OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Possums

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.

Beech

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

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.

NormK,

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.

Beech.

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

Understand the getting out of hand growth. Here I am by myself with six acres and the business. It is hard to keep up with the land maintenance that I need to or want to do. Current about 2 acres plus the area around my former pool are badly over grown too. Gradually getting it done as business has finally started to drop off as we are now half way through the growing season here. I was cutting weeds last week that are over my head. BOy do I need to fix my mini tractor instead using the lawn mower but I ran the diesel without water and the idiot light didn't work when it was overheating.

I can't be at the shop and cutting the property at the same time. Maybe this Fall I get it back under control. Even once a while I get a big ZTR to use after repairs which help putting a dent in the overgrowth.

Hi AVB,
yes 6 acres is a big patch to maintain and not big enough to farm unless it is some high intensity type farming and you can't do that and have a machinery repair business . Even we who are aware of or machinery can get caught out if our instruments fail us, extremely frustrating when it happens to us.
With the possums with the torch on my head and the possums are up the tree, they look down and you can see their 2 eyes looking down and that gives me the exact spot to aim the hose, straight in the face. I have now cut down about 1/3rd of the tree, it is very difficult to drop because of everything that is below it. I am going to regret cutting it down in summer but this is the only way of beating this vermin

Hi Norm and all

Yes I too have heard nothing really works to get rid of pesky possums ,all the deterrents are only effective against timid possums,
resistance is futile.

Netting,wire fences and removing vegetation will keep them out ,I don't have a possum problem , too many
foxes and owls here , cats are good at eradicating possums.

An instinctive hunter, the average domestic moggie is thought to chew through eight birds, 16 mammals and eight reptiles a year. Animals that aren't killed outright often succumb later, through toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that many cats carry in their saliva. "People say, 'Our cat has carried in a baby possum, but it's OK', But it's not OK. Cats have needle-sharp teeth and once that bacteria is in the possum's bloodstream it acts like a slow poison. You'll see paralysis in the hind legs within eight hours and if it isn't treated with antibiotics then there's a very low rate of survival."

Cheers
Max.

Hi Max,
one minute you cheer me up with the pics and the next minute I'm shot down, actually I wish it was the possums I could shoot down. I am becoming despondent with the difficulty they present. I even tried the egg and asprin but the numbers are obviously too great for me to notice if any have disappeared.
Any chance I could get a breeding pair of owls from you?

Also be very careful with cat scratches, my MIL almost died as a result of a playful cat scratch on her lega very bad infection throughout her body.

Beech

Yes I recall a woman died recently from a seemingly innocent cat scratch. Now it has got me thinking that maybe the fact that cats supposedly have to be locked up at night has caused this explosion of possums in the suburbs

Hey Norm,
What about a gel blaster.... they look like fun.
But don't walk around the neighbourhood with it....... or you'll be on the news...
cheers
speedy

Hi speedy,
I did look at those but I wasn't sure exactly what they were and what mess they would make so I went for the slingshot and glass beads. That didn't prove very effective either. With the current lockdown situation I'm not sure if we are even allowed to walk around the streets, with or without a gel blaster.

You're welcome to them Norm but I'm not sure how you would catch an Owl ,too many restriction in Australia ,it's illegal to trap or cage them in this country ,Owls aren't even allowed to be kept as pets in Australia as they are wild animals.




You must limit your exercise to once a day and for no more than one hour. You can only travel up to five kilometres from your home while exercising in the Nanny State.

I don't think there is anything you can do to annoy a Possum so it learns not to come back , if it
wasn't illegal to shoot them ,you would only need a .22 riffle some .22 ratshot cartridges and a noise suppressor ,
car oil filter would do, once you've fired a standard round through it first and then no one would be the wiser.

One enemy for possums must be power lines ,maybe run a couple of wires in the tree and Possum problem solved ,nothing illegal about that.

No country for old possums could be the title of this miniseries..

Cheers
Max.

Small ball fishing sinkers hit a lot harder! Even round ice cubes work quite well, and leave no trace.

I have a simple tubular rubber equipped slingshot, that I bent up from spring steel rod. It's even totally legal in Vic, as it's home made.

Very effective for discouraging dogs that crap on my 'open to the street' front lawn, when their owners aren't watching...