Caring for Texas Wildlife ... One Animal at a Time
NUISANCE - OPOSSUMS
Opossums are primarily seen at night. They are basically nondestructive except when enlarging an existing hole for entry/exit. They are omnivorous creatures with a diet consisting mainly of acorns, crawfish, grapes, insects, frogs, fish, birds, snakes, rats, and carrion. In the city they eat dog food, cat food and garbage.
They will hiss when threatened but are not usually aggressive. Opossums do not pose a real threat to humans and can actually be quite helpful where cockroaches, snakes and rats are a problem. The female carries her babies in her pouch. Opossums are nomadic and will move on after the food source has been depleted.
Trapping is not a long-term solution. As long as there is a food source, other opossums will move in. To make your home/yard an undesirable opossum habitat, remove food at night if pets have been fed outdoors during the day, and spray fox/predator urine near where the opossum is living. Place a flood, or strobe light nearby, and leave it on day and night. Also, place a radio nearby tuned to an all-talk or hard rock station.
Construct a one-way door system to exclude opossums. Wait until the animal has left for the night, and loosely close the opening with netting or straw. It should be placed loosely enough so that if an animal is trapped inside, he can still push the material out of the way to get out. Once he's out, permanently seal the opening.
Hardware cloth or welded wire can be used to exclude animals from underneath decks by constructing an L-shaped footer. However, it is imperative that no young are trapped inside after the adult has been excluded.
