Young Opossum busted with security cam now what

jeannettep

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So I thought something was going on & told my husband we have a rat. We have bait, he said it's not really getting touched. But our torts moved out of their house at night recently. Our box turtle is not where she normally would be & I'm having to look for everyone, so unusual. The inside cat has been going crazy at night & knocking stuff off the window ledge. I woke up frequently at night & checked the security cam & nothing. I had caught a rat that way years ago. So I put a 2nd cam up to keep an eye on one of their houses last night & it went off several times. Not waking my husband I thought that was a BIG rat, the body was as big as the stepping stone. So I've been Telling him all day that I'm putting everyone inside, separated of course. This evening I showed him the recordings & said he has to take care of this problem. He said that's an opossum, that's not a rat. Now what? I have the yard divided for box turtle, red foot 8 inch, red foot 7 I'm putting back in the aviary (should not be a problem with her), currently 4x8 leopard 5 in. Not worried about the leopard she is only there for 4-5 hrs a day, but one day she will have considerably large yard. All are females, I am not breeding. Do I need to do anything? I'm assuming so because they are not using their night house. What do I do? I have no dig spikes around the perimeter, I put pvc netting around the outside to keep the dog out, shes old & doesnt care but it is not her bathroom. Wood timbers for 3 sides, our house for the 4th side. I have some tall plants in their enclosure, so covering it would be a challenge cause I would have to go around them or relocate something. Ideas? Thanks!
 

Tom

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Do you not have night boxes for the tortoises? Lock them in every night, and open the doors every morning.

Use a Have-a-Heart trap to catch the possum and relocate it many miles away or euthanize it.

You said you have bait down for the rats? This is a HUGE mistake. You will kill the predators that control that rats, and then the rats will breed and go crazy. Poisoning other incidental animals, like your tortoises, is also a big possibility. The rats carry that stuff around sometimes. Snap traps out of reach of dogs and tortoises are a much better way to go. No secondary poisoning of the local wildlife that is helping you keep the rat population at a minimum.
 

Pastel Tortie

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I agree with @Tom. Using toxic stuff almost always has farther reaching ramifications and repercussions than ever intended. The collateral damage just isn't worth it. Keep in mind, box turtles can and do eat carrion. Redfoot will too, if given the chance. (@ZEROPILOT has mentioned that more than once.)

If you need a sounding board or other nontoxic options, it wouldn't be a bad idea to contact your local Cooperative Extension Service. They're usually well versed with local nuisance wildlife issues and available remedies, while still working toward sustainability and environmental well-being.
 

ZEROPILOT

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My own war with predators involved raccoons.
Some were living in the roof of my previous house and did many thousands of dollars worth of damage.
I relocared.
They returned.
When I bought my current house, there were raccoons.
I relocated.
They returned.
I'm not proud or happy to say that I trapped and then shot almost 2 dozen of them. That was that.
I haven't seen a single raccoon in over ten years.
On the plus side. I HAVE seen opossum. There is one living inside my shed right now.
I have never had an issue of any sort with them. Except the crap that's in my shed.
Hopefully you won't either.
If you use a trap, use cat food for an opossum. You'll only catch opossum (or feral cats.)
For raccoons use apples cut in half.
I've never caught anything but raccoons with apples and they work really well.
If you do relocate....drive at least ten miles away.
I do not recommend killing anything. So I don't mention it much. But Raccoons are especially resilient and intelligent.

And yes. My Redfoot have eaten several rats and a few birds that I know of.
There were likely other victims I don't know about.
I imagine they were delivered by feral cats.
I do not use any poisons.
 
