Unexpected Visitor

[bryan1]

G'day Guy's,
Well with a few days off I got working on our new shed beside the house and decided to finally get the 100+ yr old wood stove out of the shearing shed. Anyway when I was loading it on the trailer I felt something furry and wondered what in the hell it was.



So got my Iphone 4 and took a pic and a possum decided to take residence while I was getting the tractor and trailer.



Above is a pic of the wood stove on it's side, it is a Metters No.2-V Improved and on doing some research this stove was made around the turn of the 19th century.

Anyway took the wood stove up to my shed and started stripping it as I'm going to totally rebuilt it with only the front and sections of the top staying. The side and oven will be fabricated and converted to use some fire bricks for better efficiency and I'll be putting a plate on the back of it so I can instal some 24 volt fans to direct warm air into my electronics room and the battery room.

With top open I got a good pic of the critter.



Anyway as possums are night critters I'll leave the stove on it's side so it can scamper out after dark then I can get the stove fully stripped and measured up.

Cheers Bryan

 

[jpanhalt]

Interesting animal. Up here, we usually spell the name with a silent o, opossum. They are quite docile and as you note, they play possum (dead) as a defense.

I looked up the Australian version. Ours seem to have a longer snout and smaller ears. If they snarl and open their mouth, they do look pretty toothy. The ones around here also have well developed anal glands, and although they can't spray like a skunk can, they can can leave quite a stink.

John

 

[steveB]

... they play possum (dead) as a defense.

... and it seems to have worked very effectively !!!

 

[davenn]

Interesting animal. Up here, we usually spell the name with a silent o, opossum. They are quite docile and as you note, they play possum (dead) as a defense..............
John

In New Zealand they are Opossums (O is sounded) but across the ditch in Australia ... as Bryan says, they are possums
The NZ ones are not native, introduced from England/Europe and they are anything but docile. They are an extremely wild ball of fur, sharp claws and snarling teeth!!

Dave

 

[HiTech]

Possums in my area are nasty and hold their ground against dogs, cats, and humans. I discovered one in my firewood pile. It snarled at me and refused to exit. I pulled out a firelog far enough that it retreated behind it and then I kicked the log hard against the rodent and the block wall. End of the road for him.

 

[jpanhalt]

By docile, I didn't mean like a golden retriever. My frame of reference was raccoons and groundhogs. Those beasts can be downright unfriendly. Raccoons can even be aggressive.

John

 

[MrAl]

Hi,

Wow it's been a long time since i heard a good possum story. Over 30 years ago i took pics of one at the bottom of the garbage can in New Jersey. Here they dont seem too aggressive they just run away. They do look like they can inflict quite a bit of damage to the skin with those dang teeth dont they.

A while back we had a large skunk out at the garbage can here where i live now. He seems to have gone away now though. He too was in the bottom of the can and i (carefully) took pics of him too. Very sharp looking animals.

Back where i used to live way back then we had all kinds of stuff wander into our yard. Horses, goats, rabbits, skunks, possums, moles, squirrels, chipmunks, huge birds, you name it. Here i have seen one mole and one skunk and some squirrels and rabbits.

We do have to be careful here now though as bear seem to be migrating as they look for other sources of food. They end up in peoples back yards sometimes.

We also have a big problem with deer as they like to cross highways and other roads in this area. People hit them on an almost regular basis.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

In New Zealand they are Opossums (O is sounded) but across the ditch in Australia ... as Bryan says, they are possums
The NZ ones are not native, introduced from England/Europe and they are anything but docile.

I don't think they were introduced from England/Europe, I've never heard of any in Europe, and there are certainly non native to the UK - presumably we have a few in zoos?.

We have had a few wallabies though - a number of colonies have survived after escapes from zoos, I don't know if any are still around or not though. One famous colony was not too far from here http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Wallaby-sighting-Peak-District/story-11634514-detail/story.html

 

[Mikebits]

Maybe he meant the English colonies of early Americas?

 

[jpanhalt]

More likely the Spanish colonies. Apparently, Vicente Yanez Pinzon (commander of Columbus' ship Nina) found one in Brazil and took it back to Queen Isabella. The Europeans had no prior experience with marsupials, as there are none there. John Smith's description in the English literature was 100 years later.

See: https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2013/08/opossum.pdf

Another interesting fact: Opossums are immune to rattlesnake and similar snake venom. If that whets your appetite, please read more in that most interesting monograph referenced above.

John

 

[rumpfy]

The possums that bryan1 is talking about are the Australian possums. These animals are marsupials and sleep during the day/active at night. They were introduced into New Zealand for their fur. In Australia they are a protected species even though they breed profusely and have a versatile appetite.
In New Zealand, Stoats were introduced as well as possums. There are believed to be over 60 million possums in NZ. In NZ, the native animals are ground dwelling birds and these have come under enormous pressure from the possums and stoats. The KIWI bird is native to NZ and this is where the nickname 'Kiwis' comes from.
New Zealand has developed a fabric blend of sheeps wool, combined with possum fur, and this material makes the most wonderfully warm, soft fabric for high quality clothing. Possumwool.
It was in the early 1800's that the Maori(NZ native people) made an agreement with the british crown to get protection from the crown against the activities/actions of the sealers in NZ. The treaty was the 'Treaty of Waitangi' and Treaty day is celebrated on the first Weekend in February each year. Its a marvel to see the Maori take their New Zealand Kauri planked war canoe to the water each year

 

[bryan1]

Well it seems that possum has taken up residence in my shed now as I saw it this morning on a roof rafter. O'well not long to go before the snakes are out again and if it's still there it will become lunch for that 6'+ eastern Brown Snake that lives beside my shed and often goes into the shed via the small hole I cut for it as I found it's much better at getting the mice than both of our cats.

 

[rumpfy]

Thats a mighty big snake; hope it sticks to eating mice rather than your pet jack russel

 

[steveB]

Thats a mighty big snake; hope it sticks to eating mice rather than your pet jack russel

Speaking of Jack Russels being eaten by unexpected visitors. Mine was attacked by a coyote one evening with my wife not too far away. The damned coyotes are getting too bold lately. If not for my bigger dog hearing the screams and coming to the rescue, my poor little dog would have been dinner.

I attached two pictures of the wounds and another of her relaxing with me during recovery. I also included a picture of the hero of my story.

I've spent the last four nights sleeping in a tree with camophlage on my body and mosquito net over my face. I have a special arrow with the coyotes name on it. Just waiting for a chance to deliver it

 

[MrAl]

Hi Steve,

Wow that's nasty. I hope you catch the critter. Maybe you should look into some electronic system to act as the watcher so you dont have to be so inconvenienced just because of a nasty critter that wonders into the area. You never know it could be the start of a trend too where you'll have to take up permanent residence in the backyard treehouse. But then i guess you could start making cookies and crackers too