A new male ringtail has been seen around. He looks like Wasabi - who is quite possibly his father - but is smaller (smaller than he looks in the photo) and has some nicks out of his ears. He might be one of the babies seen in September of this year. We have called him Tabasco. Hopefully, like Wasabi, he will prove to be distasteful to pythons.
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| Tabasco 7/11/2012 |
Wasabi himself hasn't visited for a while, however there have been ringtails seen in the trees, and it's possible he's about, but just not visiting.
Flea hasn't been seen for about a month now. By now her baby should be emerging from the pouch to back-ride. We're hoping she follows her mother's lead and braves the other possums to bring the baby to show us.
Svejk's mouth infection was treated and is now cured. His injured leg is also back to normal.
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| Svejk's Mouth Infection - Now Cleared Up 16/11/2012 |
On a couple of humid days recently, Svejk has chosen to sleep in a stack of tyres in the garage, rather than Box 7 which is sitting right next to these tyres.
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| Svejk 20/11/2012 |
Is it that my boxes aren't as well suited to hot and sticky weather as they could be? Certainly there's no air flow through them, so they could get quite stuffy and uncomfortable in hot weather.
Then again, possums are often seen in box 2 - which would have to be the hottest and most cramped of the boxes - during some of the nastiest weather, so maybe there are other factors involved.
Could we ask what you used to clear up Svejk's mouth infection?
ReplyDeleteMany thanks,
Jeni
Northern Rivers Dreaming
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-Rivers-Dreaming/321272667962109
We used Ceclor (aka Keflor). We've used it around 15 times so far on different possums, with 100% success rate.
DeleteIt's possible that a small infection like Svejk had might clear up on its own, but Svejk, who is now getting to be a fairly old possum, has had a history of stubborn infections, so it's better to get in early with the treatment.
Here's a link to a paper which describes the treatment in detail (warning: it starts off with a really nasty photo of a diseased possum).
http://www.awrc.org.au/uploads/5/8/6/6/5866843/dr_jim_pollock-staph_infection_in_possums.pdf
The Ceclor is a prescription only medicine and has to be supplied by a vet.
BTW, your possums are cute and I think Oli is a good name for a baby possum. Most of them are little Oliver Twists.
i have small drain holes in the base of my possum boxes and then a row of 20mm diameter ventilation holes under the eaves of the possum box roof. This allows for some airflow.
ReplyDeleteI think that might be worth trying, but in my case I'd have to work out some way to do this without letting in too much light. My box cameras frequently suffer from false triggering by light getting in through the entrance hole. Even when they're shaded, light can reflect up from things at ground level into the box.
DeleteDo you know why possums do not have fleas?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the story is regarding fleas on possums. You'd think they'd be susceptible but I've never seen any brushtails with evidence of fleas. I've occasionally seen ringtails with patches of thinning fur on their backs, but they haven't being doing any excess grooming, which would seem to rule out an infestation of fleas or mites.
DeleteIt might be that the unsociable nature of brushtails reduces the chance of fleas being transmitted between possums, and it might be that spending nearly all of their time up trees keeps them away from the undergrowth where nasties like fleas and ticks may be lurking, but really, I'm only guessing.
Possum Dreaming,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much re Ceclor, we'll ask the kind wildlife vet in Lismore who operated on our one eyed possum Puss for some :)
Glad you enjoyed our possum photos (we have a much smaller group - only Mountain Brushtails - but it's steadily growing) and that you like Oli's name. We always get the sex of young possums wrong at first, so now we try and use names that can go into either male or female form. And Oli is a walking example of "Please Sir, I want some more"!
Jeni
Northern Rivers Dreaming
Anon,
While we've not seen fleas something is making some of the local possums itchy, sometimes they get so caught up in scratching they loose their balance. We've seen some with ticks, also leeches in wet weather (photos on our blog). They rarely scratch these when they are still attached, so the itchiness may be post tick / leech bite as with humans but of course that makes it impossible to confirm the source of the itch.
PS: We forgot - thank you too for the warning re the photo on that very useful article.
ReplyDeleteI think that their fur is so thick at skin level that it may be too thick for fleas, but I am only guessing, I have tried to "google" it but with no success.
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteWe've noticed with ticks, they too tend to sit on top of the fur. They only attach when the reach furless areas like eyes, noses, base of whiskers etc. So your idea of fleas have trouble for the same reason is a good one :)
Jeni
Northern Rivers Dreaming
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-Rivers-Dreaming/321272667962109