Romeo & Juliet - A Winters Tale

It all started out as a ‘normal’ call out… Female voice on end of phone stating that one maybe two possums had been found in two old car bodies her father had bought to ‘do up’ The details were sparse, but a rescue’s a rescue, so off I trotted… rescue kit at the ready.

I arrived to find two very rusty, dirty, oily 1930’s Daimler cars full of odd bits of body, engine and who knows what else. After a bit of a peek under the remains of the bonnet and a dig around in the back, a big grey fluff ball was spotted, partly down a hole, under something that can only be described as “stuff” under more messy “stuff”. I gathered up a large fold down cage, put on the full safety gear - heavy leather jacket, long leather gloves, beanie [in case they made it up my arm onto my head], towel and prepped the owner on how to safely close the lid once possum was placed in, as I wouldn’t have a spare hand or time to close it myself.

Old 1930's Daimler, similar to ones in rescue

Firstly I had to make sure nothing would fall on the possum, then I made my move… Gotchya! The possum was about 2kg, a good sized juvenile with plenty of fight, just as I turned to put it in the cage, I slipped on a bit of car and he wiggled out of my grip! As luck would have it the possum headed straight for an enclosed area with me in hot pursuit… a net would have been useful as possums, when cornered, can be quite vicious so with care I approach and again luck smiled on me. as it headed up the wall in front of me making it easy…. Gotchya..again! The transition into the cage was made with a big sigh of relief.

Now to find out if was there another one in there? The Car’s owner said, yes… Whilst I was chasing the first one, the other had de-camped and headed for the other car body. Again came the careful movement of boxes, windscreens and bits of canvas all covered in possum poo. I hoped this one was going to be easier… smaller and in a better position, I grab what turned out to be a little girl, put her in the big cage only to see her flatten herself out and start to slip between the bars of the cage. A wild grab and someone was dispatched to get the smaller basket from my car. Two possums captured and no injuries.


“So”…I asked… “Where did you buy the cars? I’ll need to take them back and release them within 50mts as soon as possible“ The answer surprised me… “You’ve got quite a trip then mate… we got these in Victoria! A bloke brought them, then got sick and sold them to us a few weeks later, we’ve just spent two days bringing the cars home on the back of a trailer”. So with no other option I took the pair home and secured them in my ‘spare’ Aviary.

A few frantic calls later we determined that they cannot be released in South Australia, so unless we can get them across the border they will have to be euthanased. They seemed to be fit and well, with no visible signs of stress [ie mange or hair loss] so destroying them would be a terrible shame. In the mean time we gave them a good feed of leaves and fruit, as it was likely they’d probably not eaten in the last few days.

As luck would have it my Father is a wildlife rescue officer in Victoria, so I called him, outlined our ‘problem’ and asked him to make some enquiries from his end. An email was sent around to members of Fauna Rescue asking if anyone would be driving to Victoria in the near future as we had two visitors who might need a lift back home.

The next day my father gave me a name and number for a Wildlife Vic. Carer called K, who lives in Nhill near the main highway (between Adelaide & Melbourne) who may be able to help. I called and explained what had happened. K immediately stated she would help, if we could get them to her she had a site where they could go straight away, except she’d be on holiday for next two weeks.

Over the next two weeks we had numerous offers to transport the possums home, people even offered to make a special trip to take them. We’re not talking short distances… this is a 600-700km round trip! Unfortunately all the offers were either when K was away or a couple of weeks later and we were keen to get them home sooner rather than later, before they became ‘humanised’. 

Romeo either helping to hold or stealing sweet potato from Juliet

A decision was made to extend my day off to 3 days leave and then I’d travel the extra 3hrs further to see my parents for a long weekend. So on a wet and wooly Wednesday afternoon our road trip began. The box, covered over and seat belt used to strap it in. [Business class compared to their last trip…]whilst C stayed home to care for our other possums and two dogs.

I’m not sure how many of you have driven long distances on fairly straight roads with little traffic on your own in the wet and gathering darkness, but it isn’t fun! Especially as you need to keep noise levels as low as possible to prevent the possums further stress. I was glad to make it to Nhill 3.5hrs later, Romeo and Juliet were quickly moved to a prepared aviary and settle in for the night, while I continue on my trip.