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jeannettep

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We looked at a trap tonight for it & to relocate it far from here. But didnt know if it had advantages for being here, control snakes. Our new neighbor said she saw a very large one on the fence but that was last year. We have night boxes but not a locking door. They have always been great at going to them on their own in the evening. The last week they stopped using them & I haven't been able to locate where the torts & turtle are in their habitat. I heavily planted it. I would appreciate any better ideas for rat control. There were abandoned houses behind a small field, so I figured that caused issues, then they were demolished a few years ago & it's been horrible. I know they live & come from our other neighbor as well as behind us. She said they use some bait that is non toxic but they are going into their attic. We tried snap traps, electric shock boxes, bucket with spinner rod peanut butter & water. I tried several of the sound emitters & found 1 that seems to work. We plant things they dont like but ok for pets. We put wood ash from the fire pit around ther perimeter & that seems to help. We have a family of owls that nest in the field, so we never bait during nesting & raising young & this was the 1st year no rats in our tort habitats. I accidentally turned off the sound emitter so 1 got busted on the other side of the yard. Turned it back on & no more so far. I was so ticked off thinking it was a rat. Glad it's not. But I would appreciate ideas! Thanks
 

ZEROPILOT

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We looked at a trap tonight for it & to relocate it far from here. But didnt know if it had advantages for being here, control snakes. Our new neighbor said she saw a very large one on the fence but that was last year. We have night boxes but not a locking door. They have always been great at going to them on their own in the evening. The last week they stopped using them & I haven't been able to locate where the torts & turtle are in their habitat. I heavily planted it. I would appreciate any better ideas for rat control. There were abandoned houses behind a small field, so I figured that caused issues, then they were demolished a few years ago & it's been horrible. I know they live & come from our other neighbor as well as behind us. She said they use some bait that is non toxic but they are going into their attic. We tried snap traps, electric shock boxes, bucket with spinner rod peanut butter & water. I tried several of the sound emitters & found 1 that seems to work. We plant things they dont like but ok for pets. We put wood ash from the fire pit around ther perimeter & that seems to help. We have a family of owls that nest in the field, so we never bait during nesting & raising young & this was the 1st year no rats in our tort habitats. I accidentally turned off the sound emitter so 1 got busted on the other side of the yard. Turned it back on & no more so far. I was so ticked off thinking it was a rat. Glad it's not. But I would appreciate ideas! Thanks
Rats are a constant outdoor issue.
This area is full of fruit trees and at night, you can stand and watch them use the powerlines as a tree to tree highway.
Since my yard has 3 fish ponds and we're not on a canal, these rats often come into the yard for a drink and occasionally some tortoise food if it's available.
I can set out 4 traps every single night and catch at least 2 rats.
EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.
I try not to obsess over them. It's a war I simply can't win. And I haven't had any known issues except for one time when a mother rat made a nest underneath one of my plastic, formed fish ponds and then the family chewed a hole through it...And the one time about a year and a half ago one got into my drain line and popped out of a toilet like a greasy, gray JACK IN THE BOX.
There are just too many of them to ever really deal with them. And as long as they're not in your house, be happy with that.
These seem too well fed to bother with my tortoises and I can't poison them because my tortoises eat rats.
 

jeannettep

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Yikes that's a horror story! Good to know they haven't been much trouble to your torts. I've been concerned they would hurt them. So I've been obsessed with keeping them out of the yard.
 

jeannettep

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So far the opossum has not been a problem, other than making sure we put the dog up. With our web cams, we have 2 that pass thru every few nights, at different times. I got one of those yard defenders that shoots water & they must have been startled by it, but after a few nights, they figured out how to go around it. So they are smarter than I am, because the nighttime setting still goes off to start my day. But they aren't nightly visitors anymore. The young one got in the coop & figured it's way out. We had interesting video until it moved the camera. It must not have liked the event & has not been back, but hopefully we fixed how it went in. No signs of the neighbor's rats coming over either. I didn't know they will get rid of them for us.
 

