Opossums climb underneath homes, mobile homes, storage sheds, and other buildings for shelter from the elements and to have their babies. Once this happens, you may want to call us to get it out. Here are few key points that Wildlife Company LLC keeps in mind as we deal with your opossum problem:
Plugging the entrance the opossum used without getting the opossum out will leave you with a dead opossum smell in a few days.
Our goal is to get the opossum and to verify that the space is opossum free, not to try and catch a lot of back yard wildlife with a cage trap. This is a frequent issue with DIY trapping. We remove the target animal from your home and secure your home.
Failing to remove the animal quickly will increase the chances of further damage and feces accumulation in your home.
The entrance or entrances must be plugged well enough that the opossum or other wildlife cannot re-enter once the opossum has been removed.
If you aren’t sure if the opossum is gone, it is still a good idea to have things checked out.
Most of my customers realize that they have opossums when they notice noises in the crawlspace. Sometimes customers see the opossum coming and going from under their building. Sometimes there is are metallic donging noises that tip you off that the animal has gotten inside the HVAC system. While some customers have face to face encounters with opossums inside the HVAC system, others are notified of the problem by service personnel like plumbers or AC technicians who have to climb under the house.
How we get opossums out
See how this Kingsport crawlspace that had been host to an unwanted opossum is made opossum free with a one way door and what the opossum did inside the crawlspace.
The most dependable way to remove an opossum is to set up a specialized wildlife removal trap or one way door on the entrance that the animal is using to enter the building. Normally the home is opossum free by the next morning. Wildlife Company LLC traps are especially designed for this type of work. They do not have a pan in the floor that the animal can step over and they mount directly over the entrance. The animal is forced to push the trap trigger if it wants to leave the crawlspace. If the trap does not fire, that is an excellent indicator that the crawlspace is clear and the entrance can be closed for good. I do not use bait, because I don’t want to catch random hungry wildlife. Our goal is to catch the target animal and clear the underside of the building. We do not want to catch random backyard wildlife or accidentally leave behind an animal under your home. This saves our customers time and money because we don’t have to keep coming back to haul away random backyard wildlife. Calling Wildlife Company LLC also means that you do not have to decide what to do with the opossum after it has been removed.
You may find this surprising, but generally speaking, it is a bad idea to set a trap under the house or in the back yard and with bait to try to catch the opossum. How do you know that you got the right opossum or that there aren’t two animals under there? Why would you want to attract more animals with the smell of bait? It is also not the best policy to crawl under a building and grab an opossum. Crawlspaces and other areas where opossums frequent are cramped and the opossum has size and agility on its side. Grabbing an opossum in tight quarters can also get you a nasty bite, and a struggle may damage plumbing or ductwork under the home.
Post trapping inspection
Opossums are most likely to be found under buildings and not in attics. This Johnson City opossum fell through the ceiling of a downstairs room.
Once traps/one way doors have been in place a couple of days, we usually do an inspection to make sure that the animal is out. This makes gives customers a greater peace of mind, I like to crawl as far into the depths of the crawlspace as possible. Wildlife Company LLC also uses infrared camera technology to check for body heat to make sure that there isn’t an opossum hiding behind something that can’t be seen with the naked eye. We do this because there is a possibility of a mother opossum being caught in a trap with her litter still in a home. When this happens the baby dies and starts to stink about four or five days later. Mother opossums are famous for carrying their litter with them, but they don’t always do so.
keeping opossums out for good
Once the animal is out, sealing the entrance becomes the key to future success. I never drive away from a customer’s home after removing the opossum without securing all the entrances - not even for a single night. Turning your back on an entrance can mean that another animal can reinvade the home. Homeowners underestimate how high the demand is for denning areas because most of the animals that use them are nocturnal. Keeping opossums out may mean upgrading foundation vents, and screening around the bottom of HVAC units, etc. If this isn’t done, the odds of having a repeat of this type of problem are very high.
Why Opossums move in under Mobile Homes
Opossum Droppings found under customers home.
People who live in mobile homes seem to have special problems with opossums and it is very common for an opossum to move into the crawlspace under their homes. Opossums prefer to den on or underground, but they are also good climbers and can make it up a tree to feed on fruit. This combination of abilities and interest make the underside of a mobile home especially attractive to opossums. Mobile homes have a heavy black fabric that is between the metal subframe and the wood and insulation above. If there is some type of plumbing issue, the plumber has to cut through this fabric to reach the problem. Once this happens the fabric hangs open and any animal that wants to, can climb through. Once cut, the black fabric sags and makes a giant hammock that the opossum can create a nest in. Opossums, rats, cats, mice, and raccoons are drawn to the underside of the trailer once this happens, but opossums seem to show up under mobile homes more often than other species. A dead animal smell under a mobile home is very common. If a mobile home owner has a dead animal smell it is most likely an opossum.
we get rid of Mobile Home Opossums
Trapping the entrance/exit hole as I described above in the “How we Get Opossums Out Section” also works for mobile homes. However, mobile home owners have a harder time ending their opossum problem permanently. Underpinning is very hard to make wildlife secure. Often it has breaks where it has been damaged by mowing equipment or there are spots where wildlife has burrowed under the underpinning. Underpinning can be upgraded and made secure, but securing underpinning is harder to do than just plugging an entrance like is commonly necessary for a permanent foundation. If your underpinning is not secure, I recommend having an occasional inspection to see what is under the home. Early Spring before denning season would be a good time for an inspection.
Hardening Underpinning to stop opossums
Though time consuming, it is possible to harden mobile home underpinning to keep opossums and other wildlife out. To do this, an inground barrier has to be installed that attaches to the bottom edge of the underpinning. The Underpinning itself has to be built strong enough to stop the opossum.
Opossum skeleton found under Bristol Virginia home.
Collapsed ceiling tile in shower were opossum fell through.
Broken ceiling tile in downstairs bathroom of Johnson City home.
