Removal of snakes, possums and pests

Snakes

If there is a chance that a snake could find its way into your home, you should keep the number of a licensed snake catcher on hand. You can find the details of a local snake catcher online or in the phone directory.

Snake catchers will relocate the snake to a safe place. It is important to remember that snakes are an important part of the environment and a relocated snake may be replaced by another living nearby. The best way is to snake-proof your house.

Possums

Possums can cause a nuisance if they make their way into the roof cavity of your home. Often becoming active at night possums can keep people awake as they move around. To make sure your house is protected from possums, follow these simple steps.

• Find out where the possum is getting in and out. Cram loose wads of waste paper into suspected entry points during the day. After dark, the resident possum will push its way out, showing you where it gets in and out.
• Make repairs to prevent entry. This can be done at night (8–10pm) when the possum is feeding.
• Splash the old entry areas liberally with a strong smelling substance such as disinfectant. The possum's scent glands will have marked the entries to its den. If you don't destroy the scent, the possum will try to re-enter the den.
• Hang wooden nesting boxes or hollow logs in trees nearby to give the possums new homes.

If this doesn’t work, you may need someone to come and remove the possum. Many pest controllers are experienced in removing brushtail possums and are licensed to use harmless traps if required. However, a trapped possum has to be released within 25m of capture and is often replaced by another nearby possum as soon as it's removed. So the above mentioned steps need to be taken in order to prevent the problem from re-occurring.

Pests

For the removal of all non-native pest animals (rats, mice etc) please contact a licensed pest control expert. They can be found online or in the Yellow Pages under ‘pest control’.