# Possums in the roof...



## Midol (Aug 29, 2007)

How the hell do I entice a possum out of our roof?


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## moosenoose (Aug 29, 2007)

lol This might sound completely nuts, but someone once told me that Koalas are a natural enemy of possums. Grab yourself a stuffed 'reasonably realistic' koala toy and stick it up there in the roof space. I'd love to know if it works. Good luck


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## Surfcop24 (Aug 29, 2007)

Otherwise I am sure someone here has a big carpet that would liike a solid meal.... He he....







Just Kidding


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## stringbean (Aug 29, 2007)

wait till it goes out a night and then block the hole it goes in and out through.
or make it a box thing up a tree in your yard for it to go into instead.


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## Riley (Aug 29, 2007)

i patted a possum last night..


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## nuthn2do (Aug 29, 2007)

Put lights up in the roof cavity and leave them on 24 / 7 , when it's gone fix the hole. Any gap bigger than a tennis ball is enough for an adult to get through.


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## Midol (Aug 29, 2007)

We can't find any holes :S

I'll put a koala (lol) in there tonight just for ****s and giggles and stick my flood lights up there tomorrow 

Thanks guys.


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## Magpie (Aug 29, 2007)

Midol said:


> We can't find any holes :S
> 
> I'll put a koala (lol) in there tonight just for ****s and giggles and stick my flood lights up there tomorrow
> 
> Thanks guys.


 

While you've got your lights on, go around the house at night and look for where the light escapes and there's your holes


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## Jonno from ERD (Aug 29, 2007)

It's amazing how small of a hole possums can fit through. I have a fish tank in my room, and the gap at the bottom of the stand is around 15mm, and our small adult female possum gets under there with ease.


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## xander (Aug 29, 2007)

put a nest box up ,it will have to be fairly high though and will have to be near the hole so the possum can see the nest box. Its a fallacy about koalas and possums(funny though)Also remember everyone if we didnt cut down hollowed trees ect then possums wouldnt live in our roof.


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## falcon69 (Aug 29, 2007)

*possums*

put a light if you can on during the day and radio,and throw up a couple of camphor balls,and wait till they come out ,and plug it up..disturb them duyring the day hence the radio and light,,and perhaps put a box near the roof


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## planks (Aug 29, 2007)

put a rabbit trap up there and BINGO you got ya self a possum


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## raxor (Aug 29, 2007)

I have possums in my roof too.. not ju9+st (hehe sorry my beardie just had a go at typing..) one possum but more than one species of possum!!! 
We have had ringtails and brushtails break into our house.. if you don't get them out of your roof now they will likely make like our possums and dig through the chiprock and fal" in to your bedroom... the ringtails are cute but the brushtails sure make horrible noises!
There's a local guy called the possum man who we can call but I'm kinda freaked out he'll make soup out of our possums...
I'd suggest you install nests in the trees in your yard, throw some napthalene balls in the roof and block any holes they can get through. Maybe rent a cat trap for a week from your local council and pop it in your roof, that should catch the possums. Although our possums are not in the least bit worried about napthalene balls.. they're hard to get rid of...

Just pretend you're like nature and you love the possums???


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## $NaKe PiMp (Aug 30, 2007)

we have possum problems at work they get in the roof and poop everywhere,we trapped them in possum traps but they still kept coming back,the only thing that worked was leaving the light on
as the roof sace is a room with lighting,this has kept them away


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## Midol (Aug 30, 2007)

Raxor, they are just little ring tails (I think).

They personally don't bother me. They've been in there for about... 9 months? But they keep running over my little brothers room now and he won't sleep in there (lol).

The koala didn't really do anything  Lights and a radio is pumping away now. 

I'll get mum to put some nests in the trees. She loves wildlife


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## -Peter (Aug 30, 2007)

if you dont fix the holes your wasting your time. They will be brushtails, ringtails prefer to live in drays.
its surprising how few people can tell the difference.
If they are small then you have rats.


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## Midol (Aug 30, 2007)

I haven't seen them  But we get ring tails in our shed every other day.

They just dont sound very big. It sounds like they are dancing.


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## cris (Aug 30, 2007)

Could just be rats, i would use a live trap to avoid the risk of hurting possums by mistake. Rats and possums can chew cables and burn your house down(not good).


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## Niomi (Aug 30, 2007)

Dont possums like apples and fruit? Lure them out with apples and then try to find the hole when they are outside munching...i love possums i saw them for the first time at Easter this year and fed them apple


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## nuthn2do (Aug 30, 2007)

Brushtails - black tail tip, Ringtails - white tail tip. Both form rings with their tail so the name is misleading.
Possums are not known for their stealth or for being light footed, so unless it sounds like a couple of 45 kilo rotties doing laps of your ceiling i'd be checking for rats as well


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## Midol (Aug 30, 2007)

Its fairly loud, not rat volume. Loud enough to wake me up. Unless its a big rat.

Whatever it is we'll get them out 

We live on a nut farm btw, so we get a lot of critters coming to eat the nuts.


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## oxyranus (Aug 30, 2007)

Get some cat traps we got two possums out of our house that way.


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## nuthn2do (Aug 30, 2007)

Trapping roof possums requires a permit in some states (definitely NSW), if the animal is moved outside the boundaries of your yard it will result in a death from territorial dispute.


