Category Archives: Pests

Well Set Possum Trap

Pests, ,

DSC02444 This is the trap release mechanism, which has to be set  so that it is a hair-trigger.  After my beginners luck in catching Mr. Possum,  I had some conversations about the possums with the neighbors, one of whom saw TWO large possums walking over the fence easily , head first as it went down into our garden in broad daylight.   It came from the direction of our other neighbors yard, who has a lot of vegetation.    I was inspired to very  carefully re-bait the trap with the same thing that worked before, tuna and apples.  Two days later the trap is unsprung.

, and some of the tuna may have been eaten.

DSC02441 Therefore either the trap was not set to trigger easily enough, or the remaining  possum has learned from his  friend’s experience of being trapped one way or another.  This seemingly well-set trap did not succeed in two more days.

DSC02443 This is what the baited and set trap looks like.  A neighbor told us that they saw the animal control officer pick up the only possum we trapped.   He  simply reached into the trap, lifted the possum out,  and put him into his truck, even though the possum was hissing and baring his teeth.

Tomorrow  I will have set the trap four times, and they will most likely pick up the trap, whether we have caught another possum or not.

Blue Porch Ceilings

Pests,

DSC02462 - Copy   Have you noticed how so many southern porches have blue porch ceilings?  It adds some color interest.  I learned that this color discourages wasps from building nests on the porch ceiling.  It seems to work.  We have never had a wasp nest on our porches.

The only place where we did nave a wasp nest was on a palm leaf underside several years ago, when it was like a  palm shrub, and this problem was easily solved, though I do not recall how.

 

Caught a Mr. Possum

Garden, Pests, , , ,

DSC02417 Here is a Mr. Possum, caught in the trap, which the city provided yesterday.   The inside of his ears are black, and the outside of the ears are tan.

APR 25, 2014 2014-04-25 005 Here is the trap put into place, and baited with canned tuna and apple pieces.  It does not harm the possum, and should it catch somebody’s pet, it is easy to release it.

DSC02309 Is it the same possum I saw before on this occasion, or in our compost.

 

 

DSC02160 I will examine carefully to see.  He could be, but it is hard to tell.  This one seems to have more black fur along his shoulders, but his position is different from that of the trapped possum.

DSC02415 Let’s check and see if we think it was the same possum we saw earlier.  This time the possum was very mild mannered, and did not hiss or bear his teeth.  We can see that his tail is  scaly.    I am not sure whether it is the same Mr. Possum or not.

The city’s Animal Control people will come and pick it up, and when they do, we will ask  the Animal Control officer if we can borrow the trap  for at least another day.  They will release it into the wild.