How to Kill Opossums with Poison

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How To Kill A Possum
Having an opossum in your garden or yard can be a major problem for many people, as they can be a real pest, digging through garbage to find food and can also cause damage to plants and fences. Some people who do see an opossum in their garden or yard will immediately want to kill it, as they do not want to have an opossum anywhere near their home and family. Although the opossum is known for the damage it can cause, it isn’t sighted too often because it is a nocturnal animal that has a natural wariness of people and will look to avoid contact where possible.



Shooting An Opossum
One of the most common methods for killing an opossum for people living in the country or in rural areas is to actually shoot the opossum, but this isn’t always straightforward. The opossum is very rarely sighted during the day, meaning that most people will have to spend some of their night outdoors waiting quietly for the opossum to appear. There can also be a cleaning job to do after shooting an opossum, as they are likely to bleed quite a lot, and they are known to carry blood-borne diseases which mean that the area would have to be disinfected in order to make the garden or yard safe for children and animals.

Lethal Traps And Poison
An option that some people will turn to when trying to kill an opossum is poison, and the fact that the opossum will often root through garbage makes it quite easy to lay poison for them. The difficulty with using poison is that there is no legal or registered possum poison for sale on the market. Furthermore, a poisoned opossum will often not die, or the opossum will often become unpredictable and dangerous after being poisoned. It could also die in an area where it is difficult to recover the carcass, such as under the porch or elsewhere in the yard. Or worse, you could poison a non-target animal, such as a neighbor's cat or dog. Finally, this method is incredibly cruel and inhumane. It would be far better to shoot the animal, if you must kill it, rather than attempt to poison it.

Another option is to use a lethal trap to kill the opossum, but because of the size and nature of the opossum the type of lethal trap used will also be a danger to any other similarly-sized animals in the area. Dogs and cats are also known to be susceptible to being caught in these traps, and they can be a particularly painful way to die for whatever animal that has been caught, as they will not always grip effectively enough to kill the animal effectively.

Learn Humane Ways to Kill an Opossum in a Cage .

Dealing With The Carcasses
In many states there are regulations about who can kill opossums, and there will also be regulations about the safe disposal of carcasses, especially in pest animals like the opossum that are known to carry diseases. Some states will require the carcass is deposited at a specific location or facility, and others will limit the way in which it can be disposed of.

Do You Really Want To Kill An Opossum?
There are many people who are overly eager to kill an opossum without looking at all the drawbacks and issues related to this. Carcasses and the associated cleaning with many methods of killing are a lot of work, and there really are some good alternatives available.

Read here some pros and cons on whether you should Hire a Pro or Remove Opossums Yourself.

One method that is very effective to solving an opossum problem is to secure your garden or yard to ensure that the opossums cannot actually get in. Even simple steps like removing any fallen fruit from the garden and keeping your garbage in a secure bin or garage can mean that the opossum won’t want to come to your yard or garden. The majority of the opossum population will usually be migratory in nature and will rarely stay in your area for more than a day or two, but if they do return, trapping and removing the opossum is often a much better solution.

More in-detail how-to possum removal articles:

Information about opossum trapping - analysis and methods for how to trap.
Information about how to keep opossums away - prevention techniques.
Information about how to catch a opossum - remove one stuck in the house.
Information about opossum repellent - analysis of types and effectiveness.

This site is intended to provide opossum education and information about how to kill opossums with poison, so that you can make an informed decision if you need to deal with a opossum problem. This site provides many opossum control articles and strategies, if you wish to attempt to solve the problem yourself. If you are unable to do so, which is likely with many cases of opossum removal, please go to the home page and click the USA map, where I have wildlife removal experts listed in over 500 cites and towns, who can properly help you with your nuisance opossum.

Click here to read more about how to get rid of opossums.