on her back. Ontario's general advice is to remove animals in autumn, once the young have left the den, but opossum litters can be born as late as September, so young can still be with their mother in the fall.

PREVENTION

How to Keep Opossums Out

Keep garbage and organics bins in the garage or shed, or strap the lids down with a bungee cord, and don't leave them out overnight.
Keep compost in a bin with a locking lid.
Feed pets indoors, and don't leave pet food dishes outside.
Protect bird feeders from animals and clean up spilled seed.
Pick up fallen fruit and ripe vegetables.
Once no animal is using it, close in the space under decks, porches and sheds with galvanized wire mesh that goes 20 to 30 cm into the ground and bends out 20 to 30 cm in an L shape.
Move woodpiles into a shed or garage, and clear away brush and rock piles.
Keep the garage door shut and fix doors that don't fit well.
Seal ground-level holes, cracks and warped siding, making sure no animal is inside first.
Shut chickens and ducks in their pen at night.

How to Get Rid of Opossums: What Ontario Allows

You can deal with an opossum on your own property, inside Ontario's rules. Often you don't need to: an opossum seen in the yard usually moves on within a day. Leave it alone and keep children and pets inside until it goes. If one is denning under the deck or shed and it can wait, the province's advice is to wait until autumn, when young have left the den. Opossum litters can come as late as September, so check for young even then. If you trap one yourself, the same rules apply to you as to us.

Release a trapped opossum within 24 hours, within 1 km of where you caught it, and on someone else's land only with their permission.
Check a live trap at least once a day.
Don't use poison or glue traps: Ontario bans both for wildlife.
Don't close an opening until you are sure the opossum and any young have left. Be careful not to seal an animal inside.
Opossums are furbearing mammals in Ontario, and the province says their den can't be destroyed without ministry approval.
Never pick up an opossum by the tail.
An opossum that hasn't moved for many hours, or one that looks hurt, may be sick or injured: in Toronto, call 311.
Call a professional when it's denning under a structure, there may be young, or it's in the garage or house.

Opossums in Ontario: A Fairly New Neighbour

The Virginia opossum is a southern animal that, until fairly recently, wasn't part of Ontario's wildlife, and when it reached Toronto isn't well recorded. Its range now reaches into southern and southeastern Ontario, and it is slowly spreading north, likely helped by climate change and by how well it adapts to towns and farmland. In Toronto it is now relatively common, especially in the larger parks and ravines, and the City lists opossums among the animals that share the city with us.

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Licensed Trapper on Staff

When an animal has to be caught, a licensed trapper on our staff live-traps it. Bats are never trapped: they leave through one-way doors, in Ontario's exclusion windows.

Ontario's Release Rules

A live-caught animal is released within 24 hours, close to where it was caught, and only on property whose owner agrees. Sick, injured or orphaned animals go to an authorized wildlife rehabilitator.

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COMMON QUESTIONS

Opossum Removal: Questions We Get

Do opossums carry rabies?

They can, but rarely do. Any mammal can get rabies, and the province says opossums can catch it but are rarely infected in Ontario, where bats, foxes, skunks and raccoons spread it most often. Treat any bite or scratch seriously: wash it with soap and warm water, see a doctor right away and report it to your public health unit.

Will an opossum leave on its own?

One passing through the yard usually will, often within a day: opossums are wanderers and don't stay in one area for long. Keep pets and children in and leave it be. One that has set up a den under the deck or in the garage may stay, especially a mother with young, and that is when trapping and sealing make sense.

Is the opossum dead, or playing dead?

Most likely playing dead. A frightened opossum can roll over, go limp, drool and give off a foul smell, sometimes for hours, then get up and leave once it no longer feels threatened. Keep people and pets away and give it time. If it hasn't moved after many hours or overnight, it may be sick or hurt: in Toronto, call 311.

Sick, injured or baby opossums

Toronto Wildlife Centre: Baby opossum found alone

Can I trap an opossum and take it to the country?

No. Ontario's rules say a live-caught opossum must be released within 24 hours, close to where it was caught, and the province's guidance is within 1 km, so the animal still knows where to find food and dens. An animal that looks healthy can still be carrying a disease, so moving it far can spread it. A female taken away from her den can also leave young behind, and a mother opossum doesn't come back for young that fall off her back.

Will animal services remove an opossum?

In Toronto, not unless it is sick or hurt. Toronto Animal Services staff aren't licensed trappers and don't supply or rent out traps, but they will check on wildlife that is sick or hurt: call 311. Mississauga says to leave opossums alone and to call Animal Services at 905-896-5858 if one won't leave and acts aggressively, or has serious injuries.

I found a baby opossum alone. What should I do?

Check its size. A baby under about 18 cm from nose to rump, not counting the tail, is too young to be on its own. Put it in a small box with a soft towel, keep it warm, dark and quiet, give it no food or water, and call a wildlife rehabilitator. Bigger young that act alert or defensive may be fine on their own, so keep pets in until they leave.

How much does opossum removal cost?

The price is set after the inspection, because it depends on the job: where the opossum is denning, whether there are young, how many visits the trapping takes, and how much mesh and repair work it takes to close the space under the deck, porch or shed.

Sources

Last updated October 10, 2026

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Opossum Removal Across Toronto, Oakville & the GTA

We remove opossums from homes and businesses throughout Toronto and Southern Ontario.

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