Best Mouse Killer: Top Products Reviewed
Opossum Traps
Opossums can enter homes through open doors, windows, and pet doors, or destroy gardens and landscaping. Exclusion is the only safe, humane, and effective method for opossum control. At DIY Pest Control, we offer a number of opossum trap solutions that can get opossums away from your property and make sure they stay away.
Do You Have an Opossum Problem?
If you have a critter rummaging through your home and causing damage, trapping and removing it is critical. The first step in any trapping and exclusion tactic is correct identification.
Opossum Features
Opossums have a repulsive, musk-like odor and can be an occasional nuisance when they enter crawl spaces, under decks, garages, and similar areas.
- The opossum is 2-3 feet long. Its head is white to yellowish with a pink nose, black eyes, and bluish-black, naked ears.
- Adults are long-haired, light-gray, and about the size of a large cat, weighing 4-15 lbs.
- It has a long scaly tail, black at its base, grading to yellow-white or pink for the rest of its length.
Dangers of Opossum Intrusion
Opossums are very resistant to rabies and have far fewer rabies cases than any other common wild animal in the United States.
However, opossums pose a serious danger to horses. Opossums are a primary carrier of a deadly disease in horses known as Protozoal Myeloencephalitis. Steps should be taken to keep opossums away from horses, horse feed, and stables.
Remove Opossums Safely and Effectively
Denying their access to structures by exclusion techniques is the most effective method of controlling opossums. Live animal traps can be used to capture and relocate them safely.
Havahart Raccoon Traps
For effective opossum control, we recommend our Havahart Raccoon Traps. Measuring 32 x 10 x 12 inches and made with galvanized wire mesh, steel reinforcements, and a spring-loaded door, it’s designed to trap raccoons, stray cats, groundhogs (woodchucks), opossums, armadillos, and similar-sized nuisance animals.
Havahart 1085 Easy Set Cage Style Animal Live Trap
Havahart 1085 Easy Set Cage Style Animal Live Traps are extremely easy to set and can be set up with one hand. The high-tensile wire mesh makes the Havahart 1085 EZ Set Live Animal Trap more durable without making it heavier. The 1085 model is good for trapping raccoons, cats, opossums, groundhogs, and armadillos.
How to Use Opossum Traps
When trapping an opossum, follow these tips:
- The traps should be set in locations the animal frequents or where it is causing damage.
- Fish or canned cat or dog food are good opossum baits. To readily entice the opossum into the trap, use a small bait trail leading to the trap.
- All traps should be checked in the morning and evening, so that captured animals may be dealt with humanely.
- Check with your game and wildlife department before trapping and releasing the opossum.
- Release the animal several miles away from your property.
Count on DIY Pest Control for Opossum Control Solutions
Our carefully curated selection of opossum traps makes it easy to remove a stubborn opossum from your property. The traps we offer are easy to operate, with a simple setup and seamless release. Our pest control experts can offer the advice and product recommendations you need to remove opossums from your home or garden safely, humanely, and effectively.
Contact our team today if you have any questions about opossum control.
Frequently Asked Questions About Opossum Traps
Where do opossums like to hide?
Possums like to crawl into areas of the home where they can seek out garbage or food, like garages or even in kitchens or basements. They typically hide under homes or in crawl spaces to nest.
Can raccoon traps be used for opossum removal?
Yes. Traps designed for small animals like raccoons, groundhogs, or gophers can be used to trap opossums. We recommend our spring-loaded Havahart Raccoon Trap for efficient and safe opossum trapping and removal.
What’s the best way to deter opossums?
Fencing, such as chicken wire fencing, is the best way to keep opossums away from your yard. You may also consider liquid or granular repellents, such as the Nature’s Defense Scent Granules solution we sell.
Trapping Opossums
How To Trap And Catch Opossums Safely & Effectively.
Like the kangaroo, this unique mammal has an abdominal pouch for carrying her young.
Biology & Habits
Opossums have a repulsive, musk-like odor and can be an occasional nuisance when they enter crawl spaces, under decks, garages, and similar areas.
They nurse in the mother's pouch for about three months. The average number of young is 6, but as many as 13 may be born.
- The opossum is 2-3 feet long. Its head is white to yellowish with a pink nose, black eyes, and bluish-black, naked ears.
- Adults are long-haired, light-gray, and about the size of a large cat weighing 4-15 lbs.
- It has a long scaly tail, black at its base, grading to yellow-white or pink for the rest of its length.
Opossums and Rabies
Opossums are very resistant to rabies and have far fewer rabies cases than any other common wild animal in the United States.
Important Exception with Horses: Opossums are a primary carrier of a deadly disease in horses known as Protozoal Myeloencephalitis. Steps should be taken to keep opossums away from horses, horse feed, and stables.
Habits
The opossum is a shy and secretive animal that is seldom seen because it is abroad mostly at night. Perhaps it is most often observed along highways in the glare of automobile headlights as it feeds on animals killed by traffic.
While opossums tend to wander a great deal and frequently shift their home sites, individuals spend most of their lives within about 40 acres. Opossums often climb trees or brush heaps in an attempt to escape when pursued.
When frightened, the animal rolls over on its side, shuts its eyes, becoming limp. The opossum is "playing possum," with its heartbeat slowing down to the appearance of death. This action is a reaction to a nervous shock; the opossum can recover.
Opossums eat fish, birds, mammals, crustaceans, insects, mushrooms, fruits, grass, eggs, and dead animals.
Habitats:
They prefer to live in wooded areas, near streams. They choose home sites such as hollow logs, abandoned woodchuck burrows, under buildings and decks, in garages, trash heaps, or cavities in hollow trees.
Opossum Control
How To Trap Opossums
Denying their access to structures by exclusion techniques is the most effective method of controlling opossums.
Live animal traps such as Havahart Raccoon Traps or the easy to set Havahart 1085 Easy Set Cage Style Animal Live Trap can be used to capture and relocate them.
- The traps should be set in locations the animal frequents or where it is causing damage.
- Fish, canned cat or dog food are good opossum baits. To readily entice the opossum into the trap, use a small bait trail leading to the trap.
- All traps should be checked in the morning and evening, so that captured animals may be dealt with humanely.
- Release the animal several miles. Check with your game and wildlife department before trapping and releasing them.