How to discourage possums raiding vegie patch and fruit trees?

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

Possums, possums, possums.

I love 'em. Really. I do.

BUT, I need to draw the line when they raid the veggie patch and the fruit trees. They are worse than ratus ratus that can be dealt with, terminally.

Fencing the veggie patch is an option, though not practical. But I don't know how to protect the fruit on trees. Any other suggestions.

I've seen the thread Getting rid of possums (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=28080&highlight=rid+possums), but fruit trees and veggies present other chanllenges not addressed here.

Mental - and going more so...

[Screwdriverone]

Shot gun.

Simple, yet effective.

;)

Chris

[Terry B]

1080

[allan gould]

Dog

[mental4astro]

I think I'd get into a tad of trouble letting one off in Maroubra! You'd see my house on the evening news as the target of the recent drive-by-shootings :lol:

Dog - I'm a cat person, and the missus a doggie girl. No chance of compromise, so not an option, <sigh> I might change my mind if it's a Fox Terrier.

1080 - will work, but...

[mercedes_sl1970]

Alex

Ditto on the dog.

We have one dog that regularly sits on sentry duty on our back deck waiting to see off raiding possums. This is the only way we have found to keep them away. Other methods, including shouting (they don't seem to comprehend my words?), squirting with a hose, chasing madly in frustration in the middle of the night, trying to throw a cat in the general direction, etc have surprisingly all failed. Yes, it's a dog or something more... Final.

Andrew

[Baddad]

Hi Alexander,

There are a number of legal matters when dealing with possums. I can only speak for what the rules are in Qld.

I used to evict possums from houses and other properties. I'd find them making homes in roof cavities, between floors etc.

Trapping possums is not legal. However I had special permission from Parks and Wildlife. It is also not legal to relocate possums. Many people do regardless.

You will find that it is only a few possums that are doing you disharmony.
Maybe only one. It would be so easy to trap it and relocate it,but that is not legal.

If you requested permission from the authorities to relocate. They will turn you down. Advising you to mesh your garden.

Several places hired out cage traps for possums. This was not legal. So they changed the name to cage traps for cats and customers used them to relocate possums.

The reason for the law is that possums are territorial and will die prematurely when relocated. Although I had evidence to contradict this. There were some very rare and special reasons that I had to relocate possums, I found they lived quite long in their new environment. I knew exactly where they were sleeping during the day and each had its own unique distinguising marks. Like a small piece of ear missing, scars etc.

The only legal way is to place strong wire mesh over the garden. Poisoning can get you huge fines. I know of a few customers who inadvertantly put rat poison in their ceiling void to get rid of rats. They also had the resident possum in there. The rats left and died. The possum died in the void. Very bad smell.

There's also been a number of products that people have tried to repell possums. forget them. Too much effort and short term.

Hope that helps.

[Baddad]

Hi Andrew,:)

Re:Dog.

Yes, dog works but only if the dog has the inclination to chase possums.
I have a smart Border Collie. Will not chase any wild life except Plovers in flight and then they must be screeching out their call.

We had a Cavalier / Poodle cross that was a serious hunter. Nothing was safe. Its a bit of hit and miss. Terriers like Foxies are generally good.

Cheers:)

[Larryp]

One of my co-workers has a mango tree that possums were destroying-tried everything and nothing worked. Then on a Google search, he found a place in Queensland selling an electronic gadget that emits a high frequency sound that humans can't hear, but animals can-including possums. You do ned a power point to plug into, and you need to aim the beam in the direction you wish to protect, but he says the possums don't go near his tree anymore.:)

[gary]

Hi Marty, Alex,

Further to this and rather than it just being a matter that possums are territorial is
that in the wild, tree hollows are a very scarce resource.

If a possum is denied a hollow within its ranging territory, it will almost certainly die.

It has deeper ramifications than this when one considers that more than 300 Australian
native species, including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians use tree hollows.

Relocating a possum to a new territory may mean it ends up finding a new hollow,
but perhaps kicking out some other possum or some other species. Some of the
species that occupy hollows are in decline and some are threatened.

Possums are a protected species in NSW.

If a possum has to be evicted from a roof cavity, the humane approach is to
construct a nesting box for it which should be placed in a tree within its roaming
territory.

The advice Marty provided to screen the trees you want to protect is the best
advice. :thumbsup:

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mt Kuring-Gai NSW

[AstroFlyer]

Same here.
Every night we have possums decimating my avocado trees & when they finish hey climb our next door neighbors tree & jump onto our roof, right above our bedroom.
So every night, usually twice a night, we are woken by this almighty thump (roof is colourbond) right above our heads.:eyepop:
Then they use power wires to climb onto main power pole & go to another houses from there.
I love them to death, but would prefer the visits to stop...
For a while at least...

