Possum eviction Part 3.

 

Yesterday the roofers arrived and pulled off all the old corrugated iron and then the rain arrived!

We haven’t had any decent rain here in Brisbane for MONTHS!! when I left for work the rain was coming through the extractor fan in the bathroom.  What can you do?  I left the problem to the professionals and came home last night to a roof covered in tarpaulins.

Late last night we had a storm….. The tarps were flapping like CRAZY but we stayed dry.  Today the sun is out and the roofers are back.  Fingers and toes crossed they manage to secure the roof before it rains again.

No sign of the possums!!

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.