How to Clean Up After a Pet Opossum

Both short-tailed and Virginia opossums are animals of habit. This quality helps make cleanup relatively easy because they will both happily use a litter box. If they have accidents, though, their habits make the cleanup areas predictable!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Odor-absorbent pet litter
• Small, corner litter box
• Moist wipes

For Short-Tailed Opossums:

1. Provide an odor-absorbent litter in your pet’s home. Clean up solid waste every day, and change all litter weekly. Short-tailed opossums rarely soil their nesting boxes and often just use a corner of their home, so cleanup is relatively easy.

2. Notice which corner your opossum prefers and add a small litter box there. You can purchase a small pet litter box made specifically for a corner of a cage. Fill it with the same litter as you use for the rest of the cage and change it every day.

3. Realize that short-tailed opossum waste will have a strong odor because of their diet. Even if you clean your pet’s home daily, you may smell odor from his waste. This is normal, so just increase cleaning frequency if the smell becomes a problem.

4. Clean your pet opossum’s exercise wheel daily. Most short-tailed opossums will defecate while using an exercise wheel, so purchase a wheel that allows waste to drop through.

5. Keep moist wipes near your opossum’s home. Some short-tailed opossums will urinate or defecate as a defensive measure when picked up. This may happen even if your opossum is bonded to you. Wipe up any accidents immediately to avoid odor.

For Virginia Opossums:

6. Train your pet opossum to use a litter box. Opossums will learn to use a litter box much like cats will. Fill the litter box with a dust-free, unscented cat litter, such as one made from recycled paper. Be patient with your opossum, placing him in the litter box until he realizes what it is for. Praise him when he uses it and make sure he understands how much you appreciate his use of the litter box!

7. Provide multiple litter boxes throughout the house. Your opossum might not be willing to travel far once the urge strikes! To avoid accidents, keep a litter box near her bed and in any room that she spends a lot of time in.

8. Scoop litter boxes daily and clean thoroughly once a week. Just like a cat, you opossum may be reluctant to use a dirty litter box—and who could blame him? Keeping the litter boxes scrupulously clean will encourage your pet to use them.

9. Use pet odor remover if your opossum has an accident in the house. Virginia opossum waste can have an unpleasant odor, so clean up after her thoroughly.

Tips & Warnings

• If your opossum refuses to use the litter box, try changing the type of litter you use. He may just be opposed to the smell or the feel of the litter you are using.

[myhellmonkey]

on 9/25/2008 All of the virginia opossums that we have rehabbed and kept as pets have gone to a litter pan with water in it instead of litter. They are naturally drawn to use water for elimination of waste - no training required. It makes cleaning up easier too. Dump in the toilet and flush then rinse and refill the litter pan.