Good to hear the battle is now over ,lucky we know you are only joking about shooting and poisoning possums , nudge nudge wink wink say no more, just don't want the RSPCA getting the wrong idea.
Thanks Max, I needed that, why do I feel like Elmer all the time, just when I have had a string of nights with no possums and I get all confidant I have beaten them and back they came again tonight. Chainsaw seems like the only way now to get rid of the only tree left here
The saga just continues, last night I had 2 possums up the top of the Liquid Amber tree, the dog had chased them up there. After banging on the corrugated iron around the trunk and making a lot of noise and the 2 possums hanging on for dear life at the very top of the tree, it was raining and about 10pm I grabbed a saw and chopped down a bottle brush tree that I think they must have been using to get up into the Liquid Amber. At this time of the year the tree has no leaves so I was able to see them easily with my spotlight. I obviously had them spooked because even though it was raining I kept going back out to see if they were game enough to come down but I gave up about 11.30pm and they still hadn't moved. I wonder if this time they might come to realize that coming into my backyard is probably not a wise thing to do. I'm still not sure how they get over my fences around the yard because they are all corrugated iron sheets standing vertically and are razor sharp as the have all been cut with a grinder
I was listening to ABC radio yesterday........ The reason for the over population of possums in Melbourne is because there is a lack of prediters, A few animals will eat possums, quolls, dingos foxes... good luck speedy ps they are a protected species.......
........................Keep your blades sharp......................
Thanks speedy, I hadn't heard they were in plague proportions just thought they had taken a fancy to my place. I'll give them bloody protected species , dirty filthy tree climbing rats that crap over everything in the yard. I will win this battle of wits eventually
Was watching a re run of the very funny movie Caddyshack the other day and Bill Murray's war with the Gophers reminded me of your predicament. I don't think the use of plastic explosives and high powered rifles is permitted in suburbia though. Is there such a thing as a smaller scale version of electric fence that you could hook up to deter the things ?
Hi wce, Bill Murray had my sympathy as I know exactly how he struggled with the problem. Before the row of cyprus trees were removed I had the problem with them running across the roof for some reason and to try and stop that I thought about covering the roof with wire netting as the ground and then run the electric fence wires back and forth across the roof about 50mm above the wire netting. Around the same time the house next door went up for sale and with fingers crossed I hoped the trees would be removed. Once this happened they stopped crashing around on the roof so that was one part of the problem removed so I didn't go any further with the electric fence idea. It is still in the back of my mind as a last resort
Many towns in Queensland have problems with flyingfoxes...... Specially if your house borders a nature reserve, with thousands of the hairy little creatures , hanging upside down urinating on themselves, squarking 24 hours a day, and the worst is the almost rain like shitting on everything...... And it takes the paint off cars. Thay are a protected species, so you can't throw firecrackers at them, although firecrackers are illegal in most states..... good luck speedy
........................Keep your blades sharp......................
Hi speedy, I had a palm tree at the front of the house for nearly 30 years and when the fruit was on it the fruit bats would come in and mess everywhere, they are a huge bat with about a meter wing span. I had to cut the palm down in the end to get rid of them
Gee, I thought by now all the Possums had died from natural causes in your back yard Norm ,there must be only a couple left , the last ones could be caught in a trap or I can think of a couple more ideas.
The Possum saga also reminds me of Caddyshack.
"Licensed to kill Possums by the government of the United Nations. A man, free to kill Possums at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit -- ever. They're like the Viet Cong -- Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote."
Hmm, those Possums do look about the same size as that grey squirrel below.
When all the Possums are gone you will be doing this Possum dance.
Hi Max, Norm, and ODK possums Max, I guess that Dark Western Industries is a subsidiary company. The possum choreographer did a great job too. Who doesn't like a good possum dance.
The presenter of the A18 trap is a bit of a worry...
They don't like the garden hose, I can stand there and spray them even when they are at the highest branch and as they can't get any higher I can train the hose on them as they swing violently about as they struggle to get out of the stream. They are going to have a very cold/wet night at this time of the year but I can keep this up, eventually they must wise up that this isn't a good place to be..
One thing that I have heard works is flashing fairy lights. You can buy cheap solar powered versions. Avoid sets that are predictable and just flash on and off constantly. You want the sets that will cycle through a series of different flashing patterns. Hang them in the trees that you want to protect and it seems to keep the possums well away.
I was a little late with this recommendation ,I could just imagine Norms tree looking like Christmas in July.
Yes I agree Jack you can't trust those pesky varmints ,everybody knows Norm's possums are the cause of the anti-maskers (coronavirus conspiracy theorists) not wearing masks in Victoria.
