# Tips for repelling unwanted raccoons/opossums in yard?



## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Yesterday I went outside in the morning and saw a little baby opossum run off and under the fence into the neighbors yard. He tried to hide for a bit first then when I got closer, hissed a little and wobbled off to slip under the fence. He/she was the cutest thing!!! Just barely starting off on its own to be an adult. I wish it well, and I hope it stays safe, but I don't want it to set up shop in my yard.

We have a very small yard, and I just walked around today after seeing the little guy yesterday and found at least 8 poops and loads of empty snail shells, so he must have been hanging out for a while. I'm glad he thinks my yard is a safe hangout to eat his snails, but I don't want the poop and the risk of parasites and illness to my dog who likes to explore the yard and will sometimes eat things she finds (possibly even the poop!).

I looked up opossum poop online, but scarily the poop looks more like small raccoon poop due to the large amount of berry seeds the poops have had, but I suppose it could still be from that juvenile opossum because of the size too. I've only seen a raccoon in our area once at night and it was a huge one, but that doesn't mean little ones can't be getting into our yard too. We also have rats in our yard that like to eat in one corner and leave lots of food waste and poop. I'm mostly afraid of that airborne raccoon roundworm that can infect animals and people, especially I'm afraid of the fact that it can infect our brain and can simply be inhaled if the poop is partially dry and then disturbed and the dust containing the roundworm eggs is inhaled. I cleaned up the poop without a facemask, but wore gloves and used a dog poop bag and washed my hands after. But my paranoia is making me worry that it was raccoon poop, and that I inhaled roundworm dust while cleaning it up.

I will try to block up all the small holes at the fences, but I know they can still climb the fences too if they really want in. What else can I do that you've all maybe tried that was effective at getting rid of raccoons/opossums? I will try live trapping if nothing else works, but I wouldn't know what to do with them after because I don't want them euthanized by animal control.


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## Ratlettes (Mar 29, 2016)

You're awesome for not wanting to hurt or kill them. Opossum are extremely important to the earth and us (you should read up on them if you're interested, they can't get rabies and keep Lyme disease at bay by eating ticks) but even if they weren't it's still not okay to kill them simply for trying to survive. I don't know how to help but I wanted to add that sorry!!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

We have an opossum living in the yard for over 15 years... maybe it's one or maybe it's been several over the years... She/they have never caused any damage or caused any harm... She killed a feral cat once in self defense, but I hate feral cats peeing around my house... so kudo's to my marsupial neighbor! We had raccoons in the mountains, other than keeping a big rock on the trash can, they were fine too... I've had my share of arguments with the ground hogs when they tunneled up my yard, but the one we have now doesn't dig up the lawn so he is welcome to stay....

I've found most of the "wildlife" around me is generally healthy... I live and let live, for the most part and don't overthink things... 

If there is a real problem with your local wildlife being sick, then you have to do what you have to do... You should be able to find out if there are issues in your area from your health department....

On the other hand if you just want to move pretty much any animal from one place to another, pour a little bit of bleach where you don't want the animals to be, nothing likes the smell of bleach... and bleach is cheap.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Ratlettes said:


> You're awesome for not wanting to hurt or kill them. Opossum are extremely important to the earth and us (you should read up on them if you're interested, they can't get rabies and keep Lyme disease at bay by eating ticks) but even if they weren't it's still not okay to kill them simply for trying to survive. I don't know how to help but I wanted to add that sorry!!


Haha thanks. I feel the same way. They're just trying to survive and find ways to live around humans. Humans really are the invasive species with an overpopulation problem and try to kill the animals that are native (mostly) to that area who are just trying to survive. Plus I'm also kind of a bleeding heart and just don't want to kill or injure anything. The only things I feel fine killing are mosquitoes and ants haha. I'd rather try every other option available before trying anything lethal when controlling pests.



Rat Daddy said:


> We have an opossum living in the yard for over 15 years... maybe it's one or maybe it's been several over the years... She/they have never caused any damage or caused any harm... She killed a feral cat once in self defense, but I hate feral cats peeing around my house... so kudo's to my marsupial neighbor! We had raccoons in the mountains, other than keeping a big rock on the trash can, they were fine too... I've had my share of arguments with the ground hogs when they tunneled up my yard, but the one we have now doesn't dig up the lawn so he is welcome to stay....
> 
> I've found most of the "wildlife" around me is generally healthy... I live and let live, for the most part and don't overthink things...
> 
> ...


Do you think spraying some bleach around the border of our fence will help deter rats and larger guys from wanting to climb the fence into the yard? It looks like they've been using our yard and the neighbors are a great home for a long time. We live in a small townhouse for now so we share walls with our neighbors and they all say they have rat problems too and they've made pathways under our fences that are frequently used and you can see holes in the neighbor's sides of their houses in different places where the rats probably live.

I was also looking into "critter repellants" at the hardware store while buying things to block the pathways under our fences, but the ingredients for those are basically just rotten egg, garlic oil, and I think rosemary. I wonder how effective they actually are.

