Do Opossum Repellents Work?

In truth, many of those products exist. They claim to be effective but you should realize that the “do not judge a book by its cover” adage is standard. We will examine the different opossum repellents on the market today and share what works or does not. 

Many sound repellents exist on the market that are said to be effective at repelling possums. Some of these emit ultrasonic sounds that cannot be detected by the human ear. Others just make loud, scary noises to drive opossums away. Many of these repellents work by displaying the sounds made by the natural predators of the opossums; others work by just emitting sounds that are uncomfortable for the possums to hear. The loud ones can constitute noise pollution. You do not want your neighbors complaining of animal sounds every night while they sleep.

There is little evidence that these devices work. Even if they did, there is a tendency for the opossums – who are very smart animals – to get used to the sound and figure out it’s just a decoy. Apart from this, these products are very expensive to purchase and would be a total waste of money if they do not work.

There are many different websites preaching home remedies as the best way to keep opossums away from your property. Well, based on the fact that home remedies sometimes do work in a variety of cases, you may be tempted to try them out. However, with home remedies, it’s just trial and error. There is no concrete evidence that what worked for someone else will work for you.

• Molasses mixed with water is a very popular home remedy that is said to be effective.
• Other remedies include mixing hot chili peppers with water and garlic.
• Mothballs have also been said to be effective. 

Why They Don’t Work

One of the reasons why it is perhaps difficult to see results with these remedies is that the effect wears off easily, and the opossums will be back before you know it. You cannot keep applying it forever; therefore it is better to look for permanent solutions to your opossum problem. Mothballs are dangerous to keep around if you have pets and little children and it is therefore not advisable.

Will Motion-Activated Sprinklers Work?

Many have advocated installing motion activated sprinklers in your yard that will spray the animals if they come into your garden or yard. The thing with this is as mentioned above; opossums as well as all furry animals in their family are very smart. They will eventually figure out how to bypass the sprinklers. 

Chemical repellents usually work by mimicking a specific scent, be it predator urine or just a scent that is unpleasant to opossums. While these products may work initially, there is no concrete evidence to suggest that they will work long term. This is because like all animals, opossums learn to quickly adapt to their environment.

There is also the fact that many of these chemical repellents can be smelled by humans. You do not want to turn your home into a smelly hub just because you’re trying to drive opossums away. 

The problem with buying repellents is that they only treat the symptoms of the problem, if they even do work at all. Most times, the cause of the infestation is still not being solved. Opossums, like every other animal, only care about one thing – survival. They will not go to places where they have low chances of surviving. This means they will not travel where there is no food or shelter. So before rushing to purchase overpriced repellents, make sure your environment is not welcoming these furry animals. 

There are many ways to drive opossums away from your property, but it might require a little more work than just buying a sound deterrent or mixing chili pepper in water.

• The best way to really make sure that these animals do not keep coming back is just to trap, catch, and relocate them.
• Other things can be done to make sure that they will stop coming to your property and one of them is making food scarce. This might seem too simple but the real reason these furry animals are on your property in the first place is that they are getting food from there. It can be as simple as keeping all pet food away from the yard or keeping garbage in properly closed containers. These simple methods work wonders and cost next to nothing.