Update 30th August 2023 - Introducing Joule, Lumen and Q-Bit

The three new babies have been named: Joule, Lumen and Q-Bit.

Joule back-riding on Blossom - 21^st Aug 2023

Lumen back-riding on Wink - 22^nd Aug 2023

Q-Bit and Sasha in Box 1 - 25^th Aug 2023

Triple Baby Possum Alert

Today, there were three mother possums in boxes, all with babies partially or fully out of the pouch, so it's Baby Possum Alert time.

Update 12th July 2023 - Introducing Vincent

I'll start this long-delayed post with a picture of Sun.

Sun - 19^th April 2023 [Photo by Xesce]

Vale Dr Jim Pollock

There has been some sad news; Dr Jim Pollock has passed away. 

Here is his funeral notice.

I have mentioned Jim a few times on this blog. Jim is a vet who has, amongst other things, saved quite possibly thousands of possums over his career. He developed an extremely effective method of treating exudative dermatitis in brushtail possums. [Here's a link to his paper, but be warned that it contains a very unpleasant picture of an infected possum.]

Over the nearly 15 years we have had contact with Jim, he has prescribed and supplied Ceclor for well over a dozen of our possums, and it's likely that most of them would have died a miserable death without his help. Although ringtails are not his specialty, he also provided life-saving antibiotics for Wasabi on two occasions.

Right up until last year, despite being seriously debilitated, he was helping cure possums. 

Goodbye Jim; you will be missed by humans and possums alike.

Update 4th April 2023

Lorien is now back-riding.

Lorien back-riding on Sasha - 25^th Mar 2023

Update 25th February 2023 - Introducing Sun, Lorien, Guran and Elton

Wink's baby has now been back-riding for a little while and has been named Sun.

Sun back-riding on Wink - 14^th Feb 2023

 

Baby Possum Alert

Wink's latest baby (her 4^th) has been venturing out of her pouch in the nestbox. So now is the time for a Baby Possum Alert.

Wink and her baby can normally be seen in Box 2. It is somewhat unusual for mother possums with large pouch young to use this box because it was originally designed for ringtails and has a smaller entrance hole, making a tight squeeze for a mother with a full pouch. It is possible she might move to Box 7, which is in her territory and has in the past often been the preferred box for raising babies in.

The baby looks like he might be a boy and is so far acting like a normal baby possum - amongst other things, biting his mother's toes and ears, pulling her whiskers and climbing on her head. Here is a shot of him grabbing her by the nose.

Wink and baby in Box 2 - 25^th Jan 2023

Update 21st December 2022

For several days now, two of the three young males, Aeon and Rae, have not been visiting. They are still a bit young to go off on their own to seek new territories, however in both cases their mothers' territories are mostly outside the area of the house, so maybe they don't feel safe intruding into an area which isn't their own and which is filled with other increasingly hostile possums.

Aeon - 16^th Nov 2022

Rae - 8^th Nov 2022

Update 20th October 2022

Other than some disruption caused by a carpet python, there have been no major upsets in the possum community since my last blog entry. All of the babies are doing well.

Grasshopper (Wink's baby) - 5^th Sept 2022

 Rae (Blossom's baby) - 11^th Sept 2022

Aeon (Sasha's baby) - 10^th Oct 2022

Introducing Aeon, Grasshopper, Rae and Kulan

Within the space of a few days, all three of the females in the area arrived with back-riding babies.

Sasha was the first to arrive with her baby Aeon.

Aeon back-riding on Sasha - 17^th Aug 2022

Next was Wink, who arrived with her baby Grasshopper.

Grasshopper back-riding on Wink - 14^th Aug 2022

Soon after was Blossom with her baby Rae.

Rae back-riding on Blossom - 18^th Aug 2022

Also, a new male possum, Kulan has made himself known. He has probably been around for a while but has only recently become friendly with the humans.

Kulan - 11^th Aug 2022