Possums can be a real headache in your yard, especially if they’re coming to eat the food for your pets or birds.
They are generally non-threatening animals but they can certainly disrupt your peace of mind.
So is your yard attracting possums and how do you get them to leave?
Here’s a rundown on some of the things that may attract possums, along with some suggested remedies.
Things That Attract Possums
There are a lot of different things that could draw possums to your yard.
One of the most common reasons would be they are looking for a place to call home.
If you have a yard that has a lot of trees with low-hanging branches or shrubs, you’ll probably have some visitors.
Possums are also always searching for food, so if you have a lot of fruit trees, or an overgrown garden, they would be likely to check what you have to offer.
Even a pile of compost will be graciously accepted by possums, so leaving a pile of rotting garbage, or an outdoor compost bin with plenty of leftover food scraps will definitely bring possums to your yard.
How to Know if You Have Possums in Your Yard
You may be questioning, “How do I know if possums are in my yard?” There are some signs to look for if you aren’t quite sure.
Damage To Your Fences
Examine the boundaries of your land, in particular, near the fences.
Are any pieces ripped, broken, dug under, or missing altogether?
This most likely doesn’t mean you have possums in your yard, but it would surely explain how they got in.
Strange Noises
Sound familiar? That hissing sound could be a hissing alley cat, the clicking sound could be a burglar with a click pen, or Sneezy from Snow White, or it could be a possum.
Did You Know? The hissing noise is used to let others possums know that they feel threatened, the clicking noise is a mating call, and the sneeze comes from juvenile possums trying to get the attention of the mother possum.
Late Night Scratching
Possums will scratch at anything they can to tear apart fabrics and food to make their ‘home’ a little comfier.
If you hear scratching at a tree, garbage bags, a shed, or your pop-up canopy, there’s a good chance the scratching is being done by a possum.
Mice and rats will scratch too, but the sounds you hear will be much quieter than what a possum makes.
Bad Smells
Possums tend to poop more than nearly all other mammals, and because they are roughly the same size as a house cat, their poop will size up too.
Add some sort of cover again, add some moisture and heat, and that is a smell that is going to want to leave pretty quickly.
Should You Keep Possums In Your Yard?
It all sounds bad, but is it really?
Believe it or not, possums are actually beneficial animals and play an important part in the environment. They help to control populations of pesty insects like cockroaches, spiders, and rodents.
Possums are non-aggressive animals too!
When they are approached, possums can hiss as a warning for you to leave them alone, but they may also play dead in order to defuse confrontation.
If you want the benefits of a natural insect and pest repeller, and you don’t have small children or pets that may come in contact with the possum, then it may be worth it to leave the possum alone if they are not harming anything.
Having a possum living in your yard will only be worth it if your plan is not to use your backyard space very often.
Things To Consider – Although possums tend to be clean animals, there is the risk to humans of a possum carrying diseased germs and passing them on to humans.
How to Keep Possums Away
If possums are not to your liking as a resident in your yard, you have five things you can do to deter them.
Remove Food Sources
One of the primary factors a possum made the journey into your yard in the first place is access to food. If you can remove any access to food, you will likely jay them to evacuate and look for alternative sources elsewhere.
Make sure to pick up any fallen fruit from your fruit trees and keep a tight lid on your garbage. If you have been composting, stop for a little while or store your compost in a shed or garage.
Trash Their Home
You don’t need to destroy your yard, but if you have trees with low branches that create a great hiding spot for possums, you should consider removing them off your tree.
And likewise, for any brush piles or dense vegetation areas.
Repel Them
Certainly, you can attract possums to your yard with odors but you can also repel them with odors.
There are certain odors that possums find absolutely disgusting and if you use them around your yard, possums would be compelled to vacate and never come back to your yard.
Some of the odors that repel possums include:
- Garlic
- Predator Urine
- Ammonia
- Onions
- Vinegar
- Moth Balls
You can spray around their nests, and your property to keep the possums away.
Stop Them From Coming Back
After removing your possums, you’ll want to check for any points along your fence line they may have come in at.
Possums are great climbers and they can fit through small holes, so it is crucial to inspect the entire perimeter of your property to ensure there are no entry points for them to re-enter.
Please remember to do this once you have evicted the possums, otherwise you could risk trapping them back in to your property.
Call a Professional
Hiring a professional right away is the quickest way to have the job done right the first time.
They will have the experience and equipment needed to deal with your possum problem efficiently and effectively, and they can also help investigate how possums gained access to your yard in the first place so that you can minimize the chances of it occurring again.
Final Thoughts
Once you see possums in your yard, the first thing you might be thinking about is how to get rid of it.
If you don’t use your backyard anyway, you could always let the possum stay there, as it is taking care of the spiders and pests before they get into your home.
Alternatively, you can try to shoo them away by making your backyard less hospitable to them, scenting them out rather than repelling them, or worse, hiring a professional.
Nevertheless, go ahead and do something; don’t let the possum become a nuisance.