Update 8th March 2019

Nikita and her babies Ryder and Rune are in good health and are visiting frequently.

Ryder (left) pokes her tongue out at her mother Nikita  - 9^th Feb 2019 [Photo by Xesce]

Ryder and Rune both appear to be little girl possums.

Ryder - 9^th Feb 2019 [Photo by Xesce]

Ryder - 9^th Feb 2019 [Photo by Xesce]

Ryder - 9^th Feb 2019 [Photo by Xesce]

Rune is particularly brave and often vists the humans on her own.

Here is a photo of her practicing tying knots with her tail. I think this a half-hitch.

Rune - 3^rd Mar 2019

Nikita is a first-time mother but has no problems taking care of her babies.

Ryder (top), Nikita (left) and Rune (right) - 5^th Feb 2019

Nikita with Ryder(?) back-riding and Rune(?) following - 10^th Feb 2019

Possum Train: Nikita (left), Rune (centre) and Ryder (right) - 1^st Mar 2019

However, their father, Austen had been seen lending a hand (unfortunately he hasn't been seen for a while and there are no new photos) and Koji - their grandfather - has also been doing some child minding. Here is a video with Rune and Koji together and it appears as if Rune wants to back-ride on Koji. It has been claimed that sometimes baby ringtails back-ride on their fathers. I've never witnessed this but the way Rune was behaving it's possible she had ridden on her grandfather's back in the past.

Rune (left) and Koji (right) - 8^th Mar 2019

Here are Koji and Nikita on the balcony hand-rail. Nikita looks a lot like Koji and from a distance it can be difficult to tell them apart.

Koji (left) and Nikita (right) - 7^th Mar 2019

Koji is looking very healthy. At this age, his father Wasabi had a serious tail infection which would probably have cost his life without treatment.

Koji - 5^th Mar 2019

There is another female ringtail in the area. She keeps away from humans and it's difficult to know who she is, but she may be the same possum who was named Pebbles late last year.

Here is a photo (not too good, but it's the only one I have) of her with a baby. This is probably her own baby although there's a very small chance this is some female relative of Nikita looking after Ryder, although I doubt this.

Pebbles(?) with baby - 7^th Mar 2019

And a close-up of the baby enjoying a delicious leaf.

Pebbles'(?) baby - 7^th Mar 2019

Bilbo is still around and is in good health.

Bilbo dangling - 15^th Feb 2019

A couple of weeks ago he arrived with some pluckings and a hurt leg. He could barely use the leg and it seemed as if it might be broken, however it got better in a couple of days so it must have been a strain or a bruise.

Biblo seems to know how to look after his injuries. When the leg was bad he kept away from other possums who might chase him and went to bed very early (around midnight when his normal bed time is more like 5 am).

Bilbo with hurt leg - 21^st Feb 2019

Pogo hasn't been seen for about a week. He is now at the age where he might leave the area at any time. Hopefully he will have at least one more visit before he leaves for good.

Pogo - 9^th Feb 2019 [Photo by Xesce]

Pogo - 22^ndFeb 2019

Now for some bad news: It looks like something has happened to Zak.

On the 3^rd of March, Sasha slept in Box 7 without Zak. This wasn't an immediate cause for concern; sometimes adventurous baby possums will sleep away from their mothers from time to time, and Box 7 is in the garage, so there were plenty of spots nearby where a baby could be hiding. But on examining the possum box camera footage, I found that Sasha has briefly visited two boxes before settling down to sleep for the day, and it seemed that she had been searching for Zak. Also Zak was nowhere to been seen in the garage.

Zak has not been seen since that time. I'm not sure what could have happened to him. There was a marauding cat seen recently in the garden, but Sasha would have kept Zak well away from cats. There hasn't been a single python seen this summer (not even any shed skins) and Sasha had been taking particularly good care of Zak. On two separate occasions a couple of weeks ago he got onto the balcony floor and had difficulty climbing onto the hand-rail - he let out some distress calls and Sasha immediately rushed to his aid, much more quickly than normal.

I'm wondering now if the reason Sasha was so attentive was that she knew there was some danger around.

Here are some photos of Zak.

Sasha (left) with Zak back-riding glares at Pogo (right) - 22^nd Feb 2019

Zak clings to Sasha's side - 3^rd Mar 2019

Prior to taking the photo below, Zak had his foot right in Sasha's face but removed it the moment I took the photo.

By the way, the white power on Sasha's nose is Divetelac (lactose-free milk powder for animals). Possums are occasionally given pieces of wholemeal pita bread dipped in this powder in an attempt to give them a more balanced diet, although I'm not sure this really matters with the relatively small amounts of human food they get.

Zak clings to clumsily to Sasha's face - 5^th Mar 2019

Merlin the brush turkey is still around. His leg slowly improved over time and is now virtually back to normal. He was unable to do any major yard rakings to build up his nest but he managed to maintain it well enough that another turkey chick hatched on around the 13^th Feb. Like the others, this one disappeared after a few days, although a neighbour reported seeing it in his yard about a week later.