For now though, we bought small spaced chicken wire and are bending it into an L shape and buring halfway underground and stapling the other half against the wood. Then putting cinder blocks on top of that so it can't be dug up. (planning on filling the holes in the cinder blocks with plants that suppsoedly are natural repellents and will look nice too). We'll see how that works!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

My experiences with quick fixes is that they only work to a limited degree... Bleach is pretty likely to keep an opossum from sleeping or pooping in a certain spot or rats from eating at a certain spot... Keeping all of the animals out of your yard sounds like a tall order. And to some point, it will kill your grass and make you uncomfortable outside too.

I've seen quick fixes work a lot better than expected, but usually they go terribly wrong on a large scale... Bleach is cheap... but use common sense try a little bit here and there before you defoliate your neighborhood or do more harm than good.

Best luck.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

This little guy looks like he's just started venturing out on his own, he was so small I was concerned and was planning to catch him to take him to a wildlife rehab since I thought he may be lost from his mom and need help. But after some more reading, it looks like he's just barely starting his path to opossum adulthood. I'm hoping if I make our tiny yard difficult for him now at the beginning, it'll discourage him from coming in and making it a main hangout spot for him later on and he'll find a new favorite yard.

I'm working on that chicken wire and cinder block thing now and have blocked a couple of his obvious path holes under the fence, but I plan to do the entire perimiter of the fence so he can't dig a new one. Of course he may decide he can just climb the fence, but I'm hoping that will be too annoying for him to try and he'll just find somewhere else to go at night. We'll see if I find more poops again in the yard tomorrow but hopefully not! Still a lot of work to do to block the whole fence!


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Took the dog out to potty tonight and turns out there's TWO babies that like to hangout in our yard! I wonder if there could be more from the same litter. I'll really have to work on patching up the fence soon. Planning on calling the wildlife rehab tomorrow and ask for advice. Maybe we can catch them and just release them somewhere else or maybe take them to the rehab for a health check and then they will release them somewhere better. I'm so worried about their safety! They're so cute, I hope they have long lives ahead of them.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I understand the reasons you don't want that little guy but I would be thrilled to have him in my yard, lol. As far as getting disease from the poop, I believe that as long as your dog got his shots and deworming and anti-parasites shots, you both should be fine make sure not to leave food outside (dog food or easily accessible garbage) and the little possum shouldn't find your yard very attractive. If there are hiding places like under the house or logs, get rid of that.


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## Ratlettes (Mar 29, 2016)

I'm all on board with calling a wildlife rehab center to put him in a safe spot away from humans that wouldn't be as friendly as you, good luck


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Gribouilli said:


> I understand the reasons you don't want that little guy but I would be thrilled to have him in my yard, lol. As far as getting disease from the poop, I believe that as long as your dog got his shots and deworming and anti-parasites shots, you both should be fine make sure not to leave food outside (dog food or easily accessible garbage) and the little possum shouldn't find your yard very attractive. If there are hiding places like under the house or logs, get rid of that.


I actually am very excited, they're so stinking cute! We go out at night now just to see if they'v come visiting haha. Didn't see them last night, but there's signs they were in the yard again. Our dog's heartworm preventative covers some other internal parasites too, but not all, and some internal parasites can be much more dangerous to the people than the dog if they somehow get in contact with infected poop. I didn't know they had like a vaccine for parasites? I thought all parasite meds are treatments not preventatives? Yes, no food out there for the little guys, but they bring their own lunch in anyway, I usually find small piles of empty peanut shells and snail shells haha. I don't see snails anywhere in our yard, but I guess our yard is safe and has hiding places and they like to just come to hangout and bring their food w them lol. Mostly just ivy and plants they're hiding under, so nothing I can really do to get rid of those.

I emailed the opossum society of the united states and am waiting to hear back with advice. Hopefully soon. So far we've just been working to plug up the holes they come in from and tidying up the yard.

But ahhh they're so cute, I can't get over it!! I really want them in my yard, but I also don't. It's a struggle! I want to yell whenever I see them because they're just so cute that I have to make noises haha.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Here's a picture I got of that first one little guy that first morning I saw them. We've seen them a couple times since then but haven't gotten anymore pictures. And there's at least 2 now! Will try to get a clearer picture if we see them again.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Love baby possums, they are too cute I was thinking shots for the parasites, not vaccines. But I never had a dog of my own so I really don't know what's available to protect them from potential wildlife diseases...I have been volunteering at a wildlife rescue and I never caught anything or brought anything back home to my rats but I take all the necessary precautions too. As long as you don't touch the poop with bare hands I don't think you could possibly catch anything.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

There are certain parts of the country and world where wildlife is very likely to be infested with bad things, but for the most part in most of the US most wildlife is safe to humans and other species... One phone call to your health department will tell you if there's an outbreak of something to worry about in your town or city.


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