Compared to other wildlife pests, opossums are not particularly dangerous creatures. Although they carry diseases, they will rarely bite and scratch anything that confronts them, choosing instead to either hiss or, if placed under extreme stress, play dead. Additionally, their prehensile tail makes them very nimble when climbing trees, fences, or walls to escape predators rather than fight back.
But despite their gentle nature, they will, like any other mammal, invade homes or gardens in search of food or shelter. This is especially likely during the winter months, as opossums do not hibernate as they cannot store fat in the same way as other creatures. As a result, they can be a nuisance in yards and will find shelter in the attics of homes, underneath porches, inside sheds, etc.
Fortunately, however, they do not have a habit of digging, clawing, or gnawing their way through materials like other pests, for example, gophers, bats, or squirrels. This means they are highly unlikely to cause any lasting damage to your home. But because they carry diseases, they still need to be removed safely and properly by taking the following steps:
As many know, while opossums are very unique animals, they can also be a disaster to have around your property or in your home. Opossums can carry many serious diseases, as well as cause a wide variety of property damages. This is why homeowners try so hard to prevent opossums. Luckily, there are several tips you can use to keep opossums from getting onto your property or into your house. Continue reading to learn more about these methods. Learn more about how to keep opossums away from your home.
Fix Your Home
Often, when an opossum gets into a home, it means that there was a large entry point that the opossum was able to find. In some cases, opossums can create their own entry holes, but in many cases, there was a large problem, to begin with. In order to keep opossums out of your home, you need to take a few important steps. The first step should be a deep examination of the interior and exterior of your home. Paying special attention to the attic, the roofline, and the foundation can be a very important tip. Basically, you will be searching for any problem areas like large entry points, cracks, or weak points. If you find any of these problems, repair them in the best way possible. Often, this means attaching aluminum sheeting, fixing up cracks with a durable sealant, or even installing new shingles, siding, or lumber. Once you have done this, it is very unlikely that an opossum will make its way into your home.
Make Your Yard Less Appealing
One common reason that opossums come onto particular properties is that they are looking for somewhere warm to live. If they can, they will try to move into heated buildings like homes. This is especially true if they have young they are looking after. If they cannot get into homes, they will settle for sheltered areas in your yard. A great way to reduce your yard’s appeal is to clean up any wood piles or brush piles that the opossum might want to use for shelter.
Once you have cleaned up the shelter, focus on easy food access for opossums. Opossums love to eat virtually everything. They especially like small critters found in messy yards. Keep your grass and weeds trimmed, as it will keep smaller rodents away. Be sure that any and all pet food and garbage are kept out of reach of opossums. In addition, always keep cleaning up the yard from any fallen fruit or vegetables. These steps alone should reduce the appeal of your yard to opossums.
Fence It
If you are tired of dealing with opossums entirely, putting up a fence could be an excellent idea. Most fences will keep opossums out completely. This will keep you, your family, and your pets safe from any of the diseases and damage that opossums can cause. This can also protect any small animals, fowl, or rabbits you may have on your property. Particularly if you have small children who may not know to run away from opossums, this is a great way to keep them safe.
Hire a Professional
Sometimes the prevention methods taken by homeowners are not enough to keep these resourceful animals out. If this is the case for you, consider contacting a wildlife control company, as they generally have a lot of animal prevention experience. In addition to removing animals you may already have on your property, these experts will be able to provide prevention and exclusion services to keep any and all nuisance wildlife out of your home and away from your property.
Why hire Mighty Men Pest Control?
Here at Mighty Men Pest Control, our experts have been dealing with opossums and their prevention for years. This wealth of experience allows Mighty Men Pest Control experts to know exactly how to prevent animals from coming onto your property and into your home. We are proud to service San Mateo County, Napa County, Sonoma County, and Contra Costa County in California. If you have a wildlife prevention concern, give us a call at Mighty Men Pest Control!
