Opossum Prevention for Possum Problems

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Many home owners have problems with opossums, and wish to know how to prevent them from using their yard and property as habitat. Any wild animal will live in an area if that area provides suitable food and shelter. Oftentimes, our suburban homes do offer such requirements. Some wildlife like to live under shelter such as decks, sheds, or porches. To prevent this from happening, barriers such as steel exclusion barriers or latticework should be installed. Oftentimes animals are attracted by the presence of food sources, such as pet food or bird food left outside. Garbage can also serve as an attractant. Once an animal has established a behavior of visiting your property for these food sources, it can be hard to make them break the habit.

There is no good product on the market that really works for opossum prevention. If you have a opossum problem that you need to get rid of, the best bet is to actually catch the animals in a live trap, and physically remove them from the area. This is not usually a good field for amateurs, so if you need such services, it might be best to call a professional from the linked list of nationwide pros.

One of the best ways to prevent opossum problems is to block access. For example, if you have possums in your attic, your best bet is keep opossum off the roof by blocking their access areas - whether it's adjacent trees, or unguarded downspouts, find out how the animals are getting access to the building, and block the entry holes shut.

After you read the below information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does opossum removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of opossums - my main opossum removal info guide.
Example opossum trapping photographs - get do-it-yourself ideas.
Opossum job blog - learn from great examples of opossum jobs I've done.

For more Opossum information, go back to the Opossum removal page.


Mothballs in opossum hole ? what?s the story? One of the things that is often suggested when you are trying to get rid of a rather stubborn opossum is to use mothballs in the spaces that the creature is living within. This is because the animal apparently doesn?t like the smell of them so after a short period of time, it will soon vacate the area in which it is living in, in the hunt for a new home that doesn?t smell quite so bad.

There are a few things that you should remember when using moth balls in order to get rid of an opossum ?

? Moth balls DO NOT always work! They may have worked for the ?friend of a friend? that we have all heard of a story about, but in reality, the opossums have evolved much further than just moving out because the area smells bad ? they live in their own droppings after all!

? After a while, buying moth balls can prove to be an expensive option. You are going to need to replace the moth balls regularly to ensure that the smell s doing its job, and by the time that you have realized it isn?t, you will already have spent a great deal of money on them.

? The opossum will eventually get rid of the smell, so if your opossum has been living in a couple of other houses before yours and those people used moth balls in order to get rid of it, there is a good chance that it will technically be ?immune? to the smell and ignore the moth balls completely.

You may be wondering if you can keep opossums away, or even kill them, with natural predators. Read more on my do opossums have natural predators page.

AAAnimal Control is a professional nuisance wildlife control company. It is my goal to provide information so that you can solve your possum problem in an effective and responsible manner. Wildlife services include animal trapping, capture & removal, plus animal damage repairs and preventative measures. You can always browse this site for more details and info about opossum removal. If you live elsewhere in the US and have found this site and need a local possum trapper in your area, click here for a nationwide list of 100's of professional opossum removal experts.