The right possum trap depends entirely on where you live, because “possum” means different things in different countries, and the laws around trapping vary dramatically. In the United States, you’re dealing with the Virginia opossum, a native marsupial that’s typically live-trapped and removed as a nuisance animal. In Australia, possums are protected wildlife you can only trap under strict permit conditions. In New Zealand, brushtail possums are destructive invasive pests, and the goal is usually to kill them as efficiently and humanely as possible. Each situation calls for a completely different trap, different placement, and different legal awareness.
US Opossum Trapping: Live Cage Traps
If you’re in the United States, a standard wire cage live trap is the go-to option. These are rectangular metal cages with a spring-loaded door that closes when the animal steps on a trigger plate inside. A trap sized for raccoons (roughly 32 by 10 by 12 inches) works well for opossums. Smaller traps designed for squirrels won’t be large enough.
Place the trap along a path the opossum is already using: near a fence line, against a building wall, or at the entrance to the space where it’s denning. Opossums tend to follow edges rather than crossing open ground. Bait with fruit, canned cat food, or peanut butter. Avoid fish-based baits, which are more likely to attract stray and feral cats instead.
Regulations vary by state, so check your local wildlife agency before setting a trap. In Virginia, for example, landowners can remove opossums on their own property without a kill permit, but it is illegal to trap and relocate the animal to another area. Many states have similar anti-relocation rules because relocated wildlife often dies from stress, territorial conflicts, or unfamiliarity with the new environment. Some states require you to release the animal on-site or euthanize it. Others require a nuisance wildlife permit before you trap at all.
Most states require that live traps be checked at least once every 24 hours. North Carolina, for instance, mandates daily visits to every trap, with any captured animal removed promptly. Some jurisdictions now allow remote electronic monitoring systems that report trap status every 12 hours, but even with those systems, a closed trap must be physically visited within 24 hours.
Australian Possum Trapping: Permits and Release Rules
In Australia, all possum species are protected under state and federal wildlife law. You cannot simply buy a trap and start catching possums in your yard. In South Australia, for example, possums are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, and you must either hold a permit or hire a licensed possum controller before trapping.
The rules are more restrictive than many people expect. You can only trap a possum that is living inside a building, not one that’s just visiting your garden or eating your fruit trees. And you cannot relocate the possum away from your property. Possums are highly territorial, and relocated possums typically fail to survive in unfamiliar territory. The standard permit condition requires that a trapped possum be released within 50 metres of the capture site, on the same property where it was caught.
The trap used is a wire cage live trap, similar to what’s used in the US but typically covered with a breathable cloth like a hessian (burlap) bag. This cover keeps the possum calm, protects it from weather and direct sun, and shields it from harassment by pets or other wildlife. The trap should be placed in a quiet location and checked before dusk. Trapped possums must be released within 24 hours and after dark, since possums are nocturnal and releasing them in daylight leaves them disoriented and vulnerable to predators.
The practical goal in Australia isn’t to remove the possum permanently. It’s to evict it from your roof or wall cavity, then seal the entry points before nightfall so it can’t return. The possum stays in your neighborhood, living in trees as it normally would, but no longer inside your home.
New Zealand Possum Trapping: Kill Traps for Pest Control
New Zealand takes the opposite approach. Brushtail possums were introduced from Australia in the 1800s and have become one of the country’s most damaging invasive species, destroying native forests and spreading bovine tuberculosis to livestock. The Department of Conservation actively encourages people to trap and kill possums, and a wide range of humane kill traps have been approved for this purpose.
All approved traps in New Zealand must pass testing guidelines set by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC), which evaluate how quickly and reliably the trap kills the target animal. Several models are widely available:
- Trapinator: A spring-loaded kill mechanism housed in a plastic box that screws onto a tree trunk about 1 metre above the ground. Simple to set and maintain.
- Flipping Timmy: A vertically mounted redesign of the classic Timms trap. The vertical orientation keeps the catch area cleaner and eliminates the need to bend over during servicing. Built with stainless steel and UV-resistant polymers, it carries a five-year manufacturer guarantee.
- Warrior: A lightweight steel trap weighing just 850 grams, designed to be fixed to a tree with screws at about 1 metre height. Its portability makes it practical for trappers covering large areas on foot.
- Sentinel: An even lighter option designed for remote native forest, where you might need to carry dozens of traps in a single trip. Includes a white plastic cover that makes the trap visible from a distance and helps guide the possum toward the bait.
- NZ Autotraps AT220: A self-resetting kill trap that can cycle up to 100 times without manual resetting or rebaiting. It only needs servicing every six months, making it ideal for large-scale or backcountry operations. Also effective against ship rats.
- SA2 Kat trap: A dual-purpose trap approved for both possums and feral cats. It should be raised at least 750 millimetres off the ground at an angle. In areas where weka (a native ground bird) are present, it needs to go higher, to 1.3 metres, at a steeper angle to prevent non-target catches.
Most of these traps are mounted on trees rather than placed on the ground. Raising traps above ground level is a deliberate design choice: it targets possums, which climb, while reducing the chance of catching ground-dwelling native birds, hedgehogs, or pets.
Avoiding Non-Target Catches
One of the most common problems with any possum trap is catching the wrong animal. Domestic cats are the most frequent unintended capture in live cage traps. Bait choice makes a big difference here. Fruit-based baits like apple or banana attract possums far more than cats. Fish-based and oily meat baits do the opposite, drawing cats in while possums may ignore them. If you’re trapping in an area with outdoor cats, stick to fruit or peanut butter.
Placement matters too. Avoid setting live traps in areas where pets roam freely, and if possible, only set traps in the evening and check them early the next morning. This limits the window during which a curious dog or cat might investigate. If you do catch a non-target animal, release it immediately. If the animal appears injured, contact a local wildlife rehabilitator or veterinarian.
Choosing the Right Trap for Your Situation
For US residents dealing with an opossum under a porch or in a garage, a single wire cage live trap baited with fruit is usually all you need. Set it in the evening, check it in the morning, and deal with the animal according to your state’s rules. The bigger task is often exclusion work: sealing the gaps and openings that let the animal in.
For Australians hearing thumps in the ceiling at 2 a.m., the process starts with your state wildlife agency. Get the permit first, then use a covered cage trap near the possum’s entry point into your roof. Release the possum that same evening, close to where you caught it, and immediately block the entry hole with timber, sheet metal, or heavy mesh. If you skip the sealing step, another possum will move in within days.
For New Zealanders contributing to predator control, the choice comes down to how many traps you’re running and how often you want to check them. A Trapinator or Warrior on a backyard tree works for a single property. For a community trapline covering hundreds of metres of bush, the self-resetting AT220 dramatically cuts maintenance time. Whichever model you choose, mounting it at the correct height and angle is the single most important factor for both effectiveness and preventing non-target kills.