The best lures for possums are strongly scented, sweet, or protein-rich items like peanut butter, fruit (apples, bananas, citrus), canned pet food, or homemade pastes with cinnamon, vanilla, or aniseed oil, often combined with a sweet base like flour and sugar for long-lasting scent trails, with peanut butter on apple being a classic combination. Experimentation is key, as different scents attract them at different times, and using a strong, unique smell like cinnamon oil on carrots or a pre-feed paste can be highly effective for curious possums.
Opossums are often attracted to unsecured trash and pet food left outdoors. To trap an opossum, use a live cage trap baited with fruits like apples or bananas, peanut butter, or canned cat food. Place the trap near where the opossum is active. Check traps frequently to avoid stress or harm.
While active, possums can cause a lot of disturbance to pets and make a lot of noise while foraging through garbage cans. But, what attracts them to a yard? They are attracted to your yard whenever food is plentiful, so leaving food scraps in your garbage will definitely keep them around.
Poultry/eggs(you don't need to crush up egg shells, it is possible to over calcify an opossums diet), lots of vegetables and bugs(farmed not wild), such as nightcrawlers and crickets, and fruit in small doses(too much sugar is bad), sometimes with unflavored yogurt. I use a lot of spinach for the calcium content.
Possums respond to visual cues so, to attract possums to a bait station, use a lure such as white flour mixed with scented spices, e.g. cinnamon. Place the lure outside the station or on the tree trunk and scuff up the surrounding area to create interest.
Small mammals including possums and bandicoots often consume poisons such as snail bait, or rat bait that has been laid out to attract and kill rats, mice, and rabbits. Poisons such as pindone are often added to oats or carrots, and lead to a slow, painful death of internal bleeding.
What's the best lure? We generally recommend starting with peanut butter, but people have had success with all sorts of things. As ever, if you're not catching and think there are possums about, try something different.
Because there is likely a plethora of food options in your yard, Havahart® recommends using a bait that will stand out - opossums tend to be attracted to fruit and strong-smelling foods like meats and oils.
Possums forage using their sight and sense of smell. Blaze is a lure that is bright and smelly to encourage them towards your trap. Flour is used as a visual attractant, icing sugar helps the mixture stick to the tree, and spice powder lures them in. Possum blaze on a Trapinator at Chingford Park.
Possums sleep in nests, dens, and abandoned buildings. Possums sleep in nests in hollow trees or dens inside caves, attics, and abandoned buildings on the ground.
To get rid of possums fast, eliminate their food and water sources (trash, pet food, fallen fruit), secure entry points to your home (roof, vents, under decks) with mesh, and use strong deterrents like motion-activated lights/sprinklers, ammonia-soaked rags, or predator urine, while also trimming tree branches near your house to block access. For persistent issues, humane trapping and professional removal are options, but always check local wildlife laws first.
Their omnivorous diet includes insects, ticks, small rodents, frogs, birds, and berries. In residential neighborhoods, opossums forage for vegetables, fruits, garbage, bird seed, and pet food. Fresh meat and roadkill are also dietary staples.
Possums come around houses seeking easy food, water, and safe shelter, drawn by unsecured trash, pet food, fallen fruit, compost, and cozy spots like roof cavities or woodpiles for warmth and protection from predators. They're opportunistic, so your yard becomes an appealing buffet and hotel, especially when natural food sources are scarce or your home offers ideal nesting.
Opossums are nocturnal and prefer to travel around using as much concealment as possible. If you have a yard, plant shrubs whose foliage and limbs hang low to the ground, providing cover and yet enough room for the opossum to maneuver underneath them.
Where possible, get inside your roof and locate the possum's nest. The nest, which has the scent of the possum, should be placed in the new possum house to encourage the possum to move to its new home. Encourage the possum to investigate their new home by putting pieces of fresh fruit in or near the nesting box.
Use non-toxic or natural deterrents
Spray your garden with a non-toxic natural deterrent such as vinegar (or check your local hardware store for options). While hungry possums are known to ignore lots of these products, it's still worth a shot. Just make sure whatever you try won't harm the possum or your garden.
To trap an opossum, use box or cage traps (7-inch x 7-inch x 24-inch) and bait them with cat food, fish, fruit, or marshmallows. Alternatively, an opossum is relatively easy to corner in an enclosed area. While wearing thick gloves, capture it with a hand net or catch pole.
What is the best bait to use to attract possums into the trap? We have found the best bait to lure possums inside the trap is an apple cut in half. However there are many other suitable lures including pet food, other fruit and vegetables, etc.
Although they aren't particularly finicky eaters, the best possum bait is fish or apples. Baiting opossum traps with canned pet food also works well. While there are differences of opinion as to the best bait for opossums, all professional trappers agree, the smellier the better.
What an opossum will eat that a cat won't would be overripe fruit: bananas, apples, watermelon, etc. and many vegetables; celery tops, carrots, bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower. Although opossums don't seem as enthusiastic about vegetables as they are with fruit.
Possums are opportunistic feeders, which means they'll keep returning to places where food is easy to find. Open garbage cans, fallen fruit in the yard, bird feeders, or leftover pet food are irresistible to them. Once they discover these resources, they often return night after night until the supply runs out.
Leaves - Just like koalas, possums are suckers for eucalyptus leaves. If there is no eucalyptus around, they settle for other plants, such as green plum, acacia, red bush apple, and more.
What Do Mice Eat? “Mice prefer foods that are high in protein and fat over cheese. That's why the best mouse trap baits include peanut butter, hazelnut spread, chocolate, and meats like bacon or beef jerky. Be wary of large portions, which rodents can nibble without tripping the trap.”