How to Keep Away Possums



Opossum prevention - how to keep opossums away from your house and yard

Opossums have opposable thumbs and prehensile tails. The female possesses a pouch wherein the young ones jumble into when they are born. People never want to have opossums on their yards mainly because they are ugly and also since they create a huge mess with the garbage, dog food, birdfeeders and hen house. At times, they might even wish to reside in the attic, garage, or beneath the shed of your house.

The first thing that attracts the opossums is the leftover food or garbage that is present in abundance in your place. They eat nearly anything from fruits, vegetables, cat and dog food to insects, baby birds, rodents, insects and amphibians. You need to keep your place clean, if you don’t want to have opossums around.

Never stock woodpiles or brush piles on the outside of your house. Instead, pile them inside a woodshed. Always remember to shut the doors of woodshed, garage, and other structures. Never create a welcome situation for the opossums to get into your territory.



If you have them around, you don’t have to kill them and be inhumane. Try and get some opossum traps to catch them. Bait the trap with some smelly food. You first need to find the place wherein the opossum wants to visit often and then place the trap there. You then need to wait till they are caught inside. The process might take a day or two. However you need to first get to know whether it is lawful to trap an opossum in your locality, since it is unlawful in some areas. To know this, you need to contact your local animal authorities.

Some people might recommend using moth balls or pouring ammonia in a can and keeping a towel in it to help scatter the fumes. This particular method is not encouraged since it is not that effective on animals. The same way, usage of lights or sound machines is also not suggested, since they too are not very much effective, when it comes to chasing off the animals of this kind.

If you suspect that they sneak in to your house, by climbing trees that are nearby, cut off the branches that are very long and that are close to your building.

How to Keep Opossums Away from the Attic - First, look around the attic to find the areas where they are likely getting inside. Close and seal all but one of these areas as you will want one escape/exit area for the animal. Set traps inside the attic or by the exit area and check it frequently to make sure you don’t have an opossum trapped for a long period of time causing it stress and suffering. When you’ve captured an opossum, it is a good idea to relocate it to an area where it can thrive and survive. This may not be legal in your area so make sure you check with your local authorities on the laws and regulations. Make sure that all easily assessable food sources are disposed of and sealed or stored in another area. One of the reasons an opossum is making your attic its home is because there is a food source close by. Make sure the garbage cans have tightly sealed lids so that they cannot get into hem.

If you believe that they live in your shed or porch, observe them closely and wait for them to move out for a while and alter the door locks. You will have to perform this procedure during the night time due to the fact that opossums are night-time creatures. You can also make use of hardware cloth or chicken wire to obstruct and hinder all the possibly ways of them reentering your territory. Ensure that you bury the fencing no less than 6 inches inside the dirt so that they can never scoot in from beneath. If you believe that there is no opossum activity, yet, you suspect that it might happen very soon, you then need to close the region prior to they get the opportunity to sneak in.



Do You Need Help?
I wrote this website to provide information on How to Keep Away Possums in the case that you have a opossum problem and need to make an informed decision about what to do. If you have any questions you may email me, but I do know from experience that opossum removal is not simple. If you need professional help solving your wildlife conflict, I recommend that you talk to a professional opossum control expert in your town by clicking on my National Wildlife Control directory, which lists experts who I recommend in every USA city and town who can help you with your opossum issue.

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