Possum Shifting

[Citroënbender]

I need to persuade a possum to leave it's roost in my garage pretty much within the next 24 hours - it's occupying some items I want to remove.

Not interested in killing or injuring, just want it to shift. So - guns, knives, flamethrowers, spears, capsicum spray and Leopard tanks are out. I've tried disturbing the items and that seems to have made it more resolute in staying. Having been bitten and scratched by possums before, I'm not in a hurry to bring about physical confrontation.

So, yes, suggestions requested please.

[pottery beige]

ask it nicely to leave??

[JasonACT]

Hire a big-a$$ trap-box and drive it miles away and drop it off in the bush somewhere.

[Trendseeker]

Remove your items when the possum is out and about at night.

You could try setting up a bright spotlight in there to flush him out at night while you get your stuff. Leave some apple slices behind as a peace offering.

[Citroënbender]

Thank you all.

I tried PB's suggestion first, for a number of hours off and on. I even offered to make it a nice blanky bed from collapsed Commodore roof linings. No dice, I reckon it had smoked a point of meth and all it wanted to do was have a go.

Eventually - after basically giving up and asking for suggestions - Meth Possum crawled out and skanked off into the night. He will get a treat for being a good chap in the end.

I was nearly at the stage of asking the parish priest to come and baptise it, because then it would only return for Easter and Christmas...

[Tonz]

this story hasn't finished I want to hear results at end of the weekend, you have some crappy weather heading your way, Possie could change his/her/its mind and return only to find its bed has been disturbed, removed then the proverbial will hit the fan.
remedy....remove the fan as well.

[aussiblue]

I thought this was going to be a thread about "Possum" Bourne's gear changing technique.

[hayseed]

Call Wires, Tell 'em you think It's Injured.. They'll come & take It off Your Hands for you..

https://www.wires.org.au/

[five 7]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Thank you all.

I tried PB's suggestion first, for a number of hours off and on. I even offered to make it a nice blanky bed from collapsed Commodore roof linings. No dice, I reckon it had smoked a point of meth and all it wanted to do was have a go.

Eventually - after basically giving up and asking for suggestions - Meth Possum crawled out and skanked off into the night. He will get a treat for being a good chap in the end.

I was nearly at the stage of asking the parish priest to come and baptise it, because then it would only return for Easter and Christmas...

Hey mate if he doesn't come back and your missing him, i can send over one from our seventy odd million supply, think you might have to change sheep jokes now haha. think we only have 60 million sheep.

[sr71]

Floodlight in the current location will upset their sleeping, so they'll relocate.
Also spray Korean tea in the area. A bit of useless info once given to me by a wires volunteer, because i wasnt told exactly what type of tea. Apparently it smelt horrible, and possums dont like the smell, so move on. Just what you want the garage smelling like. Possum wee and Rank smelling tea...

I quite like the little creatures. A Kiwi friend was telling me how hated they are in NZ (as Five 7 has mentioned) If they see them near the road, they'll swerve to hit them. An introduced pest that have evolved to be bigger than ours.

[five 7]

Yep they are fair game here, lots are shot trapped and poisoned plus fur is plucked along with skins for garments. Even with all that it doesn't seem to put a dent in population, always heaps of roadkill around my way.

[aussiblue]

I don't know; we send the Kiwis our possums to distract them from their sheep but they don't seem the least bit grateful.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by aussiblue

I don't know; we send the Kiwis our possums to distract them from their sheep but they don't seem the least bit grateful.

They think they're Hobbits.

[Citroënbender]

I’m getting mental pictures of a hobbit-skin rug, like the tiger ones with a whole head...

So far, no further possum issues. Meth Possum and his shazza appear to have relocated for now, no ginseng tea spray required. I genuinely like the critters but they are impossible to domesticate like a cat or dog. If they could keep their 1’s and 2’s outdoors and let me trim their claws we might have a deal.

[five 7]

Haha Oz treats them like a sacred Hindi cow, here public enemy No1. Have had mates rescue baby's from the pouch after mums being dispatched, perfect pets up to 8 or 9 months then they turn, like something out of the Walking Dead. They go from cuddly furry cute. to yellow fanged hissing ball of evil. Then we did get all breeding stock from Tazzy. I think it can run up to $100 kg for hand plucked fur, not bad if you want to get off your butt in a slow country town.

[danzvtil]

Some councils will hire out possum traps, but being a protected species, there are rules about where you can release them, my council specifies that you can’t release them any more than 50m from where you catch them, stupidly. I’ve spent many years excluding them from my roof space and found they were lifting capping tiles to get access, I only succeeded when a roof resto mortared them down tight.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Some councils will hire out possum traps, but being a protected species, there are rules about where you can release them, my council specifies that you can’t release them any more than 50m from where you catch them, stupidly. I’ve spent many years excluding them from my roof space and found they were lifting capping tiles to get access, I only succeeded when a roof resto mortared them down tight.

Even if you released them 50 miles rather than 50 metres from your place they will still find the way back

[five 7]

Too true, be good if they could swim.