Possum...

gjones

I spotted one of these nasty jokers running next to my garage the other night and I do not want them on my property.

I live in a neighborhood that has typical suburban-Chicago sized lots (8800sq. ft) and someone lives on both sides and behind me.

Does anyone know of any PROVEN repellants? I think I remember reading that it is legal to shoot varmints with a pellet gun around here, but I will wait until I have verification to do that.

Thanks

joecaption

There is no repellent for Possoms.
A live trap with cat food in it may catch them. Call animal control sometimes they will lend you one or set one for you.
Be carefull sometime there rabid. Wear gloves when handling the trap.

gjones

I have zero desire to trap it. I'll figure out a way to get rid of it.

oh'mike

They are mighty common---they will wander through your yard on occasion.

Keep all food (garbage) out of sight-

Make sure you don't have any nesting areas open--

Possums are part of the natural life in Illinois---

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DexterII

They're not necessarily the cutest of creatures, but I have never heard or seen any evidence of them doing any harm, so would just let them go about their business. Mike is exactly right; do as you may with this one, but they're part of nature, so you're not going to eliminate all of them, and they're going to wander through once in a while. And, they're opportunistic, so you can minimize their travels across your property by keeping trash cans sealed, etc., and encouraging neighbors to do likewise. They wander the woods and swamp behind our place, so we see them regularly, but, again, they don't hurt anything. In fact, I caught one last night, in a trap that I had intended for a skunk, so I opened the trap this morning, and watched him waddle back to the woods.

PAbugman

Opossums rarely carry rabies. It is thought that their low body temperature may have something to do with that. They are everywhere at night, even urban areas. Very secretive. They won’t hurt anything, but if they can get in sheds/garages, etc they will quickly set up residence. Their musk odor is very strong and hard to remove. If you have one , there are many more. Probably eating pet food, getting into trash, bird seed, etc. All neighbors have to be careful and diligent, but that won’t happen. Opossums act vicious but it is an act. I’ve caught several just by cornering them, grabbing their tail and holding them away from my body. Some are too big for that though. I did that in my younger days-I won’t do that again though. IF one did bite, you’d have to save it for analysis for rabies even though it is rare. Their bites are very dirty at the least. You could live trap it and shoot it in the trap, if legal.

retired guy 60

I have at least two possums that live in my neighborhood. In the middle of the night they will eat cat food left in a bowl on my deck if the cats leave anything. They are by nature unaggressive unless harrassed or protecting their young. Even the cats ignore them when they show up. My advice is to live and let live. Unless you leave food out for them, they will find greener pastures elsewhere and relocate on their own. It is unfortunate that they have an unpleasant appearance but that is a result of heredity and I see no reason to be concerned about them.

boman47k

I caught one while trapping squirrels here last year. I just let the ugly rascal go. Not the first time they have been seen around here.

They have been a few in my shop in the past. Found one in there later covered in maggots. Think it may have been something it ate.