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| Oz - 31st July 2014 |
Oz continues to monopolise Box 7.
Oz is a definite toe-biter. He has been known to literally chase humans into the kitchen to prepare him a snack. I'm not sure whether he's a naturally bold possum, or whether he's nervous that he'll be chased away by Kiki if she appears and is therefore anxious to grab his food with the minimum of delay.
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| Kiki hiding her swollen pouch - 1st Aug 2014 |
Kiki's latest baby is growing in the pouch and has got big enough to encumber Kiki when she moves around (although she's always capable of chasing other possums if she needs to). There have been a couple of glimpses inside the pouch, but only enough to see that the little one is furred. The baby is probably starting to come out of the pouch for short periods while Kiki sleeps during the day, but she has not been seen in any of the boxes for over two weeks so unfortunately there is no footage. Maybe she'll evict Oz from Box 7 some time soon.
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| Wasabi - 28th July 2014 |
Wasabi appears to be in perfect health, without even any scratches to the nose or ears, which is unusually good.
Recently (18th July 2014) there was a wind storm which broke a number branches in the trees and threatened the ringtail drey in the palm tree next door. The frond in which the drey was located was thrashing around in a dangerous way, and ended up partially breaking, such that it now hangs down vertically and will presumably die and fall off. The drey itself held together during this onslaught and over the next few days the usual number of ringtails were seen about the place with no visible injuries.
In human terms, it would be like weathering a cyclone, but it's all in a day's work for these little possums.
Kiki is amazing. Another bub on board already. How many joeys is that now?! I must go check your info page :)
ReplyDeleteWe've never had toe biting here. We've had a couple of possums run up us (Lou nearly Alien-ed me when the water tank collapsed during a storm a few years ago. He must have been in a tree nearby. He shot over the ground, up my wet weather gear and wrapped his tail several times around my neck. I was fine about the contact, it was the tail cutting off my airway which was the problem :)
This will be Kiki's 11th baby. You'd think the area would be getting overrun with possums by now, but the numbers have remained steady since we first started observing nearly 10 years ago. I think it's a fairly dangerous neighbourhood for possums (suburbia, lots of traffic, virtually every house has a dog and there are often cats roaming free).
DeleteToe-biting is an interesting phenomenon. Most brushtails do it, but some more than others, and some never at all. Ginger (our very first possum) never toe-bit and would prefer to climb a person's leg in search of food. I've never had a face-hugger possum, though. :)