OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Possums

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...

Hey Norn,
Have you googled possum recipes, They would be a delicacy in a lot of parts of our world..........
bet AVB has had a possum pie or stew., in the snow when running out of tucker.....
bon apetiteo
speedy

I must admit that I didn't have a clue how hard these possums would be to get rid of. I have been trying for a couple of years and I'm not sure I'm any further ahead than when I started

G'day long suffering Norm,

If I was in your position I would not handle it well.
I need to be delicate here ...

A few of your neighbours have contacted me ...
Yes, they are concerned about your cognitive stability.

One close-by neighbour did confirm the dressing gown incident.
Neighbours did confirm you were indeed watering your trees.

This would occur - like a German Cuckoo clock - on-time at exactly 11pm.
"A sort of theatrical performance," one neighbour said.

The neighbour went on to say, "watering, yes - but there was no garden hose in view..."

...

Jack

Well you lost the bet!!! I not eating anything that eat rotten things. I might from the country side but I do have my standards for edible foods. And it definitely not limburger cheese or anything in that line.

I even had a relative try give me some squirrels that he killed the day but had not dressed them out. NO WAY I touching that.

Speedy, if there is one thing this world doesn't need, its more people eating weird sh*t haha

Although, a possum isn't exactly a pangolin or bat - thats next level.


Maybe Norm's solution is to scream 'bloody possums, I'll kill you bast*rds' whilst he sprays them. That way the neighbours wont be wondering/concerned about his stability.

They will no longer have any doubt about it

In all seriousness, I really hope you can sort them out somehow Norm

Hi Jack,
My new neighbours were not sure what I was doing but they were ok with it once I explained that I was hosing the possums, I knew they were worried about me as I could see them peeking out the curtains as I stood there in the dark with a torch on my head screaming profanities at a tree. They didn't see the hose as you said.
Yes Tyler, I have been threatening to kill these possums at the top of my voice whilst hosing them but they just make me get more angry when I can see their eyes looking down at me as if to say "whats your problem"

G'day folks,

When I was a kid in Cobram, I had a brushtail possum problem!

The buggers would jump out of a tree, and land on the tin roof above my bedroom with a loud thump, then scuttle across the roof, and jump into another tree, on the opposite side of the house.

Even shooting them with a .177 air rifle didn't successfully discourage them; only cutting down their launch tree did that...

Meanwhile, a how-to on prep and cooking of North American possums:



From a book on North American wild foods. And the recipe above that one is for Porcupine!

Roast porcies ,thats what they call echidna, local indigenous friends love them.
speedy

I remember the late Graham Kennedy saying he liked fried gorillas on toast. He got a letter of complaint which he read on air haha.
On this same Coast to Coast news show in the 80s, every time there was a feature on an animal, the first thing he would say afterwards was I wonder what they taste like?

I ordered a possum trap on ebay last week and since I ordered it the possums haven't been back. Might also be that my dog killed a small one around the same time. Anyway the nights have been peaceful for about a week

I ordered a possum trap on ebay last week and since I ordered it the possums haven't been back. Might also be that my dog killed a small one around the same time. Anyway the nights have been peaceful for about a week

Hi Norm

I know your not breaking the law to exact a cruel revenge, are you Norm ,I guess your possum problem must be the
Lil varmints getting into the roof as it's illegal to trap a brushtail unless it's in the roof or a building.

No more Possum problem .

https://www.theage.com.au/national/better-the-possum-you-know-20060714-ge2poa.html

In all seriousness though ,you can't live with them.

Cheers
Max.

For sure Max they are in my roof and I would never admit to anything else. The possum,s are not causing me too much grief apart from them driving the dog nuts at night, it is the possum crap that is everywhere I look. This is why my neighbour that moved in 6 months ago wanted the branches hanging over his side cut back because of all the possum crap everywhere over all his new concrete. I haven't had time to cut anymore of the tree down, hopefully get a chance once the leaves fall off again

G'day Norm, Max and all possum ambivalents,

I see possums as the type that would storm the North American Capitol building.
My view is that they are simple varmints that do not know what they do ...

They do cause grief to good, thinking folk.

------------------------
Jack

Gadge if you only how much rotten meats American possums eat you would even think about eating one. They do have their place in our eco system just like the rest of the scavengers but they do however become a problem at times. Here I live animal trap them whenever I can and relocate 20+ miles away. They usually become roadkill before they can make it back.


And CyberJack I am totally a shame of what went on in Washington even I expected it out of the DJT group. They simply will not listen to the voice of reason. Now that 4 are dead only then did DJT ask for them to return home.

Max,
I can't believe the clowns that write those sort of rules, which part of dreamland do they live in, certainly isn't the REAL world. They say you can't relocate a possum more that 50 meters from where you caught it, they would be back home faster than I could. I would never relocate a possum, they would stay on my property for ever just covered with a bit of soil, just enough so the dog won't annoy them ever again

Possums have no road sense. We had two possums run over last year. They got a bit out of hand toward the end always coming onto the front veranda and even climbing on my car expecting a snack. Didn't help that my dad who has dementia kept feeding them our food.
The latest round of possums aren't as bold thankfully.

Just wondering if they said which direction you couldn't relocate them. Like you can't relocate them more than 50 meters down.

Mentioning the locals I see I got one to trap here as tracks were on the front deck in the dusting of snow this morning. Trap going there tonight with tasty bait.

Hi Norm, Jack, AVB and Mf

Yes Norm, crazy nanny state laws ,you'll be glad when the crafty pesky possums are gone.

No one wants to live with possum crap all over their yard, I see your possums have evolved and are now
wearing safety glasses after the water cannon incident where one possum sustained an eye injury.




Cheers
Max.

Hi AVB,
Aussie possums [the large brushtail ones are those that are causing NormK grief] don't eat carrion AFAIK, but are fairly omnivorous. They certainly love fruits! https://www.wildlife.vic.gov.au/managing-wildlife/possums

Oddly enough, people have no problems with eating free-range chooks [chickens], and they are scavengers of the highest order - they can and do eat some nasty stuff. Same in the marine environment - e.g. crabs and lobsters are essentially scavengers, not predators.

A friend of mine keeps chooks, and her bloke threw a skinned red fox carcass into the chookyard one day - and the chooks and rooster cleaned that up in short order!