A little different in flavour to my usual posts I know, but I have been engaged in a battle of wits over the last few months with a possum - possibly multiple possums - in the roof space of my house, and I would like to now announce I am fairly certain I have finally won!
We noticed earlier in the year odd scratching noises coming from inside the walls, and I set out to figure out what manner of beastie was causing them. I was in the roof space not too long after, looked over and in the light of my headlamp, could see some beady eyes and a little fuzzy face staring back at me.
Thus began a mental battle between man and possum…
I looked over our tiled roof trying to figure out how it was gaining entry, and noticed a patch of loose tin next to the chimney. I nailed that up late at night after the possum had exited, thought I had won, but a night or two later, same noises in our walls.
I set up a spare security camera in the roof space, set to alert me on motion, and over some weeks, narrowed down the area it seemed to be passing on its way in and out. Turned out the possum was climbing out via the unused chimney. I confirmed this one night as I was outside at just the right time and saw as it emerged. I took the nails off that had been closing up the patch of tin and repositioned the camera to give me a good view of the reopened entry/exit way, had someone cap the chimney off, and later that night waited until the possum went to leave. It went up the chimney, came down, made a bunch of complaining noises, then shortly thereafter I received a motion notification on my phone and watched as it left via the tin patch.
I then hammered back down the tin patch, and it has been over a week with no signs of motion or wall noises - I declare victory!
I will have to be vigilant as I am sure the possums want a rematch…
Currently listening: at my walls, for any scratching.
