I And My Dog Can't Sleep At Night :-((((

[GSDowner]

Dear Forum Members

I did some research by googling and I know there are, but would be grateful if someone could recommend a good and honest one. Someone who services eastern suburbs.

Apparently such a contractor would have to come to our house several times when it's dark; probably walk around. It scares me to have a stranger hanging around our place . I know I am being silly but can't help they way I feel. Ideally I would prefer a woman to do this job but it seems more like a man's job.

Does anyone know what exactly is involved? Would he need to come inside the house?

I am desperate for your help please.

[persephone]

Possums can be trapped by licensed people- but then released 50 mts away!!

Is the possum living in your roof- or a visitor?

what sort of possum?

Are you inner or outer melbourne?

HERE is some info you may find helpful.

[Janba]

Possums are very territorial and if released close by they just come back.

I have a resident deliquent possum who has an ongoing battle with the neighbouring deliquent possum and its worse than cats fights. There is nothing I can do it other than hope he meets a sticky end (but preferably not in my dogs jaws).

[GSDowner]

Possums can be trapped by licensed people- but then released 50 mts away!!

Is the possum living in your roof- or a visitor?

what sort of possum?

Are you inner or outer melbourne?

HERE is some info you may find helpful.

In the roof and walls and has a bushy tail.

I looked at the government website, but it looks like they would insist on building a house for possums so they would be permanently living near me :-(

Edited April 6, 2010 by GSDowner

[persephone]

That is all you can do- if you look at the site some more- it does suggest deterrents and ways to keep them away from trees,roofs etc. There is no legal way to get the possums permanently moved a long way...and as said- if one possum ,or a pair is removed, another will take its place.

[GSDowner]

Possums are very territorial and if released close by they just come back.

I have a resident deliquent possum who has an ongoing battle with the neighbouring deliquent possum and its worse than cats fights.

[MsKatie]

We had one - it got stuck in the wall cavity and we had to cut a hole in the wall to get it out - after that my OH put a light in the roof which we left on 24 / 7 and scattered mothballs around the roof cavity - seems to have dettered the little sod (Although knowing my luck it will come back now that I have said that)

My kelpie has a serious dislike for them and will bark at them when they sit in the trees

[Jake-K9]

As others have said trapping probably isn't going to be the most successful method of getting rid of possum... you're better off trying to block up access to your roof cavity and make it an unpleasant place to be - KelpieHoundMum has some good ideas!

Years and years ago when I first moved out of home I lived in a caravan beside an old queenslander that was surrounded by trees, good possum habitat apparently... the little bastards used to leap off the roof of the house, or out of the trees, down onto my caravan, and land with an almighty bang that shook the thing O.o

I learnt to sleep through it after about 6 months and a lot of "OMG WTF was THAT?!" middle-of-the-night blood running cold wake-ups... but none of my friends who stayed over ever came back LOL!

[Gallomph]

As others have said, the best bet is to seal up access to the roof cavity (when the possum is outside it!!). It will then set up home in a nearby tree, but at least it won't be rustling around in your ceiling keeping you awake.

[mackiemad]

we had a guy come out to get rid of ours. the law says they must be released IN their own territory but the possum guy blocked up the entry they had been using so they couldn't get back inside the roof. if they are merely on your roof then give them a new home in a big tree nearby (preferably a nice nature strip tree a block down from your house!).

i can understand that you might be worried about a dude wandering about but i would never get a girl to do it, they are heavy and it is can be dangerous work (not saying that a woman can't do it, but i'm pretty strong and i know i would struggle, plus i don't want to feel like it isn't going to be taken care of properly...). can't find the number of the guy that did ours but we got him from yellow pages and he was good... (melb inner east)

[love-my-dog]

You could try Peter the Possum Man.

They gaurantee their work.

They will come out and inspect your home, seal up the possum's entry point and any other entry points they find.

They will then set a oneway trapdoor. To allow the possum/s to exit but not return.

After a few days they will return to remove the trapdoor.

As others have said you are not allowed to remove a possum more than 50 feet from it's current home, which at the moment is your ceiling and even if you did then others are likely to move in to replace them.

So trapping alone will not work. You need to stop them being able to regain access after they have been removed.

Oh and they hate being evicted and can be very determined to get back in again.

All this can be done from outside and during normal daytime work hours

[charli73]

Our friends bought a house which had a whole family of possums in the roof, one who would climb around the main bedroom once they went to sleep.

They are in Mitcham and got Pete the possum man out too during day time hours who put that one way door in where one of the tiles goes and put food outside to entice them out... they were getting in near the chimney where they had lifted up the chimney sweep and helped themselves....

They are territorial and are reluctant to move esp if they have young possums but guarantee to get rid of them which is a bonus....

[corvus]

The thing to remember is that possums in suburbia pretty much have back-to-back territories and the environment is at its carrying capacity. That means if you get rid of your resident sooner or later another possum will move in. I think putting up nest boxes for the possums is a good idea. If you get the access to your roof blocked and put the box up the possum should move into the box. Then everyone can live in harmony.

[persephone]

The thing to remember is that possums in suburbia pretty much have back-to-back territories and the environment is at its carrying capacity. That means if you get rid of your resident sooner or later another possum will move in. I think putting up nest boxes for the possums is a good idea. If you get the access to your roof blocked and put the box up the possum should move into the box. Then everyone can live in harmony.

[princesszelda]

When we bought our house & found possum poop everywhere, we used Hello Possums Hello Possums. The guy that came out was really friendly, and inspected our house, and told use that the previous owners had done a really good job possum-proofing the house already, so nothing else was needed. Turns out the possum was in the neighbours roof and using one of our trees to travel (hence the poop). Nice to find an honest tradie though...