possum

I have a possum in my garage that apparently does not like my free lunch. I tried peanuts, peanut butter tomatoes Kitty treats to no end. Seems he/she would rather chew on my garage door bottom. Any Ideas on how to catch or destroy this critter? Frank

Reply to
Frank
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Fruit or raw fish in a Havahart trap. Fruit stinks less.

Or call your county DoAg extension office. -----

- gpsman

Reply to
gpsman

If I had that problem I'd probably try catching in my Hav-a-hart trap. Only time I ever encountered a possum in my yard was this time of year and he was pretty docile and I could have approached and clubbed him or shot with my bow. He did bare his teeth when I poked at him with a rake so be careful.

Reply to
Frank

Use a small lunch can of tuna in the trap. Scatter some to make a trail into trap. Your possum's behavior is strange in that it does not leave garage at night assuming you leave the door open. Be careful the possum may be diseased. Rat poison pellets in the tuna might kill it eventually but that is probably illegal.

If I had that problem I'd probably try catching in my Hav-a-hart trap. Only time I ever encountered a possum in my yard was this time of year and he was pretty docile and I could have approached and clubbed him or shot with my bow. He did bare his teeth when I poked at him with a rake so be careful.

Reply to
nonews

gunfire

Reply to
Oren

I had a pair of possums killing my chickens at night. I would find the heads in the hen house. So I listened for a fuss in the hen house at night, and went out with a flashlight and a .22, and shot them both dead, red-eyes glaring and teeth a-baring. The hens appreciated it. A neighbor said I should have eaten them, as possum makes good eats, but I'm mostly a city boy.

Reply to
Bert Byfield

During garden season, they go after my lettuce & cucumbers. Try those. If that doesn't work, call animal control. May as well get something for your tax dollars.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

You mean the hens; still with heads, appreciated it?

I'm a swamp boy and won't eat a possum :))

Take two potatoes, wrap well with foil, stuff into the possum. Cover and bake @ 350F. When done, remove potatoes and throw the possum in the yard!

Reply to
Oren

have you actually SEEN him often? A 22 rifle will end the game.

s

Reply to
S. Barker

I used a cooked turkey neck in a box trap. It's not legal where I am to relocate them, so if you're going to relocate it, I wouldn't mention it to too many people. :-)

Cheri

Reply to
Cheri

Reminds me of a story told on the Rick & Bubba radio show lately, when Rick had one in his garage. They called it a giant shark-rat - the body of a giant rat and the teeth of a shark. Really funny story!

KC

Reply to
KC

on 3/23/2008 2:31 PM Frank said the following:

Leave the door open a bit. If it's chewing on the garage door rubber, it's trying to get out.

Reply to
willshak

And just what do you know about watermelon?

Reply to
Oren

Here is my possum story. I used to feed a couple of neighborhood cats that lived outside. I bought them a nice cat house for nasty weather so they could keep warm on my covered porch. One day it was thunderstorming and the

2 cats are keeping dry in my garage and I was thinking that the cat house wasn't doing much good on my porch so I was going to bring it into my garage. I go around the house in the thunderstorm and pick up the house and it seemed a bit heavy and I look inside and there are large possum teeth pointed at me. I put the house back down and let him go back to sleep.

Reply to
Art

Trap it, then skin it - makes great barbecuse with lots of cornbread, watermelon, and apple blossom wine.

Reply to
Bob

Just be sure to go buy a box of frangible (gallery) ammo so you don't have a lead poison problem (either lead dust or just a ricochet)

Reply to
gfretwell

(snip) Chuckle. There was a similar occurrence at my sister's previous house, where she lived with her previous husband. I was visiting there one September, and we were having a late-season cookout on the deck. We noticed the 2 lab dogs and the half-dozen cats were acting hinky, and not going near their outside food bowls on the deck which sat near a doghouse with plastic picture window, that the previous owner had left behind. (way too small for the labs, and the cats were not interested.) Look through the picture window with a flashlight, and a big old coon had taken up residence there- warm, dry, and a daily food supply 3 feet away.

They quit keeping the outside bowls full, and the coon moved on after a couple of days....

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

Opossums are the gypsies of the animal world. They hang around for a few days - maybe a week - then move on.

I'm on one opossum's circuit; he shows up about every six months. Spends a week gorging himself on the outside cat's food then he's gone.

I don't begrudge him too much - he's just trying to make a living. I'm out, oh, maybe three bucks in cat food twice a year. For me, it's a small price to pay for the novelty of seeing him munching away, almost oblivious to the world around him, while the cats wait patiently for their turn at the chow.

'Course he hasn't done any damage or attacked anything.
Reply to
HeyBub

Any 22 caliber rifle or handgun will get rid of them quickly. I live in the country and shoot them all the time. They are slow and easy to shoot. I need to warn you though. Do not just shoot them once. Those things are very hardy. I've shot them right in the head and found them still moving an hour later. Even though they are disgusting worthless rodents that likely carry disease, I still dont like to see any critter suffer. So, blast about 5 shells into them and be sure they're dead. Once they've been shot, it's best to put a gew more shells right between their eyes. I'm not joking about being hardy. I once shot one in the side, it fell over and kept moving. I did not have any more 22 shells handy so stabbed a manure fork thru it. It still did not die, so I drove over it with my truck four times. I could not believe that it still walked away and crawled under a firewood pile, which I found from the trail of blood. That's when I went over to my neighbor and got some more 22 shells. I emptied 6 rounds in it before it was dead.

They are some of the most disgusting animals around. Basically giant rats. I tolerate the coons and even the shunks around here, but possums die as fast as I can blast them. For some reason they like to hang out right by my front door too, so I always keep my rifle by that door.

Reply to
blazeofglory

According to what I've read, possoms do not carry rabies or distemper and their favorite food is slugs. You might want to pick on someone you own size next time.

We had one that took up residence in our garage under a staircase. At certain points it stunk in the house from the possom. I checked it out under the staircase and the female was carrying a load of babies on its back. I screamed at it for a few minutes. It moved to quieter housing later that night. A few months later I pulled out all of the insulation to check for stains on the wood that I planned to treat with bleach. No signs of any stains what so ever. It certainly smelled but I have no idea what from. It apparently cleaned up after itself and babies.

Reply to
Art

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