Cheers
Arek

[pgc hunter]

Just ask Doom Guy to lend you his BFG 9000.

[astro_nutt]

A visit to the local Cemetery shows that they wrap some laminated film around the trunk so the possums cannot climb them. Check out the local school to see if they have a 1 metre wide laminating machine...laminate some thick paper and wrap a 2 metre length about 1 metre above the ground and use thumb tacks to secure it to the tree trunk...
This way the little darlings can't get a grip and climb up and might follow a trail of apples out of the place...
No poisons, guns, harsh language,etc
Cheers!

[ZeroID]

In NZ they wrap a band of galvanised steel around tree trunks, power poles etc. Seems to work. Needs to be about 600mm wide at least so critter can't reach across.
If you run out of possums we have millions of the little pests. Over here shooting, poison, death by ray guns, automobile aiming is encouraged. You can have them all back anytime you want. Destructive little gits. Used to be a bounty on the tails at one stage. Get the 22 and strap a decent torch on and head for the orchards. I could bag 20-30 a night. Good pocket money.

[mental4astro]

Got his number? I've seen him using it - oohhh, that's gotta hurt!

I like the idea of wrapping something around the trunks of the trees.

I now vaguely remember someone rigging up a row of copper bands around a tree trunk and attached to an electric current - something like a hybid tree electric fence. Plausible?

Brent, you can indulge in possum pie! Just think of 'em as rabbits with long bushy tails. They eat better than rabbits too.

[Varangian]

Gotta call in Turtle Man.

[cometcatcher]

Should work. I have something similar at the door to discourage tomcats from spraying. One day a curious possum came to the door and got zapped. Unlike the cats that run away, this possum kept trying to figure out what was zapping him on the nose every time he went to sniff it. He did it 4 times before he got the message!

Dog is a very expensive option. Even for a cat, the lifetime expense is something like $30,000 to care and feed one. That's about what mine has cost over the last 15 years.

[bartman]

Yep that'll work for the tree!!!!
As for the veggie patch?????
What about a fence of fish lines with little bells on it?
Bartman
P.S. Nicely worded response Marty :D . Very well worded.......:thumbsup:

[LewisM]

.22 rifle, firing Long Z ammo. Barely hear it.

Not that I know anything about it... :)

[Tinderboxsky]

Hi Alex,
Yes, banding trees definitely works down here. But two things to watch out for.
Firstly the band must be of material that the possum cannot sink it's quite sharp and sizable claws into it to get a grip (metal is best), wide enough so that they cannot reach across it (the 600mm mentioned earlier is about right) and high enough off the ground so that the possum cannot jump up and grab the trunk above the band.
Second thing is as mentioned in some earlier comments, possums are agile climbers and jumpers. So banding will only work if the tree is sufficiently isolated so that they cannot find another way into the tree. This can be quite a challenge in a standard suburban block.

There is a simple fencing solution for the vegie patch. But again it will only work if the patch and surrounding fence are isolated such that the possum cannot find another way up and over - eg close shrubs, trees power lines etc that they can climb and find ways into the vegie patch. The fence can be any material and a minimum 1 meter high. Then on top of the fence is fixed a section of chicken wire that is curved out away from the vegie patched such that the profile is a complete inverted semi circle. The radius of the loop should be about 300mm. Ordinary fencing wire bent to the same shape is needed every meter or so to support the curved section of chicken wire. The heavier duty chicken wire will be more durable. So the final profile of the fence is like an inverted "j"with the outside loop curving right around and pointing towards the ground. Possums are unable to navigated around the inverted loop section. This is highly effective with many gardens in our area (semi rural with high possum population) protected this way. Care needs to be taken to close off all possible access points, So the gate to the vegie patch will need the same treatment and as mentioned earlier they are agile climbers and only need the smallest of "toe hold" to find a way in. After all this, you may not have the room to be able to do this. The only other method that does not require regular attention is to fully enclose the vegie patch.

Cheers

Steve.

[brian nordstrom]

:D and spotlight .
Brian.

[mental4astro]

Getting ready to leave Katoomba Airfield, the white light torches bring up the eyes of the local possums - they positively look evil when you least expect them :wink2: :lol: Half scare me to death too :doh:

[Starman73]

Hi there,

Our local nursery sells a product called Neem Oil that is supposed to be very good. By all accounts it works wonderfully, but would be a problem to apply. Got some but then didn't get to try it out as many things happened and the vege garden became a lower priority.

