Preventing Possum Problems
As pests go, opossums aren’t particularly bad. They tend to stay out of people’s way, they don’t carry diseases, and they are non-threatening. Still, if you are a fastidious home owner, opossums may cause you a certain amount of grief, as they love to get into garbage and other easy sources of food.
Integrated pest management calls for pest control using an understanding of pest behaviours and using that to knowledge to limit the numbers of a specific pest. This is also known as the least toxic approach, because it rejects the chemical warfare approach that humans have waged against pests for so long with so little effect.
One of the cornerstones of integrated pest management philosophy is prevention. Through prevention, the pest population will stay under control to the point where a specific pest will scarcely be noticed. In the case of mammal pests like the opossum, prevention means denying the pest opportunities for food and shelter. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to possum proof your home and yard.
* Get a dog. Possums look as though they could be fierce, but are not aggressive animals at all and are in fact fairly helpless. Having a recognizable predator such as a dog around will keep possums away.
* Don’t leave pet food out on the porch. Although a possum will stay away from dog food if the dog is around, a dog in the house at night with food on the porch means an easy meal for a possum. Opossum also seem to enjoy cat food, and cats don’t seem to mind sharing with possums, so cat food should also be kept inside.
* Put tight lids on garbage cans. Garbage cans look like buffets to mammal pests like opossums, so you need to be sure they are sealed tight. Possums don’t have the flexible hands of raccoons, so clamps probably aren’t needed to keep the can sealed. Unfortunately most areas with opossums will also have raccoons, so you may have to spring for the more expensive clamp lids if you wish to keep all the potential pests at bay.
* Pick ripe fruit. Possums are natural climbers and ripe fruit in a tree offers both safety and a meal. Pick fruit just before it gets rips and let it ripen inside; this will deny opossums of an easy meal which they enjoy.
* Put rings on trees. Possums are not very flexible climbers, and placing rings around the trunks of your trees so that opossums cannot climb up them will leave them feeling vulnerable, and they won’t come back.
* Seal up attics and sheds. Opossums don’t make their own dens, they use already existing holes. Make sure there are no openings in your structures big enough for an opossum to climb through!