possum

[lynnbilodeau]

I have a possum digging in the yard. Would like to catch it, but DON'T want to catch a cat.

Anything I can bait a live trap with that will attract a possum, but not cat?

 

[Kellyblues]

************, cracked eggs, chicken feathers. They seam to love chicken coops so I would use the smelly stuff those over grown rodents are attracted to.

 

[scissorman]

Caught me one this morning without doing a thing, looked in my garbage can at the end of my work bench at work and there sat a baby possum scared and afraid. I hate the damn things and used to go out of my way to kill them, one of my co-workers took the trash can outside and let it go.

 

[langss]

I was told by Animal Control to find the cheapest, stinky cat food, put it at the bottom of a fairly deep trash can type container and check daily. We got one that was just stupid and fell into a trash can and starved/dehydrated to death. I took to Paint Ball guns for my varmint problem. They really move along when they get hit....and the paint lets you know if you have seen them before.

 

[CNGsaves]

Those bastages don't kill easy either. I had one that kept poking around the shrubs on side of house so gave chase. Got it cornered and used stick to club him pretty good that I thought he was dead. Drug him by tail next to trash can & was going to haul him off next day. You guessed it . . . . just "playing possum" and the varmit was gone the next day.

 

[Kellyblues]

Those bastages don't kill easy either.

Farging bastages sure don't kill easy. Hit one driving a dodge neon I had. Caved in the entire front end. I stopped to see what I hit. Sob scampered away. I wanted to pull my 45 shoot it soooooooood bad. Hate those damn things. There the next worst thing to a tree rat.

 

[Kellyblues]

Caught me one this morning without doing a thing, looked in my garbage can at the end of my work bench at work and there sat a baby possum scared and afraid. I hate the damn things and used to go out of my way to kill them, one of my co-workers took the trash can outside and let it go.

What a horrible thing. I would have made someone really upset. It would have left this world. I work in a food manufacturing facility so any varmints around there were supposed to kill. We have some RELLY nice air rifels for it too

 

[atty5420]

I don't know, guys.....it's a toss up. Possum vs. skunk. They can both be just as ravaging, but that skunk has a hell of gift to give when you pop him. It's easy to "stop" the problem, but one hell of a mess to dispose of what he leaves.

 

[58Yeoman]

I use dry dog food for both possum's and *****. I just hope I don't catch a skunk.

 

[jkwilson]

Doritos.

Never caught a cat with them, but caught a lot of ***** and possums. Scatter a few around the ground outside the trap to get them started.

Sardines are my go to bait, but if I have trouble catching cats I use Doritos.

 

[killahog]

22 Rifle

 

[Leoruiz]

Call this chick

 

[wssix99]

It's all in the speling. if you spel opossum worng they get irrutated.

I would expect any live trap would work well. Most normally fed cats should be smart enough to stay out of the trap. You can always let them go if one comes in.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ok, I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but what's everyone's problem with possums?

We have them occasionally but I've not seen them DO anything objectionable. I guess they'll eat fruit off trees. I've HEARD they'll eviscerate a dog if cornered but otherwise they don't do anything around my property but make more possums, I guess.

Had one crawl into my backyard after being hit by a car. I thought "Sooner" (avatar) had killed him but he's pretty gentle. Called Animal Control and they said he's big enough that he COULD have and asked how badly he was cut up? When I said he wasn't they said then he didn't kill it! A couple baby ones were orphaned as a result and showed up. Sooner brought one in the house that I thought was dead - NOT! I put it in the trash can and later thought, "I bet it was pretending" Sure enough. I laid the trash can on its side and let the little feller crawl away.

 

[SJR033]

I too have a critter problem. I have a mulberry tree in the back yard that they all like to feed off of and a neighbor that has 2 outdoor cats. I have good luck baiting the live trap with cantaloupe. So far it has been a mix of opossums, ***** and groundhogs. Thankfully, someone hits the skunks with their car and I have yet to catch one.

 

[homebuilt burner]

If you get a skunk in a live trap, as long as it isn't tall enough for them to arch their backs, you can cover them witha blanket and drown them. I have not done this myself. I called the local "Larry, Darrel, and Darrel" guy to do it for me. Best $15 I ever spent.

Fresh green lettuce has worked for most groundhogs and oppoums.

 

[TractorJeff]

If the opossum is digging in your yard, you have a grub problem! Treat the grass to kill the grubs and he will go away. The grubs survive, you'll know as you'll have dead patches of lawn. Treat now, so you don't have to replant dead lawn.

 

[James E]

I haven't ever tried to catch a possum, but I've caught a couple in live traps that I set for squirrels. They were baited with crunchy peanut butter. I've never caught a cat.

First one I caught really had to squeeze himself into the trap. He was packed in there so tightly that he couldn't even turn around and his mangy hair was sticking out through the cage in all directions. It was downright comical. I let him go at the tree line and he just ambled off at low speed. He seemed completely unconcerned about my presence.