Opossums are the only marsupial native to North America. They are related to kangaroos and, just like these relatives, have pouches where they nurse their young after birth. They are generally omnivorous, which signifies that they eat both plants and animals. They will eat pretty much anything and are known to scavenge human garbage as well as carcasses. Visit getridofpossums.com to learn more about getting rid of opossums from your home.
Opossums do provide a few benefits for the local ecosystem. The biggest one is that they love to eat ticks and are immune to the diseases these bugs carry. Most opossums are also immune to snake venom and are known to prey upon rattlesnakes and pit vipers.
Opossums are nocturnal creatures, so they really only come out at night. They are known to live underground in burrows, but they are not known to dig their own. Instead, opossums prefer to use abandoned burrows dug by other animals. This is also the reason why it’s so common to find opossums living under houses and in crawl spaces.
Let’s be clear – at Mighty Men Pest Control, our method for opossum removal is trapping. Trapping is by far the most effective method and it’s humane if done correctly. However, if you want to try to get rid of opossums on your own and you don’t want to try trapping, there are a few other less effective methods you can try.
Once you pinpoint the area under your home where the opossum is located, you can install some opossum deterrents in that location. You can buy motion-activated lights and sprinklers at most home improvement stores. You can try these to scare the opossum away.
If you have a dog or cat, you can also try brushing them to collect some fur, then spreading the fur around the opossum’s hideout. You can also try hanging mesh bags with the fur around the entry points.
You can also try using items with potent smells. We have heard of some people using ammonia-soaked rags and garlic cloves. Just don’t use mothballs – these rarely work and are harmful to other creatures you don’t want to remove (like your own pets). You can also buy chemical repellents at garden and hardware stores.
You can also try to install an exclusion barrier over the animal’s entry point under your house. This is basically steel mesh that extends to the ground and slopes outward away from the house. If an opossum is under the house, it will be able to crawl out but won’t be able to lift the mesh to get back in. Just make sure you install it properly!
At Mighty Men Pest Control, we are opossum removal experts with the know-how to get rid of these animals quickly. That’s why our main method for opossum removal is trapping – it works.
You will need to use a large steel cage trap to trap an adult opossum. It should be about 30 inches long and at least a foot high. You can buy these at most hardware and home improvement stores.
The type of bait to use to trap an opossum is often debated. At Mighty Men Pest Control, we’ve found that one of the best baits is actually cat food, but be careful if you have neighborhood cats. You can also try sweet items like fruit or marshmallows.
Place the trap on the ground right outside the entry point the animal is using to get under your house. You can scatter some bait around the opening to draw the animal towards the trap.
If you trap an opossum, we recommend taking it at least 10 miles from your home to keep it from coming back. At Mighty Men Pest Control, we are opossum removal experts and can take care of all of this for yo
Let Us Get the Critters Out for Good
Request a ConsultationCities we service in the following California Bay Area cities: Alameda, Albany, American Canyon, Antioch, Atherton, Belmont, Belvedere, Benicia, Berkeley, Brentwood, Brisbane, Burlingame, Calistoga, Campbell, Clayton, Cloverdale, Colma, Concord, Corte Madera, Cotati, Cupertino, Daly City, Danville, Dixon, Dublin, East Palo Alto, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Fairfax, Fairfield, Foster City, Fremont, Gilroy, Half Moon Bay, Hayward, Healdsburg, Hercules, Hillsborough, Lafayette, Larkspur, Livermore, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Martinez, Menlo Park, Mill Valley, Millbrae, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Moraga, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Napa, Newark, Novato, Oakland, Oakley, Orinda, Pacifica, Palo Alto, Petaluma, Piedmont, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, Portola Valley, Redwood City, Richmond, Rio Vista, Rohnert Park, Ross, St. Helena, San Anselmo, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Francisco, San Jose, San Leandro, San Mateo, San Pablo, San Rafael, San Ramon, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Saratoga, Sausalito, Sebastopol, Sonoma, South San Francisco, Suisun City, Sunnyvale, Tiburon, Union City, Vacaville, Vallejo, Walnut Creek, Windsor, Woodside, and Yountville.
