Feeding time at the zoo

So the girls have woken up at their usual time 9pm, hungry as usual. First up is grabby, she sleeps in a drey (nest) which is in our backyard. She is usually the first awake. And as per usual i'm greeted with open arms and then "Bum face" pose

 Once she has eaten enough she likes to preen, or clean herself which in itself is rather adorable

Next possum awake was Stumpy, she slept in the roof last night, she alternates between the drey and the roof but lately she has been favoring the roof.

As you can see from the photo above she was rather glad to see me today.

next awake was the baby of the family, he is the most keen of all the possums and a little sweetie

Daddy has yet to stir but he will be awake any minute now......

Will keep you posted on more adventures soon!

The Family Tree

I started this blog so i could share some stories and photos of some wonderful ringtail and brushtail possums that live in my backyard. These guys have been visiting us daily for the last 5 or so years, some have come and gone while others have been around since the beginning.
I have been feeding and interacting with the possums off and on for the last 5 or so years, i feed them a variety of fruits, their favourite being Banana which was difficult when banana's were around $15 a kilo until very recently due to the Qld floods.

I suppose it all starts with the matriarch, Her name is Stumpy, when she first appeared in the backyard 5 odd years ago she was missing 3 quarters of her tail, she has a ten cm tail with a little stump on the end. Don't get me wrong, this is not a problem for her. She is strong, brave and playful. She is a very successful mother, countless babies have been raised since i have known her. She is the leader of this little family and the oldest member.

Next in line is Grabby, she has been with stumpy at least 5 years that i have known them. She is a rather large possum, not quite as brave as stumpy but sometimes she surprises me, especially when she took a swipe at a brushtail who was at least 5 times bigger than she is. When she is handed a piece of banana often the response to it is what i call "bum face", she swivels around and turns her back to you and all you see is a furry possum bum!. She is very gentle and loves to be talked to, while she eats she curls the tip of her tail around my finger, its almost like holding hands i suppose, but she does it so she feels secure like I'm a branch of a tree. The photo above is grabby, this is her favourite pose, she does it alot.

Then we have "Mr" or "Daddy", he is the adult male and stumpy and grabby's partner. A cute little guy, he's a little shy and reserved but coming out of his shell a bit more recently. When their not breeding the girls would often chase daddy around the backyard as they like to be bossy. They chase him a bit less these days but they keep him on his toes. He currently lives in our roof along with his son. He looks after the baby possums and does a good job of it.

Last of the ringtails is "Rugrat" a cheeky baby boy possum, only a few months old but getting bigger every day. He's a bright soul who loves to play and eat as many leaves as he can. Doesn't really eat the leaf but the bud on the end. He is the son of Stumpy and Mr. Time with him will be limited as when he gets big enough the girls will chase him off the teritory as he needs to go start his own family.

Not only are we blessed with the ringtail possums but we also have a family of Brushtail possums.
They interact with each other but prefer to come at different times as to not annoy each other.

The matriarch of the brushtail family is "Big Mumma", she is massive!! huge claws and a powerful jaw (trust me i know, she mistook my finger for a piece of banana and it more than hurt!) she enjoys various fruits but overdosed on banana one night now she wont even touch it anymore. She now prefers pears and the occasional donut or "flat" peach which are hard to find and rather expensive. She currently has a small baby in her pouch and only just had a little boy i called "little man" and he only recently ventured off to start his own family.

Then we have the male brushtail i call "Big Boy" he is very shy and likes to eat alone. All the other possums can be hand fed, but bigboy likes to keep his distance, he eats from a cup i attached to a branch, he also likes playing banana fetch, i call out "ready??" and he climbs down to the base of the tree and i throw a piece of banana down to him and he pounces on it (literally) and then climbs up to a nook in the fork of the tree and wedges himself in that spot and eats his banana.

More info, photos and stories coming soon....