I Didn't Know

[grandmoon]

that possums like zucchinis.

They are eating my zucchinis before they are big enough to pick.

[lind9650]

In New Zealand possums are regarded a pest. Australians are blamed for introducing them to NZ.

Garlic spray:

Chop up an onion and a couple of garlic cloves. Boil in one litr of water and let it cool.

Strain the water, add a few drops of dishwashing liquid. (it makes the spray stick to the plant)

Fill a spray bottle and spray whatever the possums are eating.

Repeat every week or straight after rain.

Erica

[grandmoon]

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@lind9650 wrote:

In New Zealand possums are regarded a pest. Australians are blamed for introducing them to NZ.

Garlic spray:

Chop up an onion and a couple of garlic cloves. Boil in one litr of water and let it cool.

Strain the water, add a few drops of dishwashing liquid. (it makes the spray stick to the plant)

Fill a spray bottle and spray whatever the possums are eating.

Repeat every week or straight after rain.

Erica

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Now off to find some garlic. 

In the older suburbs of Canberra they are called pests but they are still protected.

[lloydslights]

I think people who like to protect flying fruit bats and possums have shares in the Orchard Netting industry.

Rats also eat flower buds.

DEB

[bright.ton42]

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@aps1080 wrote:

Luckily where i live we dont have possums.

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Lucky possums is all I can say.  What a redneck solution. 

There are plenty of ways we can live with wildlife without always thinking of exterminating them.  There are good suggestions

here and they work. 

[aps1080]

Bright

Happy to live with possums.

Problem is, they are WAY above the natural population because of humans.
The same as kangaroos, they exploded in numbers because of humans.

Because of that, both do severe damage to thnvironment, both natural and our own planted gardens.

So they need to be controlled, both troups, or in th end you end up with natural selection process where heaps die of starvtion.

It is not a pretty sight.

[imastawka]

I wouldn't mind if they stayed in the garden!

But when they're finished devouring everything in sight,

where do they go to sleep?   In my bluddy roof!!

They are smelly, obnoxious, horrible, incontinent things

that stain all the ceilings!  And chew on the electricals.

It cost me $5,000 to get my roof fixed so they couldn't get in anywhere.

Then another $5,000 for a complete rewire.

Someone in the neighbourhood got sick of them, and

put out rat poison.  (not me)  That killed every last one of them,

but the smell lasted for months

[j*oono]

Well that surprises me.  We used to get quite a lot of possums inhabiting the area and my garden and now unfortunately I rarely see them.  

Urban development seems to have run them out of town.

They are a protected species and you personally have no right to cull them.

[j*oono]

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/09/07/2041855.htm

If there are possums living in the roof and the arrangement is not working out, the most humane and practical way of removing these highly territorial animals is to provide alternate housing in the form of a nestbox placed near the roof. Shining a bright light in the ceiling for several days will help deter them from coming back and once you are sure the possum is not in the roof, block any gaps with chicken wire or timber.

[***super_nova***]

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@lind9650 wrote:

Garlic spray:

Repeat every week or straight after rain.

Erica

---

They are dirty, destructive critters, as bad as rats.  I wonder if the spray would work, our possums eat everything.  They ate edge of expensive doors I was storing in my garage, they ate plastic storage tubs, they ate spa lining. ...................  basically they ate everything .  They also killed my lemon tree and my beautiful almond tree; they would eat the blossoms and then the new leaves, and even munched on brunches.  The problem is that when their numbers reach plague proportions there is not enough food for them, and they are starving.  Culling them would be the kindest thing.  Since we have cleared out our garage, and got rid of the trees they killed, there is nowhere for them to hide, and I found several of them dead on the road, or just in my driveway, another one got electrocuted on the powerlines.

[imastawka]

Hahahaha joono.   Never had possums in your roof?

They won't leave in the daytime - all that nice insulation

to cuddle up on.  And at night, they leave the babies.

Do you suggest I climb up and put chicken wire over the gaps

in the dark and fence their babies in?  And they are very strong.

Unless you have your tiles really well cemented, they just rip one off.

That's also good ffor letting the rain in.