Trail camera advice

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johno1234

2609 posts

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#312355 9-Apr-2024 18:02

Hi all,

Sometimes we hear a noise on our metal roof, and suspect it is a possum. There's a large tree that touches the roof so they/it could be living up there. I'd like to find out and figure a trail camera could help. Anyone have any recommendation or advice?

In our previous house we had a huge phoenix palm with a resident possie. As it was outside the lounge window we'd often see him marching down the trunk after dusk. I tried and tried to trap the bugger, but never succeeded.

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2216 posts

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#3216336 9-Apr-2024 18:27

prune the tree. prune it right back. don't have anything close that they can jump off. so many people won't do anything until the tree damages the house and then its a very big expense. if the branch is touching the house, the roots are under the house. they can damage footings, slabs, walls, pipes etc.

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#3216337 9-Apr-2024 18:27

Got an old smartphone ? Put it in a container with a clear lid.

I use https://securitycamera.cz/en/

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johno1234

2609 posts

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#3216382 9-Apr-2024 21:27

Thanks I'll have a look at that. Will need to work in the dark though. Mentioned low light mode but can't see what that is.

johno1234

2609 posts

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#3216384 9-Apr-2024 21:29

tweake:
prune the tree. prune it right back. don't have anything close that they can jump off. so many people won't do anything until the tree damages the house and then its a very big expense. if the branch is touching the house, the roots are under the house. they can damage footings, slabs, walls, pipes etc.

This tree is a major neighbourhood feature and the property file has council correspondence about it going back decades so it's complicated.

Tinkerisk

4095 posts

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#3216415 9-Apr-2024 22:55

johno1234:

Hi all,

Sometimes we hear a noise on our metal roof, and suspect it is a possum. There's a large tree that touches the roof so they/it could be living up there. I'd like to find out and figure a trail camera could help. Anyone have any recommendation or advice?

In our previous house we had a huge phoenix palm with a resident possie. As it was outside the lounge window we'd often see him marching down the trunk after dusk. I tried and tried to trap the bugger, but never succeeded.

I use one of my wildlife cameras for this, they are inexpensive and predestined for tracking down such offenders at day and night. Contact a hunter to see if he can lend you one for this purpose.

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cddt

1411 posts

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#3216445 10-Apr-2024 08:09

A trail cam won't tell you anything more than you already know, which is that you have possums in your neighbourhood.

What you need is a possum trap.

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johno1234

2609 posts

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#3216448 10-Apr-2024 08:15

cddt:
A trail cam won't tell you anything more than you already know, which is that you have possums in your neighbourhood.

What you need is a possum trap.

We don't know if it's a possum. It could be twigs scraping the roof.

MikeB4

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#3216450 10-Apr-2024 08:21

Please don't set traps until you confirm the the night crawler. We get can Ruru on our roof at night and we do not want to lose those. We also get Blackbirds having organized racing events around our roof in the early morning.

Senecio

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#3216452 10-Apr-2024 08:29

Do you have any wireless security cameras on the house? I suspected something similar so I repositioned one of my Eufycams for a few nights to confirm what it was. Ended up being a neighbours cat.

pih

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#3216454 10-Apr-2024 08:35

A live trap should set you back no more than about $50 and can be had cheaper than that (example). Bait with chopped apple cores (just your scraps are fine, no need to waste good apples on them!), sprinkled with cinnamon. Give it a few nights, check every morning.

If it's a possum then you'll almost certainly catch it, they go crazy for cinnamon and aniseed type flavours.

Only trouble then is dispatching it - know anyone with an air rifle?

johno1234

2609 posts

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#3216456 10-Apr-2024 08:44

At our previous house I setup a possum kill trap that is designed to only get possums not cats or birds as they have to be bothered to climb up a tree or post and stick their head right into the trap to get at the aforementioned cinnamon apple.

Never caught a damn thing. I set it up on the trunk of the palm tree and the possum walked right past it every night. Moved it to other trees on the property and also never got touched. That possum knew it was trouble.

johno1234

2609 posts

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#3216457 10-Apr-2024 08:45

Senecio: Do you have any wireless security cameras on the house? I suspected something similar so I repositioned one of my Eufycams for a few nights to confirm what it was. Ended up being a neighbours cat.

Afraid I don't. There are several cats around here, so I wondered. However the sound on the roof is scratchy and I expect cats to pad silently.

pih

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#3216470 10-Apr-2024 09:37

johno1234:

Never caught a damn thing. I set it up on the trunk of the palm tree and the possum walked right past it every night. Moved it to other trees on the property and also never got touched. That possum knew it was trouble.

Ah, sounds like you're referring to the classic Timms trap, yellow box with neck-breaking mechanism inside. I had no luck with that either. Live traps I often catch a 2-3 possums a week on our bush-lined property (when I can be bothered re-baiting - the chopped apple doesn't last longer than a few days). I just leave my live traps at the base of the fruit trees and it's saved them from being destroyed (leaves and shoots, flowers, fruit all get eaten otherwise).

I catch the occasional black bird and hedgehog (also a pest), but at least you get to choose that happens to what you catch. If you can't safely and humanely put down the live catch yourself, you can take it to a vet but there will be a cost involved.

cddt

1411 posts

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#3216479 10-Apr-2024 10:27

In possum traps (suburban Auckland) I have caught hundreds of possums, dozens of rats, and a handful of hedgehogs. Never once a bird of any kind (neither native nor introduced).

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johno1234

2609 posts

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#3216499 10-Apr-2024 11:45

@cddt @pih what bait are you using - cinnamon apples?

@cddt are you using a live capture or kill trap?

Thanks

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