Thanks Jack and Max, I thought I was alone with this problem but it is obviously a much bigger problem than I thought Max I have tried nearly everything that has been suggested (haven't bothered with the trapping as they all seem to say it doesn't really work), actually nothing seems to work for more than a few days. Each time I think I have won within a few says they are back as if nothing had happened. JacK, this has been a very trying time for me and on top of it all we have this virus thing. I'm beginning to worry that my neighbours are starting to worry about my mental heath, standing outside at 11pm at night in my dressing gown watering my trees.
Is there some sort of very attractive food source in your trees Norm ? or are they using the trees to roost in ? Have you tried putting smooth metal sheeting around the trunk of the tree a bit up from the ground and extending up a few meters so they cant climb the tree ? Maybe if they don't like water get a tree climber to run some cheap retic pipe up the tree with sprayers that you can turn on and off via a tap timer ? at least you won't have to stand outside in cold weather at night.
Hi wce, there is no grass in my backyard, lots of sheds but I don't believe they are living in those because the dog would sniff them out. There is a big liquid amber tree but that has no leaves on it at the moment and I have corrugated iron wrapped around it but when the dog chases then the somehow still manage to get up the tree. There is a couple of bottle brush trees (one is pretty mangled now after I attacked it one night about 11pm in the rain in me slippers and dressing gown because I thought they were getting into the liquid amber through this tree. There is a big fish pond with all the usual vegetation around it. Apart from that I'm not sure what it is that attracts them here, there is no food source that I can think of. Hi AVB, yes it is not good but I think it is better than the Middle East and it only me against the possums. Hi MF, it is all courts around here so no through traffic at any speed so I don't think that is going to help but at least last night was peaceful
Norm, at a previous residence possums were an absolute pest, their smell and droppings a nightmare and we were on tank water so god only knows what we were drinking. The only real effective control was relocation, they would suffer lead poisoning first and then I would relocate them up the back paddock, the only surefire way of getting rid of the problem.
Hi Beech, yes the droppings are a big problem and in particular if you are on tank water, bloody terrible just thinking about it. My choice would be the lead injection but not an option in metro areas. They don't give up easily. Maybe I should start breeding owls because the fake ones only worked for a couple of nights
Apart from that I'm not sure what it is that attracts them here, there is no food source that I can think of.
Only one possible deduction. They must love Victa 2 strokes
In all seriousness, I know what a pest animals can be. We were inundated by cats a few years ago - turned out a woman down the road had something like 45 in not very good conditions in the house when the RSPCA rocked up.
I have a pet cat who's a pest. At night she constantly meows for attention after being fed and keeps trying to go on my lap which is why I watch tv in my bedroom to avoid her. She doesn't even lie down if you let her on, she just stands there looking at you. She gives you this sad look ask the time when you don't give her what she wants. She does my head in.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
you just reminded me about my brothers possum encounter, he is a farmer (1300 acres) and these darling animals were really becoming a PITA, one night there was a commotion on the carport roof out he rushes with lead injector in hand and dispatched the offenders, he relocated one but then decided he must have missed the other as he could not find it. About 3- 4 months later his daughter was having a shower when the water stopped, upon investigation he found the shower head completely blocked with what appeared to be hair, next morning up on the roof to investigate only to find the remnants of the 2nd offender lying in the spouting so he had to clean it all out. Now the worst part of this story is that they live on tank water, he had to drain and clean out one of his large concrete tanks, funny bit is they had been drinking this water up until the discovery in the spout, with no ill effects.
Hi Beech, they build them tough in the bush, I grew up on a dairy farm down in Gippsland and I know all about tank water. Half the city populations would die if they had to drink it, dead birds and as you say possums, just the way it is.
Ok now I am done with these pests, I started cutting down the liquid amber today and if I have to remove every plant/bush from this property I will, these things are vermin and should be eradicated
NormK, Are you sure they not related to the Chinese? I was once told that China could start marching their people in the ocean and before they got in, it would flood the world.
It is a war you not going to win very easily. Here my possum problem only has lows not complete win of the war just a just a few battles. They are back again after raising a new crop of warriors. Two already got killed (by car) and I have lost at least one hen as she stay out with her young. It was the first night she stayed out and I now raising the orphans.
You just got to have patience and know you are not going win completely. If you get to a stand-off level you are doing good.
Now for removing every plant you could like fellow I here of from New York state where he did his whole yard in dyed green concrete. He was tired of cutting grass and the city's harassment everytime his yard got a couple inches taller than the neighbors lawns.
Thanks AVB, I feel for your battle to keep your chooks safe, at least I don't have that problem here. I have no alternative now but to remove all the trees/bushes till I get rid of them. It is a shame because the yard looks good although a bit overgrown around the pond but I guess this happens with 20 years of growth. Just looking at some pics taken when that area was set up 20 years ago it is hard to imagine how it has changed, I guess that is why the possums like it
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