Sunday 12 April 2015

Update 12th Apr 2015

Kiki, Toto, Comet, Farley, Wasabi and Tilda are all currently visiting, and sometimes several appear at the same time.

Possum Circus (Left to right: Farley, Toto and Kiki) - 5th April 2015

In addition, there is a new possum in the area. This is an adult female who has been named Sasha. Sasha is probably the one who has been sleeping in the ceiling space, and not the new male seen mating with Kiki (who hasn't been seen since that time). It is unusual for a female possum to come into area, and it's possible the Sasha might have been evicted from a neighbour's ceiling and taken refuge here.

Sasha has approached the humans only once, but took food from hand on the first attempt. Like Kiki, she has a very bushy tail, and likes to sleep in late.

Sasha - 6th April 2015

I'm thinking that Toto might actually be a little girl possum. There's still no definite evidence either way, but a couple of times it looked as if she might have a pouch.

Kiki (above) and Toto (below) - 10th April 2015

Farley has successfully completed his course of treatment for exudative dermatitis. He seemed to get more bold, towards both humans and other possums, as his condition improved.

Farley - 7th April 2015


Comet managed to get some sort of injury to his tail. This injury quickly grew into a painful abscess, and, on the advice of our vet, he was treated with antibiotics.

Injury on Comet's tail - 1st April 2015

The injury is now looking considerably better and doesn't appear to be giving him pain, but is still not completely cured and treatment is continuing.

I have only just noticed that Tilda is missing a thumb on her right hand. Like koalas, ringtails are meant to have two thumbs on each hand, but Tilda has only one. I'm not sure if she was born that way or whether she suffered from some accident long ago.

Tilda, showing missing thumb - 3rd April 2015

1 comment:

  1. We've seen a few with missing thumbs too. It doesn't seem to result in lost dexterity!

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