The Possum TV site is still retired. Footage of nestboxes appears on GK's Possum TV Live site. GK also has a channel on YouTube, where all of the old possum clips, and many new ones, can be found. GK is working on additions to his possum site, which will include bios of various possums and individual galleries, but for now I will offer a(nother) brief update.

[The photos on this page are mine, with the exception of the Leena and Zorba photos, which are GK's.]




Švejk

Švejk is (as of September 2011) about 5 years old, and has been with us the longest of any possum. He looks fantastic, and seems to be very fit.

In 2010 he was again treated for a staph infection resulting from a minor wound, and although the infection proved somewhat treatment resistant, he eventually recovered fully. He had been in excellent health until May/June 2011, at which time he was again (successfully) treated for an infection (this time on both sides of his mouth). It may be that once a year or so he will continue to develop such infections.

He seems to be particularly fond of the only octagonal possum box, and keeps returning to it.






Kiki

Kiki is the possum who lost a toe on her left front foot in 2009. For the final result, see the photo above. At the time of her recovery, we thought Kiki had moved away into a different territory. She came by once in a while to show us a new baby or to sniff around or scentmark a nestbox, but other than that, we did not see her. In Spring 2010, Leena and Yoshi stopped coming around, and then Kiki came back. She has now had 5 babies: Fifi, Ninja, Zorba, Piranha and Lex. She still occasionally will make a swiping motion with her front foot when you don't expect it, but most of the time it is almost like she makes a point of trying to be gentle. Females who have had babies tend to look kind of worn out, but Kiki seems to be holding up pretty well. She at times has a very humorous expression, and almost seems to be smiling with her teeth showing.




Piranha

Piranha is Kiki's 4th baby, and is a male. For a while, the insides of Kiki's ears were covered in scratches, and we wondered if Piranha was biting or scratching her a lot while she slept. Baby possums often seem to attack their mother's ears while their mothers sleep, but they also try to stick their small heads into their mother's ears, and it might be that the shape of the ear reminds them of the pouch. Piranha has ventured into the house, and has raced madly back and forth on the balcony.

As of September 2011, Piranha has been fully independent for months and still drops by when he can for a visit.




Java

Java is Leena's 4th baby. There are some particularly cute videos of Java in nestboxes - yawning, climbing on/hanging from the camera itself, and just rolling around on her back. It is possible to see these videos on GK's site. (Possum TV Live.) We haven't seen her for some time now. When Leena and Yoshi stopped coming around, Java was still here and we thought she might stay, but when Kiki showed up we stopped seeing Java.




Zorba

Zorba is Kiki's 3rd baby, and is male. At first, we had thought he was female. He ventured into the house a lot, and climbed some of the things that Cocoa originally climbed. We were eating Greek food the night we discovered he was a male, and that had some influence on the choice of name. We haven't seen him for quite a long time now.




Leena

As I have mentioned in Possum Clinic, the possums Švejk and Kiki were successfully treated with antibiotics in 2009, Švejk for a staph infection on his face, and Kiki for an infection related to a dead toe. In 2010, there were a lot of infections. It may be that exudative dermatitis is especially prevalent in brushtail possums that live in tropical or subtropical locations (this condition frequently seems to result in infection that requires treatment). It could be that the possums here were infecting each other. Leena, Yoshi and Švejk all required treatment with antibiotics. Pesto had a cloaca infection, and also required treatment. All were successfully treated, and since that time the possums here have appeared to be infection-free. However, many possums have moved away, or at least we have not seen them for some time: Leena, Yoshi, Pesto (this one makes the most sense, as he seemed to be a male passing through for breeding season), Java and Zorba. We didn't expect Kiki to come back after she moved away, but she did. A possum who reminds me of Ninja has visited nestboxes a few times. Hopefully at least some of the other possums will visit. [The photo above depicts Leena after her infection cleared up.]




Leena's Recovery

Leena's infection was particularly bad. The small photos above give an inadequate idea of the severity. The area around her eye was very swollen and scabbed over, and more bits of infection were visible all around her face/head. It didn't start out all that bad, and I was just going to let it be, but suddenly it seemed to get significantly worse almost overnight. She looked very bedraggled for quite a while. When her fur grew back, it was a slightly different shade of grey to the rest of the fur.



Heavy Rain/Flooding 2010-11

I am not sure exactly when, but I think around August 2010 a period of extreme rain and dampness began. It rained pretty close to every day for months. The Possum TV house was not located in an area affected by flooding, but there were areas fairly nearby that were. The house was very much affected by the constant damp, and there was a lot of mold and mildew. At around this time possums seemed to stop using the nestboxes as much, and some of the possums disappeared altogether. One issue could be that in the flooding, carpet pythons fled to higher ground, and sought out the property here. There is footage of a carpet python in one of the nestboxes. It could be that the possums had to be more careful - especially mothers with babies, as babies are probably a good size for a python snack.




Gumdrop

The ringtail Gumdrop is still around (and during Winter 2011 became a regular visitor.) For a while, we didn't know for sure she was the same one, and were calling her Wattle. However, in comparing photos, we have seen that Gumdrop has a very distinctive scarring pattern on her face. One thing that is new is that she is now missing a little piece of one ear. Gumdrop has had babies named Rosebud, Gumnut and a new one named Chilli. Gumdrop still occasionally sleeps in box #2. Sometimes she has Chilli with her, or (more frequently at the time of writing) Chilli sleeps alone in the box. [Update: One day power company workers were trimming trees near the box Chilli was sleeping in, and since that time he has not returned to the box.]

A male adult ringtail spotted from time to time was named Stilton.




Kiki and Lex

Lex first made an appearance in late August 2011 (he's Kiki's 5th baby.) So far he's one of the most orange babies we've had. He began taking food by hand pretty close to immediately, and Kiki has already (early September) begun to occasionally leave him on his own even though he is still very small.

Here he is a little bigger and less orange. (This photo was taken by GK about a month later.) Lex first became tangled in the wires when he attempted to climb them, but it wasn't long before he worked it out.




Lex

Lex died on December 21st, 2011. We think he was hit by a car. A neighbour found him, and let us know. GK buried Lex in the garden.

The photo above was taken one night before he died. I thought he was growing into a very strong and healthy-looking possum. It was getting to the time when he had to find his own place. It could be that during his search he encountered roads and cars with which he was previously unfamiliar.




Marlon

Marlon is a young adult male who had been in the area for a while, frequently sleeping in nestboxes. His arrival fits the pattern of some other males who have come to stay for a while before moving on. He was very shy, though, and it took a very long time before he came over to say hello. Once he did, it was apparent that he had injuries that weren't healing properly, and it was necessary to give him antibiotics. I wasn't sure it would be possible, since he was a very wary possum, and had only come close to us a few times, but somehow through the course of treatment his anxiety lifted. He had unusual wounds on the insides of his front legs that had developed into staph infections - in a way it almost looked as if he had slit his 'wrists'. Marlon made a full recovery.




Lychee and Wasabi

Lychee and Wasabi are Gumdrop's babies. We do not feed them.

[Note: We later tried, and succeeded to some extent.]



Possum Injuries 2011

In 2011, Svejk was treated for two infections, while Kiki and Marlon were treated for one each. Click here to see the before and after photos. Three occurred within a short time span. Late spring/early summer (in Australia) may be a particularly stressful time for the possums here. In previous years, clusters of infections and accidents have occurred at a similar time.



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Note: I receive both antibiotics and advice from a vet who has extensive experience treating wildlife - Dr Jim Pollock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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