HOW TO GET OPOSSUMS OUT OF YOUR HOUSE

Opossums are generally not dangerous creatures, but that doesn’t mean they’re good house guests. They are actually quite skittish, so they will rarely approach a human. However, opossums can still cause a lot of damage to your home and create big messes. If you have one living in your house, it’s best to get it out quickly. At Nuisance Wildlife Rangers, we are opossum removal experts. Our training technicians have dealt with this kind of thing hundreds of times. They know exactly what to do in order to keep you and your home safe while removing the animal in a humane way. Visit howtokeepopossumsaway.com to learn more about how to keep opossums away.

We strongly recommend hiring a professional to remove an opossum. They can get aggressive when cornered, so it pays to have someone with experience deal with this issue. With the right know-how, the process will go smoothly. If you want to try it yourself, use caution and follow our recommendations.

Protect Yourself First

Before you even think about going near a live opossum in your home, you need to protect yourself. These animals are not dangerous, but they can get aggressive when cornered – in these situations, they will bite and scratch until they get away. 

To protect yourself, we recommend wearing thick pants and a thick sweatshirt. You should also wear durable work gloves to protect your hands.

Guide the Opossum Outside

The best way to remove an opossum from your house is to simply guide the animal outside, but that’s easier said than done. This might not always work, but it should be your first consideration.

If the opossum is in an area with a clear route to the outdoors (garage, basement, etc.) then you should try this method first. Before you attempt it, block off other exits, especially if they lead deeper into your home.

Once you’ve made a clear path for the animal to leave, use a long pole (broom, rake, shovel, etc.) to encourage it to move. That might mean giving it a little push in the direction you want it to go. If it doesn’t budge, try leaving a trail of food toward the exit.

Just be very careful when you try this – don’t get too aggressive with the animal. Be gentle when you try to push it. Give the animal time to move on its own.

Use an Opossum Snare or Trap

If the guiding method fails, then the next best thing is a snare or a trap. At Nuisance Wildlife Rangers, we prefer the snare method. Trapping takes more work and more time, but it can also be very effective.

A snare is basically a long pole with a noose on the end. The idea is that you get the noose around the animal’s neck, then tighten it and lead the animal where you want it to go. These are specialized tools, so they may be hard to find. We suggest checking with animal agencies, farm supply stores, or exotic pet stores.

If you prefer to try trapping, get yourself a large steel cage trap with a single door. At Nuisance Wildlife Rangers, these are the traps you’ll see us using at most jobs. They are strong and sturdy, and they won’t allow animals to escape.

To set a cage trap, you need to place food inside it on the trigger plate. Then, make sure the door is set to close when the trigger is activated. To give yourself the best odds, place the trap as close as you can to the opossum’s location. You might have to do this several times before you actually trap the opossum.

Once you get the opossum in your trap, simply take it outside and release it in a safe location. We strongly recommend cleaning your home after this is done. Additionally, you should make sure to seal up any gaps where the opossum might have entered. This will prevent any future visits from these critters.

How to Get Opossums Out of The Attic

Opossums are omnivores and the only marsupials native to North America. These animals are gentle ratlike creatures who are notorious for digging through trash cans in search of food. Possums are nocturnal animals and will often avoid humans, they are not aggressive and neither do they intentionally cause you any harm. They are only interested in food and a warm shelter, however, you still shouldn’t share your roof with one. Visit opossumattic.com to learn specifically about opossum removal in the attic.

An opossum in your attic may not be as noisy as a raccoon, but they will also leave filthy droppings and cause damages to your attic insulation. The best way to remove an opossum is by setting a live trap and carefully moving it to a new location.

If you have an opossum in your attic, we recommend that you invite experts to handle the situation.

We do not recommend DIY animal exclusion because of the risks and dangers associated with it. Wildlife animals are erratic, even the most gentle, and they can put up a fight to defend themselves and what they consider their territory. Our experts at Nuisance Wildlife Rangers are well-trained to handle wildlife, even at their worst.

However, if you want to try some DIY techniques for getting rid of a possum in your attic, here are a few suggestions.

Scare it off with lights

Possums are very gentle creatures and usually mean no harm. You can try to get rid of one by using some scare tactics. For instance, you can install motion section lights in the attic to make the animal uncomfortable up there. This technique may work because possums are nocturnal animals and prefer to stay in a dark place. They do not particularly enjoy very bright lights.

Try human voices

Another option is to set up a radio in the attic to play loud music. A possum will be very uncomfortable in a place with loud noises of humans blaring in the air. Since they actively avoid humans, this is enough to send them packing. A combination of motion-detection lights and loud radio will often effectively scare away possums from your attic. Also make sure that you identify the entry point and seal it once the animal leaves because if you don’t, another animal will come back to occupy your attic, which may not be as easy to evict.

Possum Trapping and Removal

If you tried the above techniques and still have a stubborn possum hiding in your attic, then you should seek professional help.

Removing an opossum from the attic usually involves setting live traps with the appropriate bait and subsequently relocating the trapped animal. Removing an opossum will often involve the following steps;

Inspect the attic

Do a thorough attic inspection to identify the areas where the animal is most active. Try to find the access point or the entrance through which the animal got into the attic. This can be a broken attic window, a crack in the roof, or in the walls. A thorough inspection by a trained technician regularly yields results much faster than an untrained individual.

Seal the holes

Once you are able to identify the entry points, next is to do a complete seal up of all the holes. This will prevent any other animal from coming in, and if the possum has already left, then it will also prevent it from coming back in.

Set a live trap

A live possum trap is the most humane way to catch a possum. Get a large steel cage with a single door, bait it with some fruits and vegetables like apples, pumpkins, carrots, peanut butter, etc. and set it up so that the door snaps shut once the animal is inside. Check your trap every day and make sure you remove the animal without any delay.

How to Trap An Opossum

Opossums are small nocturnal animals that move around at night in search of food and a good place to live. These animals are easy-going and not aggressive. When cornered, an opossum will often play dead instead of attacking the intruder. Sometimes these animals can end up in attics as a warm and conducive place to hide from predators, but no one wants to have a possum living in their attic. If you have a possum in your attic, here are a few tips on how to get it out.  

Step 1: Inspect your property

Inspect the attic for signs of opossums, look for animal tracks and feces. Also check for damages and obvious signs of animal activity in the attic. One of the most common signs of animal infestation is their droppings, if a possum is living in your attic, expect to find possum droppings around, they look like dog poop. Also look for holes or cracks that may be acting as the entry and exit point for the animal. It is absolutely important that you identify the holes that let the animal into the attic, so that they can be sealed off to prevent any more infestation. 

Step 2 – Gather your supplies

To evict an animal, you will need to purchase the necessary tools for the job. Get a good live trap suitable for trapping possums, get sturdy gloves, and protective gear such as masks, cover all and booths. Having the listed item is essential because you want to protect yourself from contacting any of the diseases that possums carry.

Step 3 – Set the trap with a good bait

The key to successfully catching an animal is to use the right bait. Opossums are omnivores because they eat a wide range of things, the best baits for these animals are fresh fruits and vegetables such as berries, apples, peanut butter, etc. Make sure that you place the bait all the way inside the trap, to ensure that the animal will fully enter the trap to get to the bait. And while setting the trap, make sure that it’s set correctly so that the door closes once the animal is inside the trap. 

Step 4 – Monitor the Trap

Next, you have to closely monitor the trap, check it at least once a day, preferably twice. Check it once every morning and once every evening. While waiting for it to catch, you may need to change the bait a few times. Another important reason why you should check the trap daily is to ensure that the trapped possum doesn’t stay there for too long because that would be torture and unfair to the poor creature.  

Step 5 – Relocate the Opossum

After you have successfully trapped a possum, next is to explore your options for relocation. You may want to call your local animal control, or relocate the animal yourself. Whichever option you go with is fine. However, if you decide to do the relocation yourself, make sure that you do not take the animal to another neighborhood, or to a place where it will have a very small chance of survival. You may need to do a little research to find out the best place to take it to.  If you trap a possum, Nuisance Wildlife Rangers can retrieve the trap and humanely remove the animal.

Step 6 – Clean up and sanitation

Sadly, your job doesn’t end with trapping and relocating the animal. You still have to clean up the filthy attic. Cleaning after an animal is usually very risky because their urine and feces are often laden with pathogenic microorganisms that can infect humans with some very deadly diseases. Make sure you wear protective gear and use a powerful disinfectant.  

Possum in your attic? Call a professional!

You can save yourself a lot of trouble by inviting professional Nuisance Wildlife Rangers to handle the eviction, relocation and sanitation. Our experts We specialize in Opossum Removal, Opossum Trapping, and complete Opossum Control solutions.