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## tooben (Aug 30, 2007)

first fix all holes that the possum can come and go from. then once thats done get someone who has a trap to place it just inside the man hole. then leave it their baited with a small amount of fruit until the next morning if hes in there then there is a chance you may have caught it over night.. but note do not feed the possum fruitfor food as its not good for them and they will end up dieing. now after a few days if you havnt traped it there is a goo chance its not there any more . good luck ps be careful releasing it they do bite and scratch.


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## tooben (Aug 30, 2007)

yes release just outside of your house. dont take them away.


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## Just_Joshin (Aug 30, 2007)

Niomi said:


> Dont possums like apples and fruit? Lure them out with apples and then try to find the hole when they are outside munching...i love possums i saw them for the first time at Easter this year and fed them apple


 
They do like fruit but it is not good for them in large quantities.....something like pumpkin, capsicum, squash or bok choy is MUCH better for them and will be just as enticing. A possums dieting is around 80% veg and greens, sometimes even higher.



nuthn2do said:


> Brushtails - black tail tip, Ringtails - white tail tip. Both form rings with their tail so the name is misleading.
> Possums are not known for their stealth or for being light footed, so unless it sounds like a couple of 45 kilo rotties doing laps of your ceiling i'd be checking for rats as well


 
If it looks BRUSHY and big, yes black also......then it's a brush tails. If it is skinny and much more rat like with a white tips then it is a ring tail.

The colour isn't the most obvious thing, it's what the tail looks like. One is big and bushy, the other is thin and short haired. Also a adult brushy will be about the size of a cat, whereas, a ringtail will about 2x the size of a guinea pig. 



tooben said:


> first fix all holes that the possum can come and go from. then once thats done get someone who has a trap to place it just inside the man hole. then leave it their baited with a small amount of fruit until the next morning if hes in there then there is a chance you may have caught it over night.. but note do not feed the possum fruitfor food as its not good for them and they will end up dieing. now after a few days if you havnt traped it there is a goo chance its not there any more . good luck ps be careful releasing it they do bite and scratch.


 
Exaclty. Fixing the holes is the only sure fire way of getting rid of them. Possums (particularily brushtails) are very territorial so they will only come straight back if you get rid of them. If they do then install a possum box in a tree out the back and release it near the box one night. The can have territory of only 50m aswell so moving it down the street will only cause it to fight and die or kill the other possum in who's territory you realeased it.


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## cris (Aug 30, 2007)

If you have a 'rouge' male possum is there anyway to remove it without killing it?


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## darkangel (Aug 30, 2007)

do possums live together as in pairs(boy, girl)? last summer i had 2 big brushtails walking along my back fence so i'm guessing they would still be somewhere around here. it would be cool to see them again with babies!
i think they were in our roof but only for a few days. that was about a month before i saw them. i kept getting woken up with load bangs and what sounded like galloping almost lol. hubby thought i was going crazy as he never heard a thing lol.


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## nuthn2do (Aug 31, 2007)

cris said:


> If you have a 'rouge' male possum is there anyway to remove it without killing it?


No, you get a permit (if required) they are trapped and euthanased.


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## herptrader (Aug 31, 2007)

I have seen possums (brush tails) lift tiles to get into the roof cavity.

As other suggested the trick is to get them living happily close to your house but not in it. They are territorial so if you have one living close to your house it will deter others. If you just have it removed another will soon fill the vacant territory and you are back to where you started.


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## -Peter (Aug 31, 2007)

Midol said:


> Its fairly loud, not rat volume. Loud enough to wake me up. Unless its a big rat.
> 
> Whatever it is we'll get them out
> 
> We live on a nut farm btw, so we get a lot of critters coming to eat the nuts.




on a nut farm aye Im inclined to say its rats then, they are noisier than you think sometimes and as Nuthin2do says, possums sound like a pack of rottweilers.


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## RevDaniel (Aug 31, 2007)

good luck with it all. Hope you are able to encourage your furry friends to relocate elsewhere. I guess it is better than having rats or sparrows. Keep us updated as to your progress. This has been a most enjoyable thread to read. Rev


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## .....Newbie..... (Aug 31, 2007)

Try camphor flakes and put them in your roof. If you can get up into cavity spread them out over the roof if you cant get up in there just open the boxes and throw them up there ( in different directions ). Works fine for me, you may have to repeat it a few times ( if they come back as the smell goes ). Tried the camphor balls but found flakes worked better. Hope this helps.


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## planks (Aug 31, 2007)

cris said:


> If you have a 'rouge' male possum is there anyway to remove it without killing it?


whats so difrent from a normal male possum to a "rouge" possum


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## -=Surflifesaver=- (Aug 31, 2007)

Get an air rifle


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## cris (Aug 31, 2007)

planks said:


> whats so difrent from a normal male possum to a "rouge" possum


never had a problem with possums(many other ppl dont like them though), just a question out of interest. As already mentioned keeping them out is the solution.


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## firedragon (Aug 31, 2007)

moosenoose said:


> lol This might sound completely nuts, but someone once told me that Koalas are a natural enemy of possums. Grab yourself a stuffed 'reasonably realistic' koala toy and stick it up there in the roof space. I'd love to know if it works. Good luck


lol or you could grab one of those dudes that roam the streets in a koala suit with a bucket to get up there and give it a go:lol:


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