I don't find them to be very persistent. Once I run one off, I usually don't see him again.

 

[GN4WHLN]

Ok, I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but what's everyone's problem with possums?

We have them occasionally but I've not seen them DO anything objectionable. I guess they'll eat fruit off trees. I've HEARD they'll eviscerate a dog if cornered but otherwise they don't do anything around my property but make more possums, I guess.

Had one crawl into my backyard after being hit by a car. I thought "Sooner" (avatar) had killed him but he's pretty gentle. Called Animal Control and they said he's big enough that he COULD have and asked how badly he was cut up? When I said he wasn't they said then he didn't kill it! A couple baby ones were orphaned as a result and showed up. Sooner brought one in the house that I thought was dead - NOT! I put it in the trash can and later thought, "I bet it was pretending" Sure enough. I laid the trash can on its side and let the little feller crawl away.

They eat fruit and insects. They're pretty much harmless. My dog has killed a bunch of them, but I have been able to rescue a few who just crawl away when they are good enough to go. They may look like rats, but are really marsupials like Kangaroos. I don't get why some people hate them so much. Are they doing some sort of harm I don't know about or is it just becasue they look like a big rat?

 

[Trey T]

Possums are scary looking; it makes me shiver. I came across several of them and I've always let them go and not kill them. However, one time, it crawled into a computer case I had on the garage floor, it scared the shiet out of me. Next one I see, I'll have to feed it to the ducks around my neighborhood.... lol... jk

 

[wssix99]

Possums are scary looking; it makes me shiver.

They look just like this:

... now small children can play with them and learn to love them.

 

[bobcatdan]

I guess I never had any real.experience with them. Even thou they are around, I only see one about every three ****'s age. I've always heard they are mean little buggers that if you have a chance to put one away, do it. That said, as far as critters go, you don't bother me, I don't bother you. However, you piss me off, I'll have your hide and impail it in my yard as a warning to your little critter buddies.

 

[CNGsaves]

As a kid, we had two chicken houses and there was one closer to back of property and possums would get in there to get eggs.

Couple times I went to gather eggs in evening and chickens were squawking and there was possum in nest getting eggs. Possum was in there hissing pretty good and baring his teeth. Well I guess the adrenaline helped me as young teenager because I found a way to stomp his head as he scampered towards the opening out of chickenhouse.

1 dead possum . . . . . -0- dead chickens . . . few broken eggs !!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

They eat fruit and insects. They're pretty much harmless. My dog has killed a bunch of them, but I have been able to rescue a few who just crawl away when they are good enough to go. They may look like rats, but are really marsupials like Kangaroos. I don't get why some people hate them so much. Are they doing some sort of harm I don't know about or is it just becasue they look like a big rat?

You answered what I thought might be true.They're basically harmless(?) but some people are just ***** to kill anything they don't understand or consider vermin. In the case of possums they're not even "fuzzy and cute" so all the more reason to these people, I guess.

 

[WVBrady]

Re: possum vs opossum

As a kid growing up in WVa, I had never heard the term opossum; they were just called possums. When I was in the 2nd grade, we were given reading assignments that we would be called on to read aloud in class. If you didn't know a word, you got a paddling on the spot. (No, it wasn't a Catholic school.) A girl named Betty was reading, and when she got to the word opossum she just started to cry. She got a few whacks with the paddle, and then she still had to read the rest of the section.

Also, we had the same spelling words every day for a week. If you missed one on Friday, you got a paddling.

I was glad when we moved out of that school district.

 

[Zeke]

Possums are scary looking; it makes me shiver. I came across several of them and I've always let them go and not kill them. However, one time, it crawled into a computer case I had on the garage floor, it scared the shiet out of me. Next one I see, I'll have to feed it to the ducks around my neighborhood.... lol... jk

I had one hiding behind my welder on the cart. I reached around to grab the power cord and the sucker bit me. He was just a little one and didn't break the skin. Really surprised me that a welder cord would bite.

I grabbed his *** with the handy welding gloves and moved him outdoors. I sleep at night so I never see them. They are around.

 

[txvwnut]

Came into the shop one morning to hear the shop cat meowing like he had been hit by a truck. Threw the first bay door open trying to locate the cat looked over at my dyno cooling water tank and here's that damn cat hanging onto the side of the tank wetter than a fish. I ask "what the hell are you doing in there?", dunno why I asked the cat that but as I was getting him out the tank I looked over to the far side of the tank and here's am opossum hanging on the other side staring at that cat and I'm pretty sure he was trying to give the finger. Cat came out first got dried off and fed then came the tree rat, that mutherfucker didn't want anything to do with me or the cat but a couple of quick raps with a club and he quickly changed his mind about me. Until he was free of the tank then the gentlemens agreement we had went out the window. He spent the rest of his day in the barrel I dropped his *** in until I took him across the street the wooded area and gave him the option to leave nicely or get shot to death.