On the Saturday I dropped in to K’s on my way home. K told me that the pair were at a release site already, she’d checked them out the next morning and as they were in good health and no worse for wear after their trip she saw no reason to extend their captivity. Romeo and Juliet now have their own little Hamlet… a ‘native tree’ forested area with no in-situ possum families and appear to have happily settled in.  so All’s well, that ends well.

(Thank you to everyone that offered to help both from Fauna Rescue SA and Wildlife Vic. It was nice that interstate friendships can be founded over such seemingly little things as two ‘accidentally’ well traveled possums.) 

PS: I hope Shakespeare doesn't mind my shameless use of his works in my story :) 

...

Crèche your possums

Crècheing both Ring-tails and Brush-tails is important for their well being and improves their chances of survival. They become less reliant on their human mum at an earlier age than without a buddy, their natural instincts seem to develop much quicker, they are also less likely to be stressed and are generally much happier with a possum friend to cuddle up to and keep them company.

Star came to us as at 300gms, having just lost her mum in an animal attack and was extremely nervous. She would barely feed and flinched at the slightest noise or movement. However when crèched with Luna who was raised by us from 160gms, they immediately formed a strong bond and if Star was ever startled or distressed, Luna would make a bee-line to her and would comfort and protect her. They have since moved on to an outdoor area and are often still seen together happily eating leaves and climbing trees.

Crècheing has also helped us rehabilitate possums that may not have made it on their own. For example: Little Blink was born with one eye* and abandoned at 80grams. She was also injured and had stitches to her back leg, which restricted her movement. We weren’t sure that she was going to develop her balance, coordination and climbing skills, and half expected to have to make the hard decision. But we were lucky to find her a buddy when she was still less than 400g.

After a bit of physio from her human mum, to help stretch out and strengthen her back leg and lots of encouragement and learning and developing her skills by playing chasing games with a very healthy and energetic little boy (TJ), she can now move more freely and is a happy and healthy possum. She is still a little uncoordinated at times, but when seen playing with TJ we are happy knowing she has a bright future. 

Brush-tails can be a little harder to crèche than Ring-tails especially the male / female mix. Ring-tails will more instinctively cling to each other as babies, provided they are not too stressed and scared. While many Brush-tails will take to their new buddy without incident, we have had several sets whose initial instinct was a little stand offish, more an expression of ‘who are you’ and ‘what are you doing in my pouch’ than anything else. Often it starts with a little Mexican stand-off, staring at each other then lots of remonstrating, chirps and squawks, a little pushing and shoving and maybe even a ear bite, each trying to push the other out of the pouch. But they soon learn to tolerate someone else in their space, they learn to love each other and are happy with a friend to play with. 

It can take a few sessions of introducing them and then spending time holding the possums in the pouch together, either trying to stop them running away or being a mediator when they start to have spats, but the persistence is well worth the time. We have found the younger they are crèched the easier it is, as they are less like to have started to claim their territory.

It is quite satisfying to watch a pair of happy little Brush-tails playing a game of ‘tag you're it’ around an aviary. Although I am not sure the neighbours would agree when the game gets a little boisterous, with two possums bouncing around the aviary at full speed creating an awful noise at 2am. 

In the last year alone, we have successfully crèched 4 pairs of Brush-tails, three male / female pairs [including TJ & Blink] and one female / female pair [Star & Luna], along with four pairs of the much easier Ring-tails. 

* Please note that on veterinary advice a possum born with one eye has a good chance of developing the skills to cope with limited sight. This may not be the case with every possum, especially with an older one that loses its sight due to injury. Please always seek the advice of a vet or discuss the case with a Possum coordinator, to ensure the best interests of the possum and its well being are considered.
Acknowledgement: This article written by Mrs Noah.

 

On the other hand...

Having dedicated a whole post to the tragedy of dealing with injured possums, I have here a story of success against the odds.

Blink was born with one eye and was found injured as a baby. It is likely she was either 'deposed' by a sibling, or her mum was attacked by another possum or cat and Blink was left to fend for herself.

