I think I have a neighbor under my deck.

Rabbit. Hmmm. Hadn't thought about that being a possibility. If that is what it is, may want to leave it be. Rabbits don't do much damage like dillos or skunks.
 
Well I caught an opossum this morning. Great. It had been out there a week and now I got an opossum. I have been checking every morning so this is pretty recent. I had to go to work but I'll take care of it when I get home. Leather gloves and a baseball bat. ;-)

Could this digging have been by an opossum? I have that and a rabbit with a flashlight. I put the trap beside my deck near the hole.

What else is down there? My dad warned me of a chupacabra.
 
Good question. Could be any number of critters. It's either trap or try to rid the guy with loud music under the deck or critter ridder. If you buy the stuff from Home Depot, be sure to put a bunch along the entrance. That way he'll get that capsascian (same stuff that is in jalapenoes) on his paws. Once he leaves, board that sucker up good.
 
Guess what, I got another possum today. And this one is alot bigger too. I think that the other was the offspring possibly. 2 possums in 2 mornings. I'll take care of this one tonight.

What if I put this possum in the trap on my front porch? Would that scare the crap out of the kids in the neighborhood trick or treating? If only I could get that wabbit with the flashlight.......
 
I am using worms to attract them. Not something crazy. But otherwise I will be the opossum exterminator for a while.
 
Just get a nice flat bottomed bowl and fill it with some automotive antifreeze. Maybe toss a palm full of sugar in it.

Don't leave it out where kids or pets can get to it. I would put it right inside that hole in your lattice work.
 
Do not put poison out into the environment. You are as likely to kill a neighbor's pet, or your own, as the intended pest.
That was horrible advice.
Not only that, but it shouldn't go into the ground, where rainwater runoff will take it to the nearest creek, then to Lady Bird Lake.
 
I won't do that. Hell, what if the thing crawls under my deck and dies. No thanks. Would prefer to do it quickly.
 
Just relocate the 'possums and you won't be breaking any laws. I trap squirrels in my backyard (48 so far) and take them for a ride to the park.
 
I have 2 small (~6x6" door) Havahart traps from Academy and use a little (maybe 1/2 tsp) of peanut butter smeared on the far back edge of the trigger plate with a few sunflower seeds on top of the PB. (If the seeds aren't at the far back edge, I've seen them reach in to get a seed from the front edge of the trigger plate, trip the trigger, and have enough of their body under the door to prevent it from closing immediately and they escape.) Then I put a sparse trail of sunflower seeds (maybe 20) from the trigger and out the trap for a few feet. I think trap location is a key--I put them on a 1x6 or 2x6 about 5' off the ground (with a bungee cord to hold the trap in place while they go berserk once trapped) where they can get to the bait without leaving their tree. It also seems to help to have the traps positioned so they have to come at them from the front. I accomplish this by having the 1x6 or 2x6 cantilevered away from the tree about 3' with the trap backed up to the end of the cantilevered part. This encourages them to follow the trail of seeds right into the door and they are much less likely to false trigger the trap since they have no reason to crawl over it. I catch one almost every day I set the traps and it's not unusual to catch two. They used to be on my roof every morning, but not after I trapped them for about a month straight. Now I only set traps every couple of weeks to keep them in check.

BTW, a couple of comments on traps. Don't bother with Harbor Freight's live trap. It's junk. They go nuts for a few minutes when they get trapped and manage to squeeze out the flimsy door within seconds. The Havahart traps are well-made, but I've even had squirrels squeeze out of them along the top edge of the door. To prevent their Houdini act I attached a piece of stiff metal across the top edge of the trap along the door so it can't flex enough for them to squeeze out.

I've read that you need to take them several miles away or they'll find their way back. I release them in a large heavily treed park a couple of miles on the other side of a freeway (effective barrier).
 
if he looks like this his flashlight batteries will probably last for a while

energizer-bunny-page.jpg
 
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