They keep coming in my back yard fenced in area. Several have already been dispatched by my hounds. But one blew out a knee chasing one and that cost me $5k to fix, and my other dog is getting very old and doesn't need to be chasing or fighting these damn things.

Is there a good way to keep them out of the yard?

My last house used to get possums in the back yard semi-frequently, making the dogs go in a tizzy in the middle of the night. I took to dispatching them with .22 Colibri loads. (I had a safe backstop, and the neighbors were happy to oblige me since they were tired of them too.)

After 3, word must have gotten out, as they stopped coming around.

What is attracting them?

They must be sexually attracted to you. I just used a 12 ga and they just didn't come back for round 2.

.22 or a really good pellet gun depending on your surroundings.

Traps are supposed to work too.

You do know that opossums eat ticks right?

After several seasons of deer feasting on plants in my yard, someone told me to put a mothball or two in the flower bed. Poof. No more deer in the yard. They apparently don't like the faint odor of mothballs. One mothball lasts for months. A box of mothballs only costs a couple of dollars and lasts for years.

I've no idea if this works on possum, but it works on deer. You might try one mothball every 10 or 15 feet around your property perimeter and see what happens. Cheap experiment. Not as satisfying as blowing them away with full auto .50 BMG fire, but infinetely cheaper. Let us know what happens.

In Florida moth balls are illegal to place outdoors, they do seem to work on deer thou

Opossums have a peptide in their blood that makes them immune to many snake venoms and could be used for anti-venom. God Bless

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5315628/

quote:

Originally posted by phil in indy:
You do know that opossums eat ticks right?

They will also eat chickens.

I have to shoot them on sight.

Trap em or shoot em. Excellent addition to roadkill stew. A little gamier than rabbit or squirrel and depart a good flavor to the pot.

Foot traps with Minnie marshmallows for bait. Dogs and cats won’t try to get the marshmallow’s out but opossums and coons will.
Mike

You can look up a good possum stew recipe on youtube.

Personally I enjoy watching the opossums and raccoons that frequent my yard at night.

"They are harmless and generally shy and act as nature’s ‘clean-up crew’ by eating dead animals and rotting vegetation. Their diet of slugs, snails, toads and snakes can help keep gardens pest-free."

quote:

Originally posted by valkyrie1:
In Florida moth balls are illegal to place outdoors, they do seem to work on deer thou

Is there an agency that checks for moth balls in Florida?

quote:

Originally posted by valkyrie1:
In Florida moth balls are illegal to place outdoors, they do seem to work on deer thou

You can own a Cobra and other invasive poisonous snakes, but you can't use moth balls in Fla?


I guess there's the answer- Buy a Cobra!

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by valkyrie1:
In Florida moth balls are illegal to place outdoors, they do seem to work on deer thou

Is there an agency that checks for moth balls in Florida?

The agents carry butterfly nets and magnifying glasses.

But seriously, its not just Florida , they are regulated by EPA as a hazardous insecticide.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle10:
You can look up a good possum stew recipe on youtube.

Yeah, right, I had diarrhea for 3 days after that.
.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:

Personally I enjoy watching the opossums and raccoons that frequent my yard at night.

My wife does, too, along with the indoor cat, who stares at them through the window.