Opposum

[PuiPuiMolcar]

I am tired of these little rascals, at first I was willing to let them slide and wait until they leave.
I arranged a pathway for them to avoid my orchids, putting more weight on my pots, making sure food wasnt outside at night etc, but these little twerps decide to go for the orchids that were completely outside of their path and knock them down. Atleast the neighbor cats were more careful enough to avoid my plants.

[estación seca]

Opossums hunt for insects and molluscs. They keep properties tick free. Overall they're very beneficial. Gardening outdoors in southern California in the era when the large imported garden snails were ubiquitous was a constant battle with snails.

[minicoerulea]

Well, they don't keep properties tick free, at least not in Wisconsin or anywhere in the upper Midwest. We have plenty of opossums, and way more than plenty of ticks. Weather over the course of a year has by far the most effect on tick populations (again, at least here, and considering mostly the relatively benign wood tick).

I wish I had the chickens of mine back that opossums have killed -- probably ten or so over the course of some years. After a pair of automatic doors at $200 each I think I have things under control. Not sure there's any similar prevention for outdoor orchid growing, though.

Opossums are the only proven definitive host of a pathogen that causes encephalitis in horses, so they're a problem for horse owners. That pathogen also causes deaths in a threatened subspecies of sea otter on the west coast, where opossums are not native.

[Roberta]

I have opossums in my yard, never had any problem with them. Gentle little (and some not so little) creatures.

Raccoons, on the other hand... I have had them eat spikes. And knock over my bird bath, and make a mess of a little fountain that I grow Phrag bessae and hybrids thereof in during warmer months. I have managed to keep them away from the "water features" with a bunch of bird spikes tied in place to make access unpleasant.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Originally Posted by Roberta

I have opossums in my yard, never had any problem with them. Gentle little (and some not so little) creatures.

Raccoons, on the other hand... I have had them eat spikes. And knock over my bird bath, and make a mess of a little fountain that I grow Phrag bessae and hybrids thereof in during warmer months. I have managed to keep them away from the "water features" with a bunch of bird spikes tied in place to make access unpleasant.

An old fashioned Daisy spring-loaded BB gun is a great deterrent for raccoons. The low power won't harm them, but still deliver a nasty sting. It won't take but one or two encounters for them to get the idea and leave your yard alone.

[Roberta]

Not going to be popping off firearm or facsimile thereof in my very urban neighborhood. And besides, the raccoons (and most of the other wildlife) are around when I'm sound asleep and want to stay that way. My bird spikes are quiet, and they do the job pretty well. My solar-powered ultrasonic motion detector is working quite well at keeping critters (mostly squirrels) out of my avocado tree without annoying humans too.

When plants near my back fence are in spike, I move them - the fence is a walkway for "wildlife" and I try to avoid temptation to "graze" as they walk along the beam on my neighbor's side. Except for the very occasional brief sighting, I mostly know the raccoons have been around when I see muddy paw marks on the birdbath (that they try but can't tip, due to the bird spikes that keep them back a bit so they can't get leverage, and also heavy bricks at the base) or what looks like dog poop except that dogs don't climb fences... and the raccoons are about the same size as a medium sized dog.

[DirtyCoconuts]

try to tolerate them as they are generally beneficial.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

try to tolerate them as they are generally beneficial.

I do... just like with a kid, arrange the environment so they don't break things. Been pretty successful.

[Leafmite]

Hope you find a way to solve your problem. I had to add pots of wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) among my other pots to discourage the wild animals and neighborhood cats from getting into my plants (knocking them over and, sometimes, eating them--wish the dogs were also discouraged....).

[Roberta]

Consider this little gadget, Amazon.com

It seems to have stopped the depredations on my avocados (I put it in the tree) since the cheesy owl has stopped discouraging the attacks. Using the ultrasonic setting, it is totally quiet (at least to my elderly ears), just soft clicks that indicate that it's working. It doesn't harm any animal, just makes a sound they find unpleasant. A couple of different ultrasonic settings for different animals. Also has "noise and flashing lights" settings but I don't use them... annoying to humans.