Roof Possum-bilities?

© D.O.C., New Zealand.

The Australian brush tailed possum was introduced into New Zealand in 1837 to establish a fur trade.The possum has a thick, bushy tail, a pointed snout and long, fox-like tapering ears. Size and weight of possums varies greatly across New Zealand. Adult possums are typically between 65 and 95cm in length, and can weigh anywhere between 1.4 and 6.4kg.

There are two general colour forms, grey and black, although each of these varies greatly.

• Grey possums are generally a clear grizzled grey on the body, with the face pale grey, darker around the eyes and on the side of the snout, and white at the base of the ears.
• Black possums are generally a deep, yellowish-brown, tinged with rusty red. The ears have little or no white at the base and the tail is nearly entirely black.

The damage to native forests can be seen all too clearly in many areas. Possums ignore old leaves and select the best new growth. In some areas they have eaten whole canopies of rata, totara, titoki, kowhai and kohekohe.

Possums compete with native birds for habitat and for food such as insects and berries. They also disturb nesting birds, eat their eggs and chicks and may impact on native land snails. Dairy and deer farmers have the added worry of possums spreading bovine tuberculosis. Possums are a nuisance in suburban gardens, and sometimes even indoors.

For a number of consecutive nights around 2:00am, we have heard one (or more?) of these critters somewhere in the darkness outside. (Have I mentioned how dark the darkness can be on a cloudy night in the countryside with no neighbours, no streetlights? The answer… not extremely dark, but very most extremely dark.)

The sounds these creatures make are quite distasteful.

There is a strong possum-bility that we have one or more of these critters living in the roof, and we need to eradicate the problem sooner rather than later. At least one possum has definitely been chomping on the tree just outside the living room, as we can see by the forensic evidence on the lawn every morning -  a bunch of half-eaten leaves and branches.