How do I get a possum out of my roof?
Brush-tailed possum catchers like to live in roof cavities. As those possums are territorial, removing one will now not resolve your problem as new possums will quickly circulate into the vacant territory. A relocated possum will now not live on in a new territory. So you want to rehome them nearby, far from your roof, ideally in a tree to your lawn. It is unlawful to relocate or kill a possum.
DIY possum removal
Use those commands for getting rid of the possum yourself. First, make sure it is a possum and not a rat or mouse – sprinkling flour near the manhole and checking the footprints will decide this – possums are the size of a cat.
- Next, set up an alternative domestic for the possum catcher. You will need a nesting box – you may either purchase one from a retail outlet in New South Wales or build your very own.
- Where feasible, get inside your roof and find the possum’s nest. The nest, which has the heady scent of the possum, needs to be located in the new possum house to inspire the possum to its new home.
- Encourage the possum to analyze their new domestic by way of putting portions of clean fruit in or near the nesting container.
- Locate an appropriate tree in your lawn to web page the box, securing it as a minimum 4 meters up.
- Find out how the possum is entering into the roof space by watching it at dusk while it will go away to forage.
- Repel possums by sprinkling the roof cavity with quassia chips (from hardware stores), or naphthalene or camphor (Note: do not use a mixture of products) and putting a light into the roof cavity and leaving it on for 3 days and nights. The aggregate of the mild and the odor have to pressure the possum catcher out of your roof and with a bit of luck into the possum residence you have provided.
- After you’re sure the possum has moved into its new home, block its entrance into the roof by using a one-manner door or filling the hollow with chook twine or timber and trimming any overhanging branches. Night time is the fine time to block off the right of entry to points because the possum can have left to forage for food.
- If the possum returns, there may be another admission to the point you need to find.
Where to get a license and a lure
Possums are protected in NSW and catching possums without a license is unlawful in NSW. License to trap possum catcher on your house are issued free of charge out of your local National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) workplace. Traps may be available for hire from some licensed wildlife rehabilitation organizations or pest management agencies.
Remember to block off the access factors into your roof and to provide a possum residence if you intend to attempt trapping.
Releasing a possum
A possum should be launched at nightfall no greater than a hundred and fifty meters away from the factor of seizure and close to something it is able to straight away climb, together with a tree or tall fence, in any other case it will now not live on.
Bushland areas do not often have any vacant territories, so in case you have to release the possum in any other region, it’d have to search and compete with different possums for safe haven and meals in unusual territory. NPWS may additionally relocate possum catcher to different areas, but most effective as a last lodge.