An Update On The Possum Box
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ย. 2024
- Thanks for all the comments on the possum box video, it was great to see so many people looking at it from the possum's perspective. A lot of people I talk to see them as pests and nothing more, so it was exciting to see all the caring comments. I wanted to update you all on the situation with the possums.
Have your say, and subscribe for more:
/ @robinlewis2
Visit my other channel:
/ @robinlewismakes
Robin you are a prince among men with your gentle and kind nature. Thank you.
Thanks for the update and your compassion towards these wonderful animals, Robin.
Thank you for caring and creating a super fine home for them.
It’s really great you’re trying to help them 🙂
They’re such intelligent little marsupials.
ontinuing on - as well as your second video & its so so nice to see someone else who cares about helping our wildlife instead of killing them off or sending them away. Your kindness is inspiring.
I love this, and the previous video about the critters so much. I am in America and was just trying to figure out how to build a house for one and found these. Thank you so very much for sharing. Sorry the first one got ill. Thanks also for such a good explanation on making a home for one. We just bought 15 acres and I am terrified of ticks. Lol these lil buggers love em for snacks, therefore they are more than welcome! I am gonna have boxes in every tree! They really are great animals to have around, not just for the ticks! Again, thank you! 💙
Thankyou for caring! Native animals appreciate and need us to actively care👍🐾💚
Thank you for the graphic warning and looking out for our furry friends, very kind of you Robin.
I just watched your other video and was so excited you did this follow up! Thank you for looking after them.
The articles I have read say they do not live in trees. The one in my yard lives in my work shop on the floor in a corner behind stuff. I am needing to make a box and move possum because it is blind now and can't always find it's way out to go potty, but I want it safe and warm for winter. poor baby gropes it's way around my yard walking into to things
I read an article that said you need to take some bedding from where they are staying and put in the house (leaves and twigs) and it should be between six and eight feet off of the ground and facing south to keep cold winds out.
Great work Robin. why don't you block up the other holes or spaces in the wall cavity, and then put some fruit in and around the possum box, to entice them to go there? Cheers
You're a good man Rob! 👍♥️
All done with RL2 now and closing in on finishing your main channel too. It's been very interesting watching you grow as a woodworker and getting an insight into what goes on behind the scenes. Cheers mate.
Thank you for the update. Most importantly, thank you for being such a kind soul! This world needs more people like you in it.
I have one that comes when I call my cat .It comes running and I go running inside . I do leave out food for it though. We call it Silly Willy.
Nice to see someone trying to help opossum I feed raccoons and opossums
Every night.
Also found a baby that fell off its mothers back and took it to a animal rescue.
Good try with the build nice job.
Thank you for being such a kind soul, we need more people like you in this world!
You did a great job on the box and all you can do is try to help them out where you can! I find that the lack of food and water is their main trial in neighborhoods where there isn't much wild area to find food in. It's hard to second guess why they wouldn't use the box. It could be because there's only one way in and out! I know cats won't use a dog house because of that. The hole may also have been too small or too high...who knows? I don't think it's because it's too low because they're staying much lower than that if they're under the corner of your house. I have one (or two) that come out to eat my cats' food every night and I'd prefer that they don't move into my garage, which has an opening for the cats to go in and out, but.... They aren't pests! They're really good scavengers and keep the neighborhood cleaner by eating dead birds, etc. They're also supposed to kill mice and rats, which is a good thing! I don't know WHERE this one is living, but it must be close because it's coming to eat during daylight hours too. My cat food bill is ridiculous.. LOL I have been throwing boiled eggs out every couple of nights as well as a pear or apple. It's not THEIR fault that their habitat has been destroyed by humans. It's the least we can do, to TRY and accommodate them as well as we can! I also have a skunk showing up regularly and REALLY don't want rabies vector animals around, but as long as it's not a whole family of 'em, I guess I'm feeding them too!
Marcy RP Many years ago I had two dogs, a cat, and a desert tortoise sleeping in the same doghouse. Who would have thought.
DL Powerpuff Girls
Indeed proximity to ground might be why they haven't moved in, but might also be worth looking into what direction the entrance faces? In Australia the instruction is to have the entrance facing north.
Incorrect, NOT north. Basically away from direct sun and prevailing winds.
Three to five metres is optimum height for possums. Put fruit in the tree and they’ll move in. Best way would be to evict the ones you have out of your house and block it up and they will find somewhere else, as long as you entice them. That box will be way easier for them to get in and out of and not as cramped as where they are.
I'm a bit late seeing your vids and appreciate the design for box housing for them. Thanks!
Soany don't know that they're the ONLY Marsupial in North America and are very beneficial for lawns, eating mole crickets grubs and snakes of all types. I wish people DIDN'T KILL THEM! & would HELP SAVE THEM like you are. 👍
YES! dude Youre my hero!
It's not the box. I think it's the position also being right on the road. Maybe if there is a tree behind your house? I loved the little details you did while making the box. Lovely job, maybe just try it somewhere else.
What could be the problem is that possums are territorial and the box maybe a little too close to where the other possums are.
Thank you for this video!! Did you happen to ask if the possum could have gotten the dermatitis from living in that spot? You mentioned that they get it from the humidity. Just made me think. Thank you for looking after these cuties!
could you make one box for sale? thank you.
I'm a LOVE U for CARING SOO MUCH for all the OPPOSSUM'S!! I have one that cines in my garage all the time,so I feed it and give. Him or her water also!! I LOVE them!! Ur SOO RIGHT about that piss poor attitude people have about wanting to get rid of them!! What if their neighbor's did the SAME EXACT THING to them!! Considered them a "PEST!!" There are "ANIMAL OWNER'S",then,there are ANIMAL LOVER'S", is what WE ARE! ALL ANIMAL'S are "GOD'S CREATURE'S!!" I knew a SELFISH,SHALLOW girl who gor rid if her cats cause they were NOT PERFECT! They got sick and acted crazy,she said!!I have had many a sick cats and CRAZY,and,I SACRIFICED other things to get them well,best I could and LOVED THEM VERY MUCH,and, they ALL GOT LOTS of ATTENTION from ME!! Anyway,the "OPPOSUM" that had the dermatitis bad,well,I am SOO SORRY she did not make it,however,she had "LOVE"fron "YOU",who CARED about her enough to call people to help her!! And,she had LOVE from them who were by her side when she went to heaven! That's VERY IMPORTANT to REMEMBER THAT!! U are a "SPECIAL KIND of PERSON!!" MAY U HAVE A WONDERFUL LIFE,FULL IF GOOD HEALTH, GOOD PEOPLE AND INNER PEACE ALWAYS!!!
Good person
I have had 25 generations of possums living in my garage. When I say 25 I mean that the female that occupies that spot for five years or so (short life span), has at least one baby a year. They pass it on to a daughter when they croak it. It is in the very far corner of the garage in a false stud wall, The entrance is at the top near the roof, but she goes right down to the bottom near the concrete as I hear her scratching and squabbling with her young down there. This becomes a problem when we go away as I have to secure the garage but leave enough of a gap to let them get in and out each day. I would prefer that they were not in there actually and I have made possum boxes for all sorts of places in the yard. All of those boxes become occupied, but they won't leave the garage. It doesn't matter how low a box is within reason. Just above where your hand could touch if you were reaching up is fine. The main problem possums have is getting very cold (and from memory it gets bloody cold in QLD in winter), so the box has to be insulated with a thick layer of wood (around twice the thickness of the wood you have used. Remember they would prefer to be in a hollow tree). The other problem is them getting hot in summer, so if the box is in direct sunlight this can make them really really hot. They will even get out of them or hang their head out occasionally because it is just too bloody hot. Choosing a spot to put the box, under cover of trees is best or thick foliage like in the leaves of a climbing plant. Thanks for getting back to us on this situation. (Zimbabwe or South Africa?}
They can climb trees?
Really? They are immune to snake venom and rabies, but die of a simple rash? Sheesh. By the way, mum's carry babies on their back. So maybe the hole was too small for her to climb in? Another thing to consider is they like to have soft cushiony areas to lay with her joeys. Try adding something soft in there. And one more thing: if you don't like checking because it's too high, maybe she thinks the same thing. Maybe she just doesn't want to climb that far up. I think it has to do with comfort, though. How is the climate? Possums have lower body temp than most animals, which is why they are less likely to get rabies. Just a few things to consider; though I'm sure you have just as much access to the internet and Google as I have. 😁
I've found three opossums in our washer at different times. The first one lived through the entire wash, rinse, spin cycle set at "extra dirty" and "pre soak"...came out smelling April Fresh! Apparently, Mum carries her babies on her back when trying to scale our beams upside down and occasionally drops one. The second one died a few weeks ago. I didn't get to the washer to transfer the clothes to the dryer, soon enough. 🥺 I have two babies in the basement right now, and getting ready to set them free. They can eat solids and were away from mum, so they're ready. One was in the washer (that's the third one...we caught sight of him before dumping in a load of clothes), and the other was in the trap that I set when I was trying to catch the mum. I was thinking about making them a hutch, but when I saw yours didn't work, I gave up (yeah, I DID sound like I had all the answers earlier in the post, didn't I?) 🤣 I'm hoping since they were born in the basement, and didn't climb in on their own, they may not be able to return, since they don't