The Thornbury heat camera that found five possums that weren't there

What she’d been told

Got an online booking, possum job. When I got there, the owner had a bad smell in the house but she hadn’t actually heard any noises. That’s the first thing I ask. Noises? No.

She’d had a company out the week before us. They came with a heat camera, scanned the ceiling, and told her she had five possums in the roof. Showed her a report with all these heat signatures. Five of them.

She showed me the report. To be honest, it was rubbish.

What the heat camera actually found

Every one of those heat spots was perfectly round. Dead centre of the room. Not moving. That’s not a possum. That’s a downlight.

Downlights throw heat into the ceiling cavity. A heat camera picks that up and it looks like a warm blob on the screen. If you don’t know what you’re looking at, or if you don’t want to know, five rooms, five lights, five “possums.”

She’d paid around $600. They’d put up one-way doors and blocking over spots that weren’t entry points. None of it was needed.

What we actually found

I inspected the whole roof. No droppings. No rub marks. No entry points. No sign that a possum had ever been up there. The one-way doors they’d fitted were over gaps that didn’t go anywhere. The blocking was on nothing.

There were no possums.

What to look out for

There are mobs that do this. Turn up with a heat camera, point it at the ceiling, and whatever lights up becomes a possum. Heat cameras pick up everything: downlights, hot water pipes, sunlight hitting the ceiling through a window. If someone shows you a report with perfectly round, evenly spaced heat spots that aren’t moving, that’s your house, not your wildlife.

We use motion detection cameras if we need to confirm something. Set it up, leave it overnight, and if something’s in there it shows up on camera. Moving. At night. Like a possum does.

If the heat spots are round, still, and centred in each room, get a second opinion before you pay for work you don’t need.