ZEROPILOT

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So far the opossum has not been a problem, other than making sure we put the dog up. With our web cams, we have 2 that pass thru every few nights, at different times. I got one of those yard defenders that shoots water & they must have been startled by it, but after a few nights, they figured out how to go around it. So they are smarter than I am, because the nighttime setting still goes off to start my day. But they aren't nightly visitors anymore. The young one got in the coop & figured it's way out. We had interesting video until it moved the camera. It must not have liked the event & has not been back, but hopefully we fixed how it went in. No signs of the neighbor's rats coming over either. I didn't know they will get rid of them for us.
I can see one eating tortoises eggs or maybe walking off with a hatchling. But that has been my experience too.
Opossum aren't a big threat.
More of a scavenging coward than a cunning predator and opportunist like a Raccoon
 

enchilada

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My answers to rats , raccoons & ravens
1BFB72BA-F732-4CAF-89B2-E806D8E83ED1.jpeg
couple years ago a horde of raccoons raided my yard and I lost “half “ of my turtles left outdoors, the other halves tossed on my doorsteps ,because they were half eaten .
Later I trapped some raccoons and left them hanging as a warning . No more raccoons every again .
Catch&release is the dumbest thing I heard regarding pest control
 

AgataP

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Opossums are not pests really. They take care of all the nasty freeloaders.

Also please don’t use any toxic substances, our neighbors dog grabbed something dead in the yard and unfortunately the dog died from eating a poisoned whatever dead thing he ate.
 

Tortisedonk7

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My own war with predators involved raccoons.
Some were living in the roof of my previous house and did many thousands of dollars worth of damage.
I relocared.
They returned.
When I bought my current house, there were raccoons.
I relocated.
They returned.
I'm not proud or happy to say that I trapped and then shot almost 2 dozen of them. That was that.
I haven't seen a single raccoon in over ten years.
On the plus side. I HAVE seen opossum. There is one living inside my shed right now.
I have never had an issue of any sort with them. Except the crap that's in my shed.
Hopefully you won't either.
If you use a trap, use cat food for an opossum. You'll only catch opossum (or feral cats.)
For raccoons use apples cut in half.
I've never caught anything but raccoons with apples and they work really well.
If you do relocate....drive at least ten miles away.
I do not recommend killing anything. So I don't mention it much. But Raccoons are especially resilient and intelligent.

And yes. My Redfoot have eaten several rats and a few birds that I know of.
There were likely other victims I don't know about.
I imagine they were delivered by feral cats.
I do not use any poisons.

My dad and I have caught and relocated many raccoons and opossums over their years. ( when I lived in CA) When we first stared relocating them we took them about 10 miles away. But they seemed to never end like 2 a week. Then we started marking them with paint. Sure enough after about a week we started seeing the same ones again.
If you decide to relocate these animals you have to take them 20-25miles away., As the crow flys. If not they will just return to the place they were captured. This especially goes for raccoons, tricky intelligent animals.
Good luck with your opossum dilemma.
 

jeannettep

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I hope we don't get raccoons. I've heard they are a real mess. So far I like saving money & not using bait for their rodent control. I read possums don't hang out long with a short life expectancy & around here it will be short. We never have squirrels, they don't survive the vehicles.
 

Blackdog1714

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My dad and I have caught and relocated many raccoons and opossums over their years. ( when I lived in CA) When we first stared relocating them we took them about 10 miles away. But they seemed to never end like 2 a week. Then we started marking them with paint. Sure enough after about a week we started seeing the same ones again.
If you decide to relocate these animals you have to take them 20-25miles away., As the crow flys. If not they will just return to the place they were captured. This especially goes for raccoons, tricky intelligent animals.
Good luck with your opossum dilemma.
In most states relocation is illegal. Nuisance animals are mostly exterminated since relocating them usually puts them into a rival location and fights start. Also you can move a localized illness to another population. BTW subsonic .22 is quieter than my 1000fps air rifle
 

ZEROPILOT

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In most states relocation is illegal. Nuisance animals are mostly exterminated since relocating them usually puts them into a rival location and fights start. Also you can move a localized illness to another population. BTW subsonic .22 is quieter than my 1000fps air rifle
I've shot several with .22 magnum hollowpoint as well as .380 critical defense rounds in the head only to have them not die right away.
I'm not good with having them suffer.
I always alert the neighbors before I dispatch a Raccoon. (But I haven't had to in years) 7.62x39 is very, very loud. But it's always one and done.
I suppose I could also use my AR-12. But that would likely blow the whole trap into dust.
Thankfully my arsenal has been relegated to the target range for the last many years
 

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