Opossum Removal

Opossum Removal

Opossums are a unique curiosity of the modern world, as they have quite an unusual appearance. While they may seem relatively harmless, opossums can be a potential danger to have around your home or property. Continue reading to find out more about the opossum and how you can remove them.

What damage do opossums cause?

            While opossums do not generally cause any property damage, they do carry a multitude of potentially deadly diseases. Opossums have been found to carry rabies, tularemia, leptospirosis, and a variety of other terrible ailments that can potentially kill humans. Even though an opossum attacking a homeowner, their family or their pet is unlikely, it can happen. In addition, these diseases can be spread by the opossums’ feces they leave everywhere. Finally, they can contaminate the ground with urine, saliva, and many other transmission vectors. Put simply, opossums are too dangerous to be left to run around your property.

How do I prevent opossums?

            The best way to prevent opossums from coming onto your property or into your home is to reduce any easy food sources in your yard. Clean up any fallen fruit from fruit trees. Be sure to lock up any pet food and trash that may be accessible to critters. Always inspect your home, being sure that there are no holes anywhere that could allow access for opossums. If you are so inclined, you can even have a fence installed that will keep these diseased critters out.

How can I trap opossums?

            Removing opossums might sound pretty simple in theory. Simply set a cage trap and wait for the opossums to all be caught. Oftentimes, the opossums are too smart to fall for a cage trap, so additional measures must be taken. In addition, oftentimes if an opossum makes its way into your home, it will often be a mother having babies. This means you will have to remove the babies as well, as they will die slow deaths and stink up your whole house. Because of these difficulties, it is generally advised for homeowners to hire a professional wildlife removal service that can take care of the problem quickly and effectively.

Why hire C&C Wildlife Control?

            At C&C Wildlife Control, we have years of experience in dealing with opossums and all of the problems they are capable of creating. We service the Hartford and Tolland Counties of Connecticut, serving our clients with the most effective wildlife removal services. In addition to our wildlife removal services, we also offer wildlife exclusion services, sanitation services, and wildlife damage repair services. If you have an opossum problem and need help, give us a call at C&C Wildlife Control.

Why Are Opossums Attracted to My Property?

Do you know that opossums are the only marsupials that reside in North America? And like other marsupials such as kangaroos, they develop their young in exterior pouches. 

Opossums are generally docile animals with poor eyesight. However, they qualify as nuisance wildlife because of the nuisance they cause in and around the garden, trash cans, and even in homes. 

If you’ve been dealing with an opossum infestation problem, it helps to know why these nuisance animals are attracted to your property in the first place. To learn more information about keeping them away visit howtokeepopossumsaway.com.

You see, opossums are mainly attracted to properties with easy access to food and/or shelter. Let’s now take a deeper dive into these factors. 

Food

Opossums are scavengers. As omnivores, they feed on both vegetation and meat – they aren’t picky. That means a wide range of food can attract them to your property. Some of which include:

• Preys

Opossums will hunt insects, mice, snakes, worms, and even chickens. So, if you have these preys on your property, you can expect opossums to visit you. 

To prevent that from happening, ensure that you handle whatever mice or snake infestation you have. Also, ensure that your chick coop is well secured to deny opossums access. Finally, reduce moisture around your property to limit the presence of worms and insects. 

• Gardens

Having a garden is a great way to provide yourself with a constant supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. But you see, opossums also have their eyes on the ultimate prize. If given access, they’ll eat those fruits and vegetables before you get a chance to do so. 

What’s more, maintaining a garden requires regular watering. This water can, in turn, attract worms, frogs, slugs, and snails, which are delicacies for opossums. 

• Pet food & Bird seeds

Opossums are nocturnal. So, if you leave pet food outside, you can expect these nuisance pests to visit your property for easy food. 

Similarly, if you have a bird feeder, opossums will frequent your property to pick up fallen crumbs from underneath the bird feeder. 

• Trash Cans

Opossums also get attracted by the odorous “foody” scent from garbage cans. As scavengers, they’re also attracted to uncovered compost heaps. 

