Although cuddly and cute, possums can be a real headache when they invade your house. They can be a real hassle especially around cities with lots of greenery such as Brisbane, The Gold Coast and The Sunshine Coast. Possums are generally non-aggressive animals. However, as they go about their business in your home, they can disrupt your daily routine. They can be very annoying. In addition to that, these wild animals can also carry diseases and spread them to humans and pets.
Possum can also harbor parasites such as roundworms, fleas and ticks. Furthermore, they can damage and degrade your house, as they chew on wood and electrical wiring, which is expensive to fix and a fire hazard as well. If you live in South-East Queensland are require the help of some professional possum removal experts, take a look here. However if you want to try and DIY, here are some pointers on how to prevent possums invading your home.
Find the Entry Points
The first step when it comes to keeping out possums, is establishing where they enter into your house. If a possum is living in your garage, attic, or any other space where it is not invited, you need to find out how it got in there in the first place. Spend some time during the day looking for entrances or holes that might have be used by the possums.
If you find holes, you can sprinkle some cooking flour around them to see if they are being used. Possums are nocturnal animals. This means that they mostly go out at night to look for food. Look for their footprints in the flour around sunset. The footprints will also tell you whether it is a single possum or you are dealing with a family of possums. A brown stain around an entry or exit is also an indicator that the entrance is being used.
Stop the Climbing
In order to stop the invaders, wrap 2-foot flexible sheet metal or roof flashing around all the trees that the invader might use to climb. You also need to trim branches around the house. This way, you will be able to deter the possums from coming back. Ensure that you do this at night when the possum has left to look for food, so that it does not get trapped inside your house.
Sealing Below a Deck or Building
A possum living in the basement or anywhere under a deck or a house can be a smelly, noisy nuisance and a potential health hazard as well. Possums love garages or sheds, since humans do not frequently use those areas. Use the same process of sprinkling flour on all the entry holes that you locate on your deck or garage.
Check a few hours after sunset for any footprints. As you do this, ensure that the animal has left its sleeping location. This way, you will not trap the animal in the deck, since it is illegal to do so. Seal this entry hole to ensure that the invader will never use it again. Once the possum comes back before dawn, it will have to seek a new home since the hole to its present home is sealed and inaccessible.
Make It Miserable
You can also place a loud music set near it sleeping location. The noise will be so unbearable that your uninvited guest will eventually move out and head to the bush where things are quieter. Another trick that works is hanging an old stocking that is soaked in liquid seaweed, near your yard, fruit trees or vegetable garden. Possums don’t like the aroma of seaweed.
Conclusion
Possums can be very annoying, especially when they invade your home in large numbers and fight. However, even a single one can make life unbearable, due to all the noise or scampering and the smell from their waste. The good news is that they are easy to control, using readily available methods and equipment. If you find that this work is too much, you can always hire a professional possum trapper, who will can help you remove them for a fee. If you are having possum problems you can reach out to our professional team at Pest Control Southside by clicking here.