johnsmachines

No, this is not about venomous snakes, sharks, spiders or crocodiles.

In common with a lot of Australian households we have uninvited guests in our house.

Our broom cupboard.

Brushtail possums.  Harmless.  A bit noisy at times, especially if there is a turf war caused by an intruder.  My wife feeds them with tidbits of apple.  And they love grapes.  The baby in the first photo is quite tame, totally trusting my Dr Doolittle wife, but not so sure about anyone else.  We don’t allow them access into the human areas of the house, and we are puzzled about how they access the broom cupboard, because there is a storey above.

They are a protected species, and it is illegal to trap them or harm them.  We (SWMBO really) decided that we might as well encourage one family of possums and hope that they would fend off newcomers.  After a few years of this family we are quite comfortable to have them living in our roof space and between floors.  But we do need to fore warn human visitors about the occasional noisy screeching.