 

[stihlntime]

Do not do this..... My late grandfather sold his dairy farm and moved to the edge of town. His took his old 12 year old English Shepherd. Between possums eating its food and town strays whipping his dog he devised a way to deal with possums, stray cats , dogs any vermin. He would lock his dog up in the shed.
He then placed a large cast iron skillet up on wood blocks, he then cut the end off a extension cord wired a pig tail in were he could screw in a 200 watt light bulb to up the amps, wire the hot wire to the skillet and wet the ground down around the blocks and attach the ground wire to a short ground rod drove in the wet soil. He would use bacon grease and scraps for bait. It sometimes had terminal effects other times just shock the hell out of them. No neighbors or kids close enough to be at risk. He would also soak kernels of corn to soften them and sew them on fishing line and attach very small trout treble hooks and steeple them to the top of corner post around his garden. Crows would gobble the corn down hook got caught in the stomach result was a dead crow, one less raiding his garden.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Fruit should work well without attracting the cats, marshmallows too.

 

[Junkman]

The only thing that I have had a problem with in the past are the darn porcupines. Last week there were 2 of them on the lawn, and they were fighting each other. My old dog had killed three of them in his lifetime before he realized that the pain wasn't worth the effort, and that was about 18 years ago. Lucky for me, none of my dogs have tangled with them since, although my almost 15 year old Weimaraner got dangerously close to one just a week before he passed away, three weeks ago. I don't think that he had ever seen one before in his life, and I believe that he was just being curious. Luckily, I spotted it as he started walking up on it, and I was able to grab his collar and keep him from getting any closer. If he wasn't so frail and slow moving, I probably wouldn't have been able to intercede in time.

 

[langss]

I was told by Animal Control to find the cheapest, stinky cat food, put it at the bottom of a fairly deep trash can type container and check daily. We got one that was just stupid and fell into a trash can and starved/dehydrated to death. I took to Paint Ball guns for my varmint problem. They really move along when they get hit....and the paint lets you know if you have seen them before.

If you really don't want to "Kill" your problem....I'm telling you the Paint Ball Gun is your friend. I'm down to a cat that I "Marked" a couple of years ago and it knows when it sees me....time to move on. I had Skunks, Racoons, Opossums, Squirrels, House Cats.....Nothing Funnier than seeing a neighbors "House Cat" with Orange Fill all down one side. Or the Skunk and the rest of his Crew that Sprayed my dog Covered in Orange Fill. And it washes off with water so you can be pretty reckless and nothing gets hurt.... so to speak.

 

[djjsr]

I caught 14 of them using pieces of hotdog in a live trap. Two adults and a bunch a little ones. The only one that I got a bit concerned about was the adult male. He was pissed and had gotten his snout stuck in the cage wire. Using needle nose pliers, I had to unhook one of his teeth from the wire to let him loose. Not an enjoyable experience.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

....Using needle nose pliers, I had to unhook one of his teeth from the wire to let him loose. Not an enjoyable experience.

If you think it wasn't enjoyable for you imagine what it was like for him?!

 

[djjsr]

If you think it wasn't enjoyable for you imagine what it was like for him?!

Hey, nobody likes to visit the dentist, but I think he was over-reacting.

BTW, for those of you that have never seen their teeth up close, there's a lot of them, they are very sharp and some of them look like they came from a German Shepard.

 

[egdede]

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/professional-trapper/gallery/pages/opossum021.html

 

[ZRX61]

He would also soak kernels of corn to soften them and sew them on fishing line and attach very small trout treble hooks and steeple them to the top of corner post around his garden. Crows would gobble the corn down hook got caught in the stomach result was a dead crow, one less raiding his garden.

That how we used to poach pheasants, bait the hooks with raisins.

 

[Showkey]

22 Rifle

+ 2 ^^^^^^^^^^^

22 air pellet gun ( PCP) if you need to do it quietly.........

 

[gregtwojeeps]

wet cat food works well on possums. .

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Ok, I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but what's everyone's problem with possums?

We have them occasionally but I've not seen them DO anything objectionable. I guess they'll eat fruit off trees. I've HEARD they'll eviscerate a dog if cornered but otherwise they don't do anything around my property but make more possums, I guess.

Had one crawl into my backyard after being hit by a car. I thought "Sooner" (avatar) had killed him but he's pretty gentle. Called Animal Control and they said he's big enough that he COULD have and asked how badly he was cut up? When I said he wasn't they said then he didn't kill it! A couple baby ones were orphaned as a result and showed up. Sooner brought one in the house that I thought was dead - NOT! I put it in the trash can and later thought, "I bet it was pretending" Sure enough. I laid the trash can on its side and let the little feller crawl away.

I'll kill every one I can. http://www.epmhorse.org/The_Disease/Opossum.htm
It's hard on a horse.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I'll kill every one I can. http://www.epmhorse.org/The_Disease/Opossum.htm
It's hard on a horse.

No horses around here so, NEXT!