Why does possums stir around late at night in my trash cans?
Question:I live in the country,my home is in the woods. Lately I have been having alot of possumsin my trash late at night and early morning. What is the best way to get rid of them without killing them.Thank You!
Answers:
Possums are night hunters and scavangers. They like the smells coming from your trash can. Clean the can with bleach, tie your trash in bags before putting it in the cans, make the lid impossible to open by the little beggars. I live in raccoon country, and the best thing is a large bin to contain the garbage cans, I used picket fence and lined the inside of the fence(ground included) with chicken wire to prevent forced entry. A simple latch for the entry door kept the marauders out, the open fencing kept the odors from accumulating, and an integral roof kept the stuff dry for putting it out on rainy or snowy days.
A motion light might help too, but the critters become accustomed pretty fast.
If you tie the lids down on the trash, the possums won't be able to get food. If you take away the food, they'll leave your place. Also, don't leave pet food outside at night/ birdseed fallen on the ground/etc or they'll eat that too.
Wash area around trash cans with some soapy, bleach water and the outside of your cans. Make sure lids stay on tight. They are garbage eaters.
Get bins with really tight-tight-tight lids, and weight the lids down with one/each common brick or a big rock. Once the little varmints find there are no more snacks at your address, they'll slope off... Raccoons operate the same way, and since both they and the possums are nocturnal, they cruise the nights feeding where they may. Your visitors may be raising pups [or whatever infant possums are called] and thus are being rash & daring right now.
Had a raccoon visit our back deck recently, and he/she was really disappointed at the total lack of snacks...he/she looked in the window, in fact, and if it had been a cartoon, there would have been a little balloon over his/her head saying, "Well, REALLY."
They are hungry and appreciate your all night diner. Since you live in the woods, a trap won't do much good, since you would release them just in time for another snack.
Tie down the trash can with bungee cords or put them in the garage if you have one. Once they are not fed, they will go off and bother someone else. I had one eating the cat food left in an outside container in Pasadena.and we are in the city!
Put mothballs in your garbage can and tie down the lid with a bungee cord.
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