Ours are cute enough but tend to move into the roof (or in our case,
the bathroom wall) have a fairly musky smell that they rub around
from a gland on their chest and are just too dumb to tame down much.
The tail is furred (it is a 'Brushtail Possum') with a bare grip
strip on the bottom and it is used as a fifth limb for a wraparound
grip.
Old wooden houses often have possum pee stains on the ceilings and
some holes in odd places where they've chewed a way in. A big female
is the size of a fat cat and they can keep us awake playing chasey on
the tin roof - the sound of them landing from a jump with a loud
thump or arguing with a rather chilling squall of a noise is part of
life here. They get bold and sometimes you can give them a pat or
stroke but always at the risk of a decent bite - and the claws are
sharp enough to hold them nose down vertical on a tree truck. Ask me
how much they can hurt!
The tamest I've seen was a female that let me check the naked baby in
the pouch while she was eating the sandwich I made her - they adore
apples, peanut butter and berry jam sandwiches and muesli bars. Some
people declare war on them as they have a taste for rose buds (best
use for roses in my view).
They got to be a real pest in NZ after introduction there and it is
possible to buy possum meat from there but it isn't a popular item.
And yes, it does taste a bit like chicken, or rabbit, or...
There are several species in Oz, including one rainforest type with
greenish fur due to a algal growth, I believe. There is a slightly
larger 'Mountain' version close to my north, the Bobuck which does
not invade homes. Last night I spotted a Mother and Baby of the
Ringtail Possum in my garden, a much smaller and insufferably cute
species. I got the shots (10D, 420EX, 70-200/2.8) but haven't checked
them yet. They are like those African bushbabies that were once so
popular and do not live in the roof - they make a drey, like squirrels.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pbase.com/afildes
On 07/03/2006, at 9:31 AM, Walt Wayman wrote:
> It's not their fault they've got bare nekkid tails. Is your'n
> completely covered with pretty fur? :-) The main difference
> 'tween a cute squirrel and a vermin rat is, one's got a hairy tail
> and the other'n don't. We feed peanuts to one and shoot the
> other. Possums are fun. They are natural comics, and several live
> quite peacably in our back yard with the coons, squirrels,
> chipmunks, beavers, and woolybooggers.
>
> Here's one doing something or other:
>
> http://home.att.net/~hiwayman/wsb/media/192375/site1093.jpg
>
> Walt
>
> --
> "Anything more than 500 yards from
> the car just isn't photogenic." --
> Edward Weston
>
> -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: "Bill Pearce" <bs.pearce@xxxxxxx>
>>
>>
>>>> Not at all like the possum's we have around here, with long
>>>> disgusting
>>>> rat-like tail.
>> Not like the giant rat things we have here, either!
>>
>> Bill Pearce
>>
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