We have 3 small vegetable gardens on our property and this year we’ve been having major issues with groundhogs and possums causing damage. Thanks to our security cameras we can see them at night digging under or crawling up the little fence to get into each garden. One morning we came out to find all of our sweet potatoe plants eaten and gone!
Animals are great and all have their place in this world…just not in my gardens! We tried fencing them, blocking all holes that they’ve made, being active around our perimeter and leaving our scent, borrowing the neighbor’s dog and having it leave it’s scent all over the place and nothing has worked.
Last month hubby went out and purchased a humane live animal trap. For the first 10 days we got nothing but then I got online and researched possums and groundhogs to see what they like to eat. The first one I wanted to get trapped was the possum. He wasn’t afraid of people and that scared me. I found out they like to eat rotten food, veggies and fruits. So, I prepared what I call a possum dinner for him.
I combined a little lettuce, tomato, chopped up watermelon rind, a few strawberries, a chopped apple and a little bit of canteloupe together. I left it sit out in the sun (in a bag) to rot for two days. I made sure it was good and stinky. We then dumped it in the back of the trap. Set it and walked away.
The very next morning we had a customer to our diner. Yup, we caught the possum! Hubby loaded it up and drove it 15 miles away to a nice wooded area that had 2 streams nearby, plenty of ground cover, trees, etc. and released it.
Next up….preparing a gourmet meal for the groundhogs! We have at least 6 of them living on a 1/2 acre of land and they’re causing us a lot of damage! Digging holes under our sheds, around our pool, around house foundation and tearing up our gardens. Time for a few of them to be relocated too!
We believe in HUMANE LIVE TRAPPING and causing no harm to the animal. Please don’t posion them or shoot them. Trap them and relocate them to a new area.
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I am glad that you believe in humane trapping and relocating creatures. I hope you willbe avvle to do it with the groundhogs too.
I’m glad you don’t kill the critters. Much better to trap and release them far away.
What did you fix for the groundhogs? I think that is what we have and cannot catch them in our trap. I caught a bird one time… poor thing almost killed itself before I could open the door for it to get out.
We’ve been chopping up a combination of cantaloupe and watermelon rinds into chunks, mixing them together and tossing a nice pile of them into the trap.
We have one of these traps too and they work great. It just scares me trying to set the trap because man does that thing slam shut fast and hard. I love that you prepared a meal for him to get him in there. I also LOVE the idea you wrote about having the neighbors dog come over and leave its scent that is a great idea.
I never would have though about finding and fixing a special meal for each of them. Years ago I had screened in porch and one evening I was going to sweep the porch. And surprise in the corner was a possum. He hissed at me the broom went one direction and me the other.
You did a good job preparing a tasty meal in your humane trap. He is a cute critter and should enjoy his new home in the woods.