Hope this helps
Paul

[MattT]

Hi Alex,
Dogs don't work down here. Melbourne possums are really horrible nasties that take no notice of my dog, a German Koolie...looks like a wolf. Wrapping trunks and branches with clear plastic that I got from Bunnings worked, a bit exxie though sort of like Lazer lite roofing. My darling possums can jump around 1.5 metres from the ground up so I needed to use quite a bit of the stuff. They also hate chicken wire when it's loose and Larrys high pitched sound does work too I've heard, but I haven't got that far yet.
The good news is that here at least there has been a Possum sickness that kills the little pests...err darlings so hopefully you'll get it up in Sydney too!
Still they did kill a 20+metre high Liquid Amber tree last year for me that was in the way of the SCP so they do have some redeeming things about them.
Matt

[Baddad]

From:

Bartman
P.S. Nicely worded response Marty :D . Very well worded.......:thumbsup:

Heh heh:thumbsup:

Cheers:)

[drachir555]

You know how kangaroos are considered expendable pests in Aussie? Well opossums are considered worse than rats out here in Oklahoma, USA. Guns are frowned upon within our city limits, so I resort to my trusty katana. It usually ends up a bloody mess, but a decapitated opossum is better than a fruit tree with no fruit. The nice thing about a katana is that it's silent, so you don't have to keep explaining the gunshots to the neighbors.:rofl:

[Ric]

Hi Alex,

Had a possum problem a few years back.

Easily solved, I netted the trees and vege beds then made up a mix of chilli powder and water and sprayed everything every third day.

The possum's are still here in our forrest but have never touched the fruit and vege's since.

Bird netting is quite cheap but don't buy from Bunnings etc. I bought from a wholesaler and got a length 100m long by 5m wide for only $220 delivered and it does stretch out a bit more as well.

Cheers

[AstralTraveller]

That way the possums are pre-marinated when they get caught in the netting. :P

[Ric]

I've never had a possum caught in the nets. :lol:

I've had to shake out a few cheesed off Tiger snakes though. :scared:

Allthough if you do it right they move off happy to be free again.

[bugeater]

I just have netting over my vege patch which seems to work. When I did have tomatoes disappear, it was rats/mice. A problem solved with baiting. The possums do eat my stonefruit though, which is a bit annoying. Might have to net those trees too this year.

I've heaps of possums in my garden. I've counted over 10 in one headcount, which means there's probably a lot more. Mostly ringtails, which are cute. Even got close enough to pat one once. I'm not so keen on the brushtails though.

[ZeroID]

Possums !!!
I've got sights on the car so I can aim for them when they're on the road...
Over here they could be our next big export to Australia...how many million do you want ?

[AussieTrooper]

I think you should persist with the 'cat throwing' option.

[AussieTrooper]

I assume you mean the winchester ones in the yellow box? They're bloody unreliable. Big difference in noise level from shot to shot, and about an 80mm group size at 25m.

[LewisM]

They aren't available anymore anyway.

[el_draco]

Hi Alexander,
Its amazing and disappointing how many people advocate slaughtering our native wildlife for daring to approach a human provided feast. SHAME ON EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU... and a POX on your houses.

The onus is on the human to secure the vege garden and there are plenty of ways of doing that. Fencing with either a low voltage electric fence or curling the top of the fence over is the quick fix. I believe spraying a chilli solution around the plants also works.

As for the fruit trees, an adult possum can jump about 1m vertically. Therefore a 1m barrier around the base of each tree will stop any ground jumpers. Jumping from above, fence/roof just needs a bit thinking.

For the bogans amongst us, remember, possums evolved here, WE are the ferals.

[RB]

I prefer to use .22LR CCI Shot Shells for vermin control.

;)

[Baddad]

Fines for "taking" of wildlife such as possums are huge.
The term taking in the legal sense includes chasing the animal among the obvious.
About 15 years ago a man was fined $1100 for killing a possum. That fine amount would be more than double that now.:P

[LewisM]

Boogers the rifling - use it in an OLD rifle, not your best Brno or Kimber :)

[RB]

Yep, that's what I do.

:thumbsup:

[LewisM]

Now now. I haven't HAD to do this for over a decade, and don't plan to. last one I had to destroy after the neighbours dog decided to maul one.

We have a family of possums in the new house. When I am doing imaging, I find 2 of them come out for a look (always scares the bejesus out of me at first as they sound like humans - these are the noisiest buggers I have ever heard - I can hear them now!). Had one come right up to the mount - I was scared poopless the bugger was going to climb up!!! I shooed him off.

[RB]

...and just for the record, I've never shot a possum.
Cute little things.
One fell off a branch one night (around 2am) onto my office roof, scared me to death.
Poor thing was numb for a minute or two then was right and off he/she went.

:)

[el_draco]

Well, I've spent thousands of hours raising orphaned possums whose mothers have been shot by ferals and hit by scum in cars..., often for fun, no less! Makes me seethe that people can be so thoughtless, arrogant and bloody cruel. :mad2:

Possums are amazing creatures on their own turf and are part of our living heritage. They can also be incredibly affectionate and funny until they get to the release age. Frankly, I'd choose to save a possum over most humans I know. :shrug: