Over the weekend my wife and I discovered that we have an uninvited guest living in our attic crawlspace: an opossum. (This isn't a hoax.) As we were sitting on our patio we heard it moving around and soon discovered that it had found a gap (that we had never been aware of) in the side of the overhang above the kitchen door whereby it could gain access to the crawlspace. I rigged up a camera and managed to get a picture of it sticking its face out. So my question is, does anyone know what to do about an opossum in the attic? Will it leave of its own accord after a while? (We suspect it's been there for at least a couple of weeks.) Or do we have to get professionals out to remove it? I don't want to hurt it, because from what I understand they're fairly useful animals that kill rats, snakes, cockroaches, and other rodents.
Comments
you could try one of those hav-a-hart cages ( they don't hurt them ) ... or just call your local animal control peoples. maybe even the cops if you're desperate. i'm sure they'd absolutely love that call ...
But then I feed the mice that are living in our outside toilet.
http://www.reallivepreacher.com/archive/2004/03/25.html
No matter how hard it is for you, it was harder for him.
You don't want it living up there, for the reasons others cited. We had an expert come in after we'd gotten it out to check and make sure there weren't any remains left, and the guy removed some "garbage" that the opossum left. Opossums in neighborhood = good, opossums in house = bad.
If the possum has only one means of attic access then a havahart trap blocking that avenue will work pretty well. Some county animal control agencies rent them out. As do some rental places. Secure it so it can't be moved. Bait it with peanut butter. Release the critter far away. And don't dawdle or it will drop a liter up there.
Animals just like you, Alex. Maybe next it'll be a jackalope.
I like the "Pay me or I'll eat it" plan. Fried possum is supposed to be pretty good (although that's one I haven't tried yet). During the Great Depression it was known in the Southeast as "poor man's chicken."
A friend of mine was putting out food for a stray cat and one night discovered the "kitty" was actually a big possum. She named it Opie and became quite fond of the critter. It never came in the house, though.
If you do decide you want to get rid of it, though, try lighting up the attic as brightly as possible. Opossums are nocturnal and they generally find a dark place to hole up in the daytime. If you light it up, it won't be so hospitable a place to hang out.
You might also put a stereo up there and play some Britney Spears or Spice Girls tunes at high volume, to make things even rougher on your day sleeper. That would get rid of me, anyway.
It's obviously just an alien and not an opossum at all.
http://www.opossum.org/
Is Mr. (or Ms.) Opossum still up in the attic?
Anyway...I dragged the dog inside and then was at a complete loss as to what to do. Should I have picked it up and put it somewhere safe? Would it have tried to eat me? Shold I have just left it?
What I did was pushed it onto a dolly with the intention of wheeling it across the road and setting it free but it jumped off the dolly and ran back into the back yard. Now I'm frightened to let the dog back out in case he finds it again and kills it.
Hopefully it will have found it's way out of the yard by the time I let the dog out but I would like to know what I should have done so I will have a better idea should it happen again.
Thanks for any advice.
David.
They are filthy animals that eat anything at all, dead or partly dead. They will bring in disease, fleas and breed. When adults, they are vicious.
Get the filthy thing out of your house!
Screaming at it will do nothing. You really need to wait for it to come out, and then seal up the hole.
www.tampawildliferemoval.com