Possums are great critters to list fun facts about. They’re America’s only native marsupial, they lack sweat glands on their bodies, and they play dead to ward off and deter potential predators.
What’s less fun, though, is when a possum decides to take up residence in or around your house. They can be difficult to locate, tough to catch, and even tougher to keep from coming back.
At HY-C, we manufacture an entire lineup of nuisance wildlife exclusion devices that keep a whole host of critters from invading living spaces across the country. And in this guide, we’re going to lay out exactly how to deal with a possum problem.
We’ll cover where possums tend to get into homes, best practices for baiting and trapping them, and some tips to keep them from coming back a second time. By the time you’re finished here, you’ll know exactly how to deal with a possum in your home.
How Do Possums Get into Homes?
Before we explain how to get possums out, it’s helpful to understand how they get in in the first place.
Possums are opportunistic. They adapt very well to environmental changes around them and take advantage of those changes to find food and shelter in whatever form they come.
This behavior dictates the kinds of entry points possums use to get into homes. They’ll use whatever opening is available to them, but some are more common than others.
Crawl Spaces
Possums do climb, but more often than not, they tend to stay low to the ground. As a result, you’re more likely to wind up with a possum in your basement or crawl space than in your attic or in your chimney.
You’ll be particularly vulnerable to possums in your crawl space if your foundation vents are in bad shape. Also, if your crawl space door is damaged or simply left open by accident, a possum may wander in and decide it’s found its new home.
Underneath Porches
In many cases, the underside of a porch is a wide-open space in which critters of all kinds love to take shelter. This is especially true if the porch is damaged. All it takes is a hole about the diameter of a baseball for raccoons, squirrels, possums, and more wildlife to get in.
Possums in particular are more likely to want to live under your porch if you have plants or vegetation around its perimeter. Possums are omnivores, and your flowerbed is a continuous source of food for them.
Window Wells
This isn’t a spot that possums necessarily seek out, but rather accidentally wind up in. It’s common for possums to fall down window wells and get stuck. The corrugated metal walls make it difficult or impossible for them to climb out, often forcing them to attempt to find another way (like through your basement window).
Dryer Vents
The lower your exterior dryer exhaust vent is to the ground, the more likely it is for a possum to climb inside. A good dryer vent cover can help keep them out, but if your vent is exposed, the warm, moist exhaust will lure them right inside.
From there, they’ll get stuck, unable to turn around and get back out. This will lead them to chew through the vent and wind up in your walls (or worse — in your laundry room).
Doors and Windows
It may seem trivial, but possums often just squeeze through a cracked window or door that’s been accidentally left open. Pet doors for dogs and cats are particularly vulnerable. After all, if your pet can come and go through them, a possum can, too.
How to Remove a Possum
After you determine where the possum is and how it’s coming and going, the next step is to remove it. And removing a possum is a two-step process:
- You have to trap the possum
- You have to seal the entry point(s) it was using to access your home
Trapping a Possum
Trapping is the first step of getting a possum out of your house, and trapping itself involves two steps:
- You have to determine the type of trap to use
- You have to determine where to place the trap
Both of these steps depend on where the possum is getting in and how it’s coming and going. When it comes to the traps themselves, there are two options available: one-way traps and two-way traps.
One-Way Traps
A one-way trap is best to use if you know where the possum is (e.g., in your crawl space or under your porch) but you can’t find the entry point through which it’s coming and going.
If the possum is in your crawl space, for example, all you have to do is set the trap somewhere in the crawl space and wait for the possum to enter the trap. Since possums are omnivorous, you can bait the trap with any kind of food (though there are lures you can use to attract the critter).
Two-Way Traps
A two-way trap is good to use if you know the entry point the possum is using to get in and out of your home. For instance, if the possum is accessing a hole in your porch to get in and out, just set the two-way trap near the hole (or in it, if it’s big enough).
Two-way traps have a high success rate because they can catch animals coming out or going in. If you set the trap while the possum is still under your porch, it will catch it as it tries to leave. If you set the trap while the possum isn’t under your porch, it will catch it when the possum returns.
Sealing Entry Points
Locking possums out after they’ve been trapped is just as important as trapping them in the first place. This process is called wildlife exclusion — the sealing of vulnerabilities on the exteriors of living spaces to prevent nuisance wildlife from gaining entry.
The way in which you seal your home depends on where the possum was and whether or not there’s any structural damage to the home. Damage to wood, masonry, siding, or any other holes will need to be sealed by a contractor to keep possums (and other critters) from coming back.
There are also aftermarket solutions to fortify your home against wildlife entry. For instance, you can add foundation vent covers to protect your crawl space or roof vent covers to stop possums from getting into your attic.
How to Keep Possums Out of Your Home
After you’ve trapped and removed a possum, the job isn’t over yet. The last step in dealing with your possum problem is ensuring the critter doesn’t return.
There are all kinds of myths about using wildlife repellents to keep critters away from your home. From cayenne peppers and peppermint oil to sonic and vibrating devices, the internet has no shortage of quick, one-off solutions for animal invasion problems.
The truth is, though, that the only way to keep critters from accessing your home is through wildlife exclusion. And brands like our very own HY-GUARD EXCLUSION make tailor-made solutions to exclude hundreds of species from dozens of common home entry points.
Read more about HY-GUARD EXCLUSION to learn how you can enjoy roof-to-foundation protection against a host of common critters.
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