Update 21st Mar 2014

Wasabi hasn't been seen since his release from hospital over a week ago. It's normal for him to go away for long periods of time, so this is not a cause for concern, but it would still be very good to know how he's getting on.

Recently a very young ringtail, who is quite probably the offspring of Tilda and Wasabi, came to the house and sat on the hand-rail of the balcony, undeterred by the presence of humans. The ringtail wasn't after food (at least s/he ignored small pieces of apple and pear on the handrail), and it's almost as if the little one was a messenger from Wasabi: "go to the humans and tell them that I'm alright".

Baby Ringtail - 19^th Mar 2014

Kiki and Oz are visiting regularly. Oz is still back-riding but is almost fully weaned and is now at the stage where he tears food out of Kiki's mouth. Kiki currently puts up a moderate level of fight against this; enough to encourage him to be bold and persistent.

Kiki (left) and Oz (right) - 14^th Mar 2014

One night Oz was left on his own in the garage all night. This must be part of the training process that young possums undergo because Kiki did exactly the same thing with Amiri last year.

Also, here's a movie which shows another part of the training process. Oz was left on the balcony by Kiki to encourage him to make his own way into the trees. He's initially a little uncertain and makes a few "distress" calls, but then climbs into the trees after Kiki on his own. Look for Kiki's face in the top left corner at the 25 second mark; she's checking that he is alright, but isn't about to coddle him unnecessarily.

Kiki and Oz - 10^th Mar 2014 [Filmed by Xesce]

Dexter is occasionally seen around the place, but never visits the house and no longer visits the possum boxes. He seemed to stop using box 3 immediately after I installed the temperature sensor in it (5^th Jan 2014). Maybe he was trapped or mistreated by a human at some stage and is suspicious when someone interferes with his sleeping place.

The photo below is of Dexter looking at Amiri on the roof nearby. Dexter did not chase Amiri off, possibly because Amiri is most likely his son.

Dexter - 5^th Mar 2014

Amiri is still around and looking more and more like an adult possum. He occasionally sleeps in the garage door, but, like Dexter, also avoids the possum boxes. He seems to be particularly skillful in getting around. He has pioneered a new route to the house where he climbs up a branch on the Camphor Laurel, weighing it down so that he can get onto a branch on a Chinese Elm and from there into the Bauhinia next to the balcony. He also has the ability to make his way onto and off the balcony in complete silence. Maybe he should have been named Ninja, except that this name was already taken by one of Kiki's earlier babies.

Amiri - 18^th Mar 2014