Blink was found by a member of the public [like many of our rescues] and our friend S. took her to our local vet. As mentioned previously some vets will work on native animals 'pro-bono' only charging a nominal fee for medicines or x-rays etc [It's always best to check 1st though]

S initially thought she would be handing Blink over for euthanasia, however on examination the wound appeared superficial, but once checked out, the vet suggested stitching up the wound and giving her a chance as in his opinion if she was born one eyed, she would have a better chance of surviving than if she'd had 2 eyes then lost one later.

Blink

S readily agreed to have him patch up Blink and then took her home to provided post op care, keeping the closed wound clean and feeding antibiotics to her with her formula, as well as plenty of love and attention. After several weeks Blink was handed on to us to care for. We'd had a bad run, losing several possums too badly injured to survive, including one that came to us on Christmas eve... a little fellow called Nick, whose mum was either poisoned or had a kidney disease, he'd lasted a few days then passed away probably from whatever killed his mum. It made Christmas a sad occasion this year, so the opportunity to care for one with even a half chance of survival was jumped at.

Nick

My wife took over nursing duties and after a while the stitches in Blink's flank were removed. At this stage we were still unsure if Blink would survive, as she seemed to have difficulty using her back legs, dragging them behind her and was very uncoordinated with her impaired vision. 

Over a period of several weeks, my wife began physio with Blink, working her hind legs, giving her back massages, getting her to grab food, placing her on branches in the aviary and catching her as she invariably fell off again. Many a time my wife would come back into the house in tears, Blink having failed a simple climb or traverse of a branch, we worried that she'd need to be put to sleep.

If Blink didn't improve soon, we would have to make a hard decision and take her for euthanasia, because she wouldn't be able to survive if she couldn't walk and climb on her own. It's a decision we didn't want to make, as she''d shown she was a real fighter to have gotten that far. Within weeks we would need to put Blink and her new buddy TJ, outside in a large aviary. This would be the last chance for her. If she could not get around in the aviary, she had to go to the vets!

TJ and Blink

Then success! Blink began getting the hang of.. well, hanging on. She was not as strong or agile as we'd like, but perhaps, just perhaps she'd improve some more now. We put up extra branches and out to the aviary go TJ & Blink with plenty of soft leaf mulch on the ground, just in case Blink falls! At first Blink was reluctant to move off the shelf where their nesting box is placed, but over time she's realised she can get around and reach those juicy leaves and pieces of fruit, dotted around the aviary.

Blink on the shelf.

Finally climbing for leaves.

There's still a few months before they move onto the larger enclosures where they'll spend the rest of their lives and we see daily little improvements in Blink's movement. She's still a little uncoordinated and will never be as fast or agile as her buddy, TJ. But this is one little possum that has beaten the odds and will survive to a ripe old age when she could as easily have not made it past a few months.

Success, Blink gets to the juicy stuff!

TJ having a feed too.

When it goes wrong...

WARNING: This contains graphic images of injured and dying animals.

One thing to remember, is that Possums wouldn't normally need our help. For them to need our care in the first place, something dramatic has happened in their life.

Things that can lead to a possum being in care include; Severe weather events (Storms, strong winds, wild fires etc), Tree damage (either natural or through human intervention), Animal attack (other possums including their own siblings, birds, dogs, humans or by far the most common; cat attack), Human interaction (Hit by cars, demolishing buildings, vandalism or physical attack.) lastly there's factors like Natural Selection, Disease, Abandonment etc.

The Million Dollar Question:

With any possum entering into care the first thing we need to consider is: Will this possum survive?
Is it going to be able to live a normal life? If we answer No or Unlikely at that early stage, then 99.9% of the time the possum will be taken for euthanasia (put to sleep humanely).

Why?

We feel it is kinder to the possum not to make it suffer any longer than necessary, (despite what our vanity or feelings of wanting to give it a chance) as in most cases the possum will pass away despite our efforts and we would have just extended it's pain and suffering. It is also the view of many Vets, animal advocacy groups, the D.E.H and Fauna Rescue, that No animal should suffer un-necessarily.

Our experience:

In the last 12 months my wife and I have had many possums enter our care, about one half of these have been injured or ill and have not survived or were euthanased. One had an unknown infection, one was injured by a vehicle and the rest were cat attack victims.

Ring-tail attacked by a cat.

