Brush Tailed

Brush Tailed

A female Brush Tailed Possum moved into the garage some time ago. At first I chased her out but felt guilty and she has been a tennant for several months. I made her a box lined with old t-shirts but she spends a lot of her day sleeping in the roller of the garage roller door (see below) The old box, a cardboard box that used to hold a bubble-jet became too dirty and perhaps too small for her and the new baby so it has been changed to a bigger one with fresh linen and she seems to be there a lot now

Here she accepts a peace offering of apple slices still cool from the fridge. When I first moved in here I chucked her out of the garage a few times and it took months before she stopped treating me with suspicion (above)

Her baby can be seen sliding back into her pouch between her legs. The spot she is sitting in is at her entry to the garage door-roller where she spends a some of her time. I guess you can say it is her front porch. (below) The outside gets direct sun in the mornings and with temperatures beyond thirty degrees centigrade it gets too hot to stay in the roller during summer. Lately her and the joey spend more time in the box I set up on a cupboard. 

(below) Reclining with her new baby on her lap she has moved to a cool spot on a day that went to forty degrees Centigrade.

The baby looks soggy because she has licked it all over to keep it cool. Her mouth looks odd because she is nibbling a treat.

 By the time this was taken she was comfortable with my presence but the last few months I have left her alone and she has gone back to running off when anyone is near

Below are the first photographs of the joey as it experiences the world with it's mother.

These two were taken by Ronnie.

At this stage the mother was edgy and even took at a swipe at my hand when she was being handed a treat

Possum