Possums are nocturnal and they prefer traveling around in concealment as much as possible. Even though they have a reputation for being pests, the truth is that possums are useful tiny animals in gardens. They can eat those real pests like small rodents and slugs and it is very rare for them to cause problems and issues themselves.
The intelligence and agility of possums also make them entertaining to watch. Just like most of today’s wildlife, most of the possums’ natural habitat is now lost to agriculture and development. If you are interested in knowing how to attract possums, there are several ways you can try to encourage them to go to your yard.
Offer Them Enough Cover and Concealment
If you have a yard, you can attract possums by planting shrubs with limbs and foliage hanging low to the ground to provide cover and at the same time, enough room for the possum to move under them. You can plant bushes, vines, and trees next to the fence to give the possum ample ability to climb down and visit your yard.
When the trees mature, let some of the branches with leaves hanging down on the fence serve as the highway for the possums for their nightly route as they visit other yards.
If your yard is mostly cemented, you can get large potted plants that have trellises to give the possums a way to climb down to your yard as well as hiding spots at the back of the potted plants while they go about exploring the yard.
In case you have an expansive acreage, the possums will once again use small ravines or tall grass for moving about your property looking for food. If your goal is for them to visit your property more often, you can plant a series of brush clumps that lie low to the ground with a space of 15 to 20 feet apart that they can use for traveling with no need for them to be out in an exposed and open area.
Provide Food Source
If you want to attract possums, you need to give them a source of food. Planting your garden with flowers, fruits, and vegetables will attract slugs, snails, and insects that possums can eat. Possums also love overripe fruits that fell to the ground.
However, possums are not the only animals that might be attracted to the food source since other nocturnal animals might also love all those goodies you have in your place. You cannot blame the skunks, raccoons, and other animals that might come to feed. The food source might also attract mice and rats. The good news is that possums might also end up eating them. Cat food and dog food left outside might also attract possums.
Water is essential for all forms of life so don’t forget to also leave a water bowl near the food. Just like bird baths and bird feeders, make sure that the feeding area stays clean and change out the bowl of water to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in them.
Other Tips to Attract Possums the Right Way
- Garden organically and plant a dense variety of plants to encourage other wildlife that can serve as prey for possums. Possums need to get most of their food from natural sources.
- It is best that you don’t try to attract wild animals such as possums into a place with food. This is the easiest way to have a nuisance animal that could end up getting killed. Leaving food outside might also attract skunks, raccoons, and mice that can become pests. If you want to leave some food for possums, this should be something as simple as a couple of bowls placed on the ground.
- The omnivorous possums love meaty treats like cat kibble and vegetables and fruits. Avoid leaving human food, particularly junk food. Possums might love these foods but these won’t do them any good. It is also ideal that you put the food outside at night then watch the possums feed and remove all the bowls of food afterward so you don’t end up giving a feast to the rodents.
- One of the best things that you can do to attract possums is to provide them with habitat or shelter material. However, it might not be a success due to their nomadic nature. It is considered illegal in most states to relocate or transport wild animals. If this needs to be done, the animals should be trapped humanely and taken a few miles away to forested areas close to sources of water such as ponds or streams. For nuisance animals near chicken coops or barns, you can easily solve the issue by cleaning up any food that might attract possums. You don’t need to lethally trap possums just to discourage them.
- Have a possum nest box installed to resemble tree holes used by possums for nesting. A possum nesting box is a big bird box with a hole with a diameter of 5 inches near the top. The government has detailed instructions on how to make possum boxes. You can then attach these nest boxes 6 up to 10 feet up in trees.
- Give possums an underground den or burrow. Some possums prefer nesting in other animals’ abandoned burrows so you can also create an artificial one. You can dig a trench with a depth of one foot and width of one foot then cover this with scrap wood sheets. Leave a gap at the entrance of several inches. You can cover the wood with materials such as a pile of branches and scrap wood, a small shed, or plants to give possums refuge from other wildlife.
Now that you know how to attract possums, make sure that you bear these tips in mind to ensure that you don’t end up unnecessarily hurting these small nocturnal animals.