Shelter

Opossums can also be attracted to properties that offer comfy shelter. Here are some examples:

• Attics

Attics are warm and dry places of refuge for opossums and their babies (or joeys). Homeowners that live in wooded areas are prone to come across opossums in their attics. That’s why it’s important to thoroughly inspect your attic to ensure there are no potential entry holes. 

• Chimneys

The heat from the fireplace makes the chimney a warm shelter for opossums, especially during the cold winters. To prevent opossums from residing in your chimney, ensure that you install a chimney cap. 

• Under houses

Opossums can also take advantage of the space under the deck, patio, or shed to make their den. Ensure that your house is inaccessible as that’s the only way to keep them away.

• Moisture-filled locations

Opossums prefer inhabiting near water areas. Yards near a drainage ditch, a sewer, or a pond are more likely to attract these animals. 

Other Reasons

• Scent

From our observations at C&C Wildlife Control, we’ve noticed that opossums have a fondness for a wide variety of smells. Examples include the scent of apricot, almond, and cinnamon. So, if you have this smell lingering on your property, it may attract opossums. 

Conclusion

Opossums are beneficial for the ecosystem. They help to keep the population of pests – like rodents, cockroaches, snails, beetles, and more – in check. 

However, they can cause significant damage to the attic and under the house – ranging from the deposition of their waste materials to the damage of air ducts. 

If you’re dealing with a nuisance opossum, you can always count on C&C Wildlife Control to resolve the situation promptly and efficiently.

How to Get An Opossum Out of The Attic?

Opossums are quite popular houseguests for property owners all over this fair country of ours. AT C&C Wildlife Control, we’ve seen more than our fair share of the little marsupials, and in this article, we’ll share with you what we’ve learned along the way. We’ll talk about the most efficient ways in which you can get rid of opossums on your property. So let’s get going…

First, what’s attracting the opossums?

We’ll talk chiefly about opossums in the attic since that’s the place inside your home where you’re most likely to find opossums. Why? Well, it’s dark, stuffy, and there’s not a lot of people going up there. In short, it’s an ideal hideout for any wild animal looking to set up a home, and that includes opossums.

Opossums are notorious scavengers, so it’s quite likely that the chief attraction point for them is the food, which is ample around most human properties, even if you think your home is pretty clean. Leftovers, trash, pet food – all of these can constitute a lovely meal for an opossum. Even crumbs, carelessly scattered around the home, can be an attraction point for opossums. And identifying what’s attracting them in the first place is a good starting point to get rid of them.

How do you get rid of opossums?

• First things first, make sure it is an opossum.

So how do you know you’ve got an opossum living up there? Did you go and check for yourself, or did you hear some noises, maybe you saw a flash of a snout, and think you know what it is?

We recommend making sure before you attempt getting the animal out since this will ensure you use the right trap and bait, and so increase your chances of success. Since opossums tend to be nocturnal creatures, it can be difficult spotting them during the day. Instead, you can look for signs of their existence, such as gray fur, or somewhat pointy droppings.

• Decide if you want to bait, exclude, or call a professional.

These are the main three methods through which you can get rid of an opossum living on your property. First, you can use a baited live trap, which is essentially a cage that instead of killing the animal merely traps them. You can plant this somewhere near the opossum’s entry point inside the attic, then check on it regularly until the animal is caught. You can then use the live trap to relocate the opossum to a faraway location, where it won’t bother you or your neighbors.

Alternatively, you could purchase a special exclusion device, or one-way door, if you will. This is something that you’ll install along the outside of the opossum’s entry point into the attic. Once the animal goes out, it won’t be able to come back in.

Lastly, there’s always the option of calling a professional wildlife removal company like C&C Wildlife Removal, which will guarantee success, and take a load off your hands. 

• Focus on prevention and repair.

Once you’ve chosen your preferred wildlife control method, you’ll want to make sure the opossum doesn’t come back. This will include fixing the entry point, as well as removing any food or items that may be attracting the opossums in the first place. We recommend regular attic cleans, to minimize the risk of wildlife inhabitants. 

Secondly, you’ll also want to spend a bit of time cleaning up the mess and potential damage left behind by opossums. Remember to wear adequate protection on your hands, and face, since opossum droppings may expose you to disease.