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Help - Possum Loves My Yard

(15 posts)

Started 2 years ago by swimgirl
Latest reply from Silver

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possum

swimgirl

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Hi! I have a possum visiting my yard often. I've seen him at dusk and dawn sitting in the lawn, pooping. There is tons of possum poop in my lawn. I think this is gross and would like him to go away. I've cut my lawn as short as possible but he still visits. Any suggestions?

Posted 2 years ago #
onederfullone

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http://www.redneckpossum.com/Recipe_Stew.htm

Sorry, couldn't resist ;-)

Posted 2 years ago #
ballardgirl

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Possums, raccoons and cats love to shi* on my lawn when it is freshly cut. Cayanne pepper, orange peels, grapefruit etc all seem to help.

Posted 2 years ago #
swimgirl

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ballardgirl, don't they (or some other animal) eat the orange/grapefruit peels? if not, looks like i'll be eating a lot of citrus this week!

Posted 2 years ago #
mc7

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Black pepper worked years ago for my parents. Just sprinkle it liberally around your yard.

Posted 2 years ago #
Elliott

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Swimgirl: even though I can appreciate what a pain it must be to have a lot of possum poop in your yard, I love possums. Well, maybe "love" isn't the right word. A better word might be "appreciate". They are one of the few animals who eat slugs. As I understand it, ducks don't eat slugs, birds don't eat slugs, etc. Possums eat slugs and therefore, I appreciate them. The poop--not so much.

Posted 2 years ago #
Alonzo Neighbor

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We had an orphan opossum living under our back deck for many years and we never saw or smelled any poop. He must have used the yard behind us, which had a vacant house. We kinda miss the guy.

Posted 2 years ago #
michp

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You can call a professional and have them trapped. Once trapped they are killed due to Seattle City laws. Possums also love to chew on things.....I have a hole in my shed the size of a tire to prove it. The possums were cremated.

Posted 2 years ago #
great idea

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you all must be imagining things.

we don't have possums in the Western Hemisphere... only opossums.

next you'll be telling us a dingo ate your baby.

Posted 2 years ago #
JustanotherNorwegian

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Without resorting to killing them, they don't like noise. That's how I got rid of them - that and ammonia on rags hung by my tool shed and moth balls. Really hate those.
The noise - I put a radio in the area & let it play non-stop. Probably drove my neighbors nuts but got rid of the opossums.
And "great idea" - whatever - we all know what they are.
And those motion activated creatures - like Goodwill has for Halloween these "scardey cats" that make the most obnoxious howl when detect motion. Again, your neighbors might not like it but it does the trick of getting rid of the "possums."
If it is pooping in the same area, could you put a sprinkler there? And when he shows up to do his thing, turn on the sprinkler.

Posted 2 years ago #
cdpenne

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A BB gun wouldn't be lethal and might make him think twice.

Posted 2 years ago #
DolceGattina

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A bb gun seems cruel to me.

The opossum in my mom's backyard use to feast on the scraps in the compost heap. The neighborhood cats didn't bother him and he lived happily for many years in the garden.

Posted 2 years ago #
Walt

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A couple of springs ago we started hearing strange sounds at night. Something like a rusty nail being slowly drawn from a two by four, not far from our bedroom window. As the days passed it got louder; we could feel the vibrations throughout the house. Pretty freaky.
We started staying up to catch the noisemaker.
One night we spied a 'possum squeezing out from under our wooden porch. Now there is a gap between the concrete and the porch of less than two inches and we watched the whole structure move up and down as she worked her way out.
Mystery solved but we were still curious so one morning I pried up one of the steps and there was Mama and her little ones staring up at us with that frozen death rictus stare they use in extremis.
We burst out laughing and nailed the step back on.
Oh, and Mama had a fresh red scar on her back from wiggling in and out from her den. I had to admire such devotion to her litter, but after she vacated the den we filled in the gap.

Posted 2 years ago #
michp

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and a bb or pellet gun is legal in the city on your own property.

Posted 2 years ago #
Silver

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Motion-activated sprinklers seem like a humane and neighbor-friendly solution.

opossums are amazing, and ancient, creatures. I'm glad we have them in our neighborhood. ;-)

Great Idea - You made me LOL with the dingo reference. ;-)

Posted 2 years ago #