The injuries inflicted by cats are severe and if not treated within an hour or so of the attack, the possum is unlikely to survive due to the bacteria cats harbour in their claws and teeth. Cats (and dogs) will grab and shake the possum, causing neck and spinal injuries as well as punctures from teeth and claws.

This Ring-tail died in our arms from it's injuries.

The trauma of an attack (if the possum survives) can also manifest itself later as hair loss and mange infection, which if not treated can kill the possum.

How to treat a possum?

We are not going to give specific treatment information here, rather state that the first and best answer is always consult with a specialist; either a Vet or very experienced carer (call Fauna Rescue). These people will have seen or know how to treat most ailments you'll come across, and will also give you an independant view on a possum's chance of survival.

Vets should always be the ones to put any animal to sleep, they can do so quickly, humanely and painlessly.


Many vets will offer cheap or free services to registered animal carers, animal welfare or rescue groups etc. and will often only charge for medicines, giving their time for free. Wildlife in South Australia can also be 'surrendered' to a vet if the vet insists on charging you a fee for euthanasia as they are then legally bound to care for the creature (including euthanasia).

What Possum ?

By now you might be asking, "How do I tell the difference between Brush and Ring tail possums?"

The first difference is the most obvious... it's their tails !

Ginger, Female Juvenile Brush-tail 

In South Australia the Brush tail Possum's tail is all fluffy & bushy and usually dark gray to black, where as the Ring tail has a white or light creamy tip, somewhat like it's been dipped in a paint pot. (There are regional differences and variations)

Both have a bare patch on the underside of the tail to help with grip. 

Cooper and Mini, Juvanile Ring Tails 

Other less obvious differences are the size of an adult Ring-tail is about 1/2 that of an adult Brushy which can get into the 4kg size range (or as a comparison, small dog/large cat size)

The ears of a Ring-tail are more rounded and their faces more mouse like than the Brushy. The eye colour of a Ring-tail is usually lighter brown than the Brushy, which can be almost black and Ring-tails generally have a dark nose, whereas the Brushy has a pink tip. Both have fur that ranges from mid to dark gray over cream to white base, but again (as these photo's show, there are many variations)

Mini, Female Ringtail showing colouration and facial features.

Star & Luna, Brush-tails showing different colouration & facial features.

Then again... as a baby, Pinkies (fur less) or slightly furred possums look a lot like a baby macropod (Kangaroo, Wallaby etc)

Baby Brush-tail.

Setting up a cage for Possums

As with any wild animal where there’s a intent to keep it in captivity the common consensus is that the accommodation needs to be practical, but also approximate the natural environ where the animal is normally found.

 

Ok, cages or aviaries are not at all natural places for possums, but that’s part of the practical side… the idea is to provide a ‘jungle gym’ of branches etc so the possums can learn to balance, jump, and explore the strengths of branches etc without harm, in a way that allows us to get in and extract them for treatment, to clean up and provide food & water.

Recreating this environment:

Morialta National Park, South Australia

In this cage:

Larger cage can be split into 2x small ones.

 After several attempts we feel that we’ve achieved a fair approximation in both our indoor cages and the aviaries outside.

Converted shed/Aviary mk1 showing branches and ropes. water bottles for branches of leaves.

In the wild possums utilize drays [nests built from leaves and twigs] in the top layers of a tree, or inhabit hollows in the tree itself [often created when branches have dropped off during storms or drought]

Tree hollows: ideal possum homes

Home made Dray [home for 2x happy Ring Tail possums] with a small standard box on shelf to the right

As a baby, our possums have to learn how to transition from branch to nest for themselves, normally they would learn from the safety of their mum’s back. We have found a few days with their possum box on or just off the floor prevents injury from the inevitable ‘spill’ as they scrabble in and out. A few days later the box is securely fitted to the side of the cage approximately 20cm off the ground with access to a branch directly outside the entrance. After a couple of weeks the box is lifted to near the top of the cage.

1st level

 

The cage base is normally the same material as the sides so a little ‘debris’ loose leaves and twigs make it more natural.

An old blue or green sheet draped around the back & sides of the cage can give the possum some sense of security, but also keeps direct sun off the cage, stops possum wee and poo from splashing onto walls etc.

At first a container for their formula is positioned near a branch, this is removed as they are weaned off milk. In care, possums will rarely take a drink of water unless it’s extremely hot, in the wild we believe it’s even rarer instead they get their moisture from the leaves [and fruit] they eat, however it is a lawful requirement for water to be available for any captive animal so be prepared to change the water daily as the container is an ideal place to wee and poo!!

Several bottles of water are hung and wired in place around the cage to allow ‘live’ branches of leaves to be presented to the possums in an almost natural way. This helps them develop their stretching as well as searching instincts. These branches will last overnight if put in water or only a few hours if not.

2x Ring tail possums enjoy fresh leaves.

There are a couple of trains of thought regarding supplementing a possum’s diet. Most agree that because of the limited capacity of a carer to source leaves and the restrictive size of a cage compared to a possum’s normal ‘range’ we cannot completely fulfill a possum's dietary needs unless we supplement the natural leaves with ‘human prepared’ foods like pieces of apple, melon, sweet potato, kiwi fruit, spinach, silver beet, almonds etc.

Some carers will place all the fruit into a bowl in the cage or aviary, we prefer to make the possums exercise their senses and work for the food. By using the branches, twigs or bird feeder spikes, we hang and place the fruit in different places around the cage/aviary making a 'treasure hunt' for the possums each night..

Our possums are also hand fed a few mealworms every few days as an added ‘treat’ once they’re old enough to be relocated outside in an aviary. We feel that hand feeding should be kept to a minimum to prevent imprinting or overly domesticating the animal, however I've found the mealworms hard to present any other way.

The basics of setting up an aviary is no different except everything is larger or there’s more of it. As the possum box will also be bigger generally a shelf is used instead of damaging the aviary by fixing the box to the walls.

The biggest difference is cost… in Australia you can get a decent size cage for upwards of $150 but a custom made aviary big enough to house possums will cost in excess of Australian $700-800. We found a standard shed will cost $300-400 so a handyman [or handy-lady] could easily convert the shed for $100-150. (which is what I did… twice!)

converted shed/aviary mk2.

* Please note this blog conveys the author's ideas and opinions only, another carer may have found contrary things work well for them. We cannot say who would be most correct, however our possums have all been fit and healthy when passed onto carers with larger aviaries for longer term care, so what we're doing cannot be too wrong. We are constantly open to new ideas and ways of improving the orphaned possum's chances of survival.

Learning the hard way…

In the wildlife section of book stores there’s no 1st time parent's baby manual called “The Baby Possum’s first days” or “Bringing Baby Possum Home” so at home the learning curve is, by necessity, very steep and fraught with danger.

We learned most of these lessons through trial and error... mainly error and we were lucky that no 'major' mistakes were made as Ollie turned out fine (at least we think he did....)



Lesson #1 - never leave possum in his pouch, on the feeding table and turn your back, or your baby possum will get scared and take a flying leap towards his ‘mum’ al la sugar glider style... splat onto the carpet! Because, as Ollie found out; 1/ a baby possum's perception of distance is not yet developed, 2/ there needs to be a certain amount of grip to provide a decent jumping platform and 3/ brush-tails definitely cannot fly!

Lesson #2 – Don’t wear ½ decent clothes whilst giving a baby Possum attention… as they have no etiquette and will wee whenever startled or scared... copious amounts... normally down your arm, over your shoulder or in your lap.

Lesson #3 – when transitioning from feeding by syringe to lapping from a bowl, be prepared to clean possum’s face regularly as they’ll invariably dive face first into the milk. Again their depth perception is not yet developed.

Lesson #4 – always remember to close both doors on the cage, otherwise an adventurous possum will end up on top of the cage or climbing up your curtains, or worse still wee-ing from the top of the cage onto your curtains when he gets scared of you climbing up to capture him again!

Lesson #5 – wear your beanie when handling a possum… especially one called Ollie, as they’ll always try to find the highest place when frightened … ie: the top of your head! It also pays to keep your mouth shut if possum does get on top of your head… [see Lesson #2]


 
Lesson #6 - If you have hyper sensitive hearing... wear ear plugs. 1/ if you want a good night sleep as a possum jumping from branch to branch in a cage or aviary can be quite noisy. (You might also consider where your aviary is situated so your neighbours are not disturbed) and 2/ a possum eating a piece of apple or sweet potato an few cm from your ear is very loud.