AusBonsai

I've been engaged in war with bushrats and possums (brishtail and ringtail) for over 8 years.

There is nothing you can do. The dog is useless, as the possums sit just out of reach and growl at her, causing her to bark and the neighbours to call the cops. If you trap and release them less than 50 metre away, they will beat you back home. No reppelents i have tried have worked, and i compliled a list of things to try. Ive been through pretty much all of them, no sucess.

The ringtails are USUALLY worse than the brushtails, as they ring-bark branches/trunks, whilst the brushtails only rarely nibble on new growth. Yes, you will get attacked. No, you cant stop it without inconveniencing your access to your trees. Please tell me of any success you have.

JayC

I'll just have to make sure i keep the trap stocked with our apples

Do you own a trap?

and yes, i know your statement

JayC wrote: If you trap and release them less than 50 metre away, they will beat you back home.

Is very true.

They love our Willow and Apple trees unfortunately, so they keep coming back.

Se live at the bottom of Natone Hill in the middle of Lindisfarne,
the Skyline of Natone hill has quite a large expanse of trees, just large enough to get lost for 15 minutes or so of walking if u have a small sense of direction
back to the story...
after catching possums consistently for a 2 to 3 weeks and dropping them up the top of the hill, we wanted to know if it was ths same possum... Because it was insane checking the trap every day to find possums every second or so, So we put a Spray paint (Spray pack?) Green line on the side of the possum,i know, i know, unethical, but the only way we'd know for sure. (It was a dark colour ok? it wasn't flourescent!)
so the next day we caught another possum.
A bit smaller, and no line.
following day,
No possum.
Third day, hi there buddy, green line back

So every since we've been dropping them at least one suburbs distance away. In different patches of trees.

I have a many big mature trees and millions of possums in the yard.

My possum deterrent cost me 250 dollars and is a Jack Russell by the name of "Willy".

The possums stay in the canopy, never getting within 2 metres of the ground due to the very diligent policing of the yard by Willy.

My Bonsai have not been touched since we got him.

A greek friend of mine tells me they make great souvlaki !!! (I would love to see one on a spit roast with an apple in it's mouth ) ....after all they do like apples don't they? (Then it will think twice about defoliating my Fukien Tea!!)
One of the larger ones apparently feeds up to 4 (Provided it is served with greek salad and garlic bread)

i have eaten possum, they serve it in a place on salamanca with thier gormet meat selection...

and id do it again

aw aw dont let ace read that azz

Go to your green grocer explain what happend,then ask for any fruit that is being tossed and use that to feed the possum.Better doing that than loosing your bonsai's every night. Petra!

Its good to see the Australian community have respect for laws regarding native animals. Its interesting to see that while bonsai is about connecting people with nature, as soon as something gets in your way you are happy to do what ever it takes to remove the threat or get what you want (including collecting tree's here), regardless of the laws you break. Well done... Well done indeed.

Try living with them while keeping your tree's safe instead of breaking the law and opening up a new home for a new possum group....



Oh and for those interested, I have done a lot of work for possum rescue, both Brush tail and ring tail's as well as other native animals.

Thats wierd about possums chewing on bonsais. I see possums in my backyard and hear them scurrying around on my roof almost nightly. They make strange hissing noises as well. Theres a beautiful ringtail nesting in my large lime tree. The possum made a nest from bits of branches and lemon leaves. But not a single one of my two hundred odd bonsai has ever been chewed. Although I do have a large avacado tree growing in the ground that looks as though many of its leaves has been chewed but theres just too many leaves that it doesnt hurt the avacado at all. Maybe just grow a large avacado tree in the ground and let it chew on the leaves instead?

Possum just turned my Pussy Willow into a windswept overnight. No evidence of eating but knocked it clean off the stand and broke a significant branch. No happy, but his/her styling 'advice' not overly bad.

I constantly hear complaints about possums from my customers in the nursery, the only people I know who have been successful in keeping them off their property have done so with electric fencing. In my native country (NZ) we tend to wear them but that is rightfully illegal here.
Craigw

Jordy wrote:Ok right, so we have possums visit our house regularly.
being pains, climbing inside our roof, running across our colorbond, eating our apple tree.

Is it likely that they will destroy my Bonsai?

E.g. I wake up in the morning to find a gnawed stump?

are these scenarios possible? Likely? bound to happen?

Jordy.

Yes they will chew foliage!

Check out StrayBan on google.http://www.strayban.com.au/

We have come to an understanding with our possums. They are OK to sleep in the roof on the outside of our entry but not in the collection.

Grant

Did you cut that rail to let them in there, or just square the chewed hole up for presentation purposes? Either way, given the agreement you have with them, what a special edition to an Australian Bonsai exhibition!

Edit- I'm sure they are enjoying Floriade atm. Plenty of nice petals to chew...

Mitchell wrote:Did you cut that rail to let them in there, or just square the chewed hole up for presentation purposes? Either way, given the agreement you have with them, what a special edition to an Australian Bonsai exhibition!

Edit- I'm sure they are enjoying Floriade atm. Plenty of nice petals to chew...

Initially they chewed their way between the slats and they would have just kept going at it; so I removed a small portion of a slat to allow them easy access to a space outside the collection and a safe place to rest.

It is tight and the mum foced out last years juvnile a few weeks ago and now it is just mum and recent baby.

The baby has almost fallen out twice that I have seen. Very cute and sweet.

Grant