Possum eviction Part 3.

Later last night I managed to introduce mummy possum to the second house.  She was a lot easier to entice in than Sniffer.  She’s got such a pretty little face.  The last photo shows her baby Blossom waiting in the tree.

Possum eviction Part 2.

This afternoon we hung the possum houses on a fence down the side of the house. It’s very shady and hopefully the possums feel it’s safe enough too!
I managed to entice one of the resident possums into the first house in the row. We call him Sniffer because he sniffs really loudly.

Each night I’ll keep encouraging them to go into the boxes.  I really hope it works (fingers crossed).

The flatbread hat and a hungry possum.

I know these photos have nothing to do with renovating the house but I couldn’t resist adding them.

While Mr F was engrossed in his phone last night we gave him a flatbread hat as we knew there was a possum waiting in the Frangipani tree.

It didn’t take long for the inquisitive and hungry little possum to come and investigate and steal Mr F’s hat.

The company I keep on cold Saturday nights.

For the pass month I have been slowly trying to strip back all paint from the front porch.  As I work full-time I try to do a little at night.  It’s an incredibly BORING job but today I finished the walls.  I’ve just got to work on the rest of the timber trims.  THEN it all needs sanding.

but…

Last night I had company while I worked. This possum is a new visitor. It wasn’t bothered by the noise of the heat gun, which sounds like a hair dryer.  Maybe it was enjoying the warmth that the heat gun produces.  It was a little cold last night.

Introducing mummy Possum’s latest edition.

Mummy Possum’s baby was getting too big for her pouch.  I’d noticed recently a leg or arm hanging out.  So now she’s back to carrying this years edition on her back.  I apologise for the quality of the photos.  It’s a very dark cupboard and I don’t want to freak them out with a torch in their faces.

The Possums.

I know I shouldn’t but I worry about our little furry friends in the roof when the weather is this hot.  Its been in the  mid 30’s celsius (approximately 90 degrees farenheit) and under the corrugated iron roof they must be sweltering.  When we open the cupboard to give them their dinner late in the afternoons they are often  lying spreadeagled on the floor of the cupboard.  Is this their way of keeping cool?  Why do they choose to live in these conditions???

A few weeks ago we decided to put in a little water bottle usually used for rabbits, guinea pigs etc.  It looks like they’re using it too because the water disappears.  I did wonder if the water was dripping out, so I put a little bowl under it to see and so far its remained dry.  I’d really like to put a small fan up there but Mr F, who isn’t that crazy about the whole possum ‘thing’ thinks I’m going a little overboard.  I know he’s right, I just can’t help it.

I took these photos this afternoon when I came home from work.

The extended family members living in the kitchen!

Someone described the suburb we  were about to move to as a “Possum’s paradise”.
Knowing this should have prepared us but what sounded like a pack of dogs running on the roof scared the crap out of us on our first night in the house.

Rosebush and Possum

We have two and only two cupboards in our kitchen and we don’t use either of them. Why? because the insides are gross and had a weird smell, so we just put an old ‘meat safe’ in front to use as a pantry and pretended they weren’t there.

The top cupboard

The substitute pantry hiding the yucky bottom cupboard

I’m not sure which member of the family opened the top cupboard to investigate one day and discovered a possum sitting inside. The top cupboard has the only access to the roof.From the state of the inside of the cupboard it looks like its been a home to many generations of possums.
Now at this point in most people’s stories about possums in the roof, a trap would be borrowed and the possums evicted!

It just never happened. In fact they’ve become part of the family.
Its gone from asking the middle son “have you feed the cats?” to “Have you feed the cats and the possums?”

So one day in winter when we were opened the cupboard ( you have to climb on a chair and stand on the kitchen bench) we discovered that Possum had become a mummy. For the past six months we have all watched  ‘baby’ grow. It’s been really quite special and we’ve enjoyed being able to hand feed and stroke them.  We’ve learnt that they’re actually very clean animals and also very friendly. (they’re not idiots – they get feed).

I’m sure there will be someone reading this who thinks we are doing the wrong thing and interfering with nature and prehaps we are. It’s just been really special being able to share this with my children and its something that I know they’ll remember for a long time.

Until we know what we are doing with the house, we are happy to leave them be.  Apart from coming home every morning around 4.30am and making a bit of a racket.  (I wish we could teach them to tiptoe)  They’re not bothering us at all.