How to discourage possums raiding vegie patch and fruit trees?

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

and spotlight .
Brian.

Originally Posted by LewisM

.22 rifle, firing Long Z ammo. Barely hear it.

Not that I know anything about it...

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by brian nordstrom

and spotlight .
Brian.

Getting ready to leave Katoomba Airfield, the white light torches bring up the eyes of the local possums - they positively look evil when you least expect them Half scare me to death too

[Starman73]

Hi there,

Our local nursery sells a product called Neem Oil that is supposed to be very good. By all accounts it works wonderfully, but would be a problem to apply. Got some but then didn't get to try it out as many things happened and the vege garden became a lower priority.

Hope this helps
Paul

[MattT]

Hi Alex,
Dogs don't work down here. Melbourne possums are really horrible nasties that take no notice of my dog, a German Koolie...looks like a wolf. Wrapping trunks and branches with clear plastic that I got from Bunnings worked, a bit exxie though sort of like Lazer lite roofing. My darling possums can jump around 1.5 metres from the ground up so I needed to use quite a bit of the stuff. They also hate chicken wire when it's loose and Larrys high pitched sound does work too I've heard, but I haven't got that far yet.
The good news is that here at least there has been a Possum sickness that kills the little pests...err darlings so hopefully you'll get it up in Sydney too!
Still they did kill a 20+metre high Liquid Amber tree last year for me that was in the way of the SCP so they do have some redeeming things about them.
Matt

[Baddad (Marty)]

From:

Bartman
P.S. Nicely worded response Marty . Very well worded.......

Heh heh

Cheers

[drachir555 (Richard Givis)]

You know how kangaroos are considered expendable pests in Aussie? Well opossums are considered worse than rats out here in Oklahoma, USA. Guns are frowned upon within our city limits, so I resort to my trusty katana. It usually ends up a bloody mess, but a decapitated opossum is better than a fruit tree with no fruit. The nice thing about a katana is that it's silent, so you don't have to keep explaining the gunshots to the neighbors.

[Ric]

Hi Alex,

Had a possum problem a few years back.

Easily solved, I netted the trees and vege beds then made up a mix of chilli powder and water and sprayed everything every third day.

The possum's are still here in our forrest but have never touched the fruit and vege's since.

Bird netting is quite cheap but don't buy from Bunnings etc. I bought from a wholesaler and got a length 100m long by 5m wide for only $220 delivered and it does stretch out a bit more as well.

Cheers

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by Ric

... I netted the trees and vege beds then made up a mix of chilli powder and water and sprayed everything every third day.

That way the possums are pre-marinated when they get caught in the netting.

[Ric]

I've never had a possum caught in the nets.

I've had to shake out a few cheesed off Tiger snakes though.

Allthough if you do it right they move off happy to be free again.

[bugeater (Marty)]

I just have netting over my vege patch which seems to work. When I did have tomatoes disappear, it was rats/mice. A problem solved with baiting. The possums do eat my stonefruit though, which is a bit annoying. Might have to net those trees too this year.

I've heaps of possums in my garden. I've counted over 10 in one headcount, which means there's probably a lot more. Mostly ringtails, which are cute. Even got close enough to pat one once. I'm not so keen on the brushtails though.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Possums !!!
I've got sights on the car so I can aim for them when they're on the road...
Over here they could be our next big export to Australia...how many million do you want ?

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

Originally Posted by mercedes_sl1970

Alex

Ditto on the dog.

We have one dog that regularly sits on sentry duty on our back deck waiting to see off raiding possums. This is the only way we have found to keep them away. Other methods, including shouting (they don't seem to comprehend my words?), squirting with a hose, chasing madly in frustration in the middle of the night, trying to throw a cat in the general direction, etc have surprisingly all failed. Yes, it's a dog or something more... Final.

Andrew

I think you should persist with the 'cat throwing' option.

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

.22 rifle, firing Long Z ammo. Barely hear it.

Not that I know anything about it...

I assume you mean the winchester ones in the yellow box? They're bloody unreliable. Big difference in noise level from shot to shot, and about an 80mm group size at 25m.

[LewisM]

They aren't available anymore anyway.

[el_draco (Rom)]

Hi Alexander,
Its amazing and disappointing how many people advocate slaughtering our native wildlife for daring to approach a human provided feast. SHAME ON EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU... and a POX on your houses.

The onus is on the human to secure the vege garden and there are plenty of ways of doing that. Fencing with either a low voltage electric fence or curling the top of the fence over is the quick fix. I believe spraying a chilli solution around the plants also works.

As for the fruit trees, an adult possum can jump about 1m vertically. Therefore a 1m barrier around the base of each tree will stop any ground jumpers. Jumping from above, fence/roof just needs a bit thinking.

For the bogans amongst us, remember, possums evolved here, WE are the ferals.

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

They aren't available anymore anyway.

I prefer to use .22LR CCI Shot Shells for vermin control.

[Baddad (Marty)]

Fines for "taking" of wildlife such as possums are huge.
The term taking in the legal sense includes chasing the animal among the obvious.
About 15 years ago a man was fined $1100 for killing a possum. That fine amount would be more than double that now.

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by RB

I prefer to use .22LR CCI Shot Shells for vermin control.

Boogers the rifling - use it in an OLD rifle, not your best Brno or Kimber

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

Boogers the rifling - use it in an OLD rifle, not your best Brno or Kimber

Yep, that's what I do.

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by el_draco

Hi Alexander,
Its amazing and disappointing how many people advocate slaughtering our native wildlife for daring to approach a human provided feast. SHAME ON EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU... and a POX on your houses.

The onus is on the human to secure the vege garden and there are plenty of ways of doing that. Fencing with either a low voltage electric fence or curling the top of the fence over is the quick fix. I believe spraying a chilli solution around the plants also works.

As for the fruit trees, an adult possum can jump about 1m vertically. Therefore a 1m barrier around the base of each tree will stop any ground jumpers. Jumping from above, fence/roof just needs a bit thinking.

For the bogans amongst us, remember, possums evolved here, WE are the ferals.

Now now. I haven't HAD to do this for over a decade, and don't plan to. last one I had to destroy after the neighbours dog decided to maul one.

We have a family of possums in the new house. When I am doing imaging, I find 2 of them come out for a look (always scares the bejesus out of me at first as they sound like humans - these are the noisiest buggers I have ever heard - I can hear them now!). Had one come right up to the mount - I was scared poopless the bugger was going to climb up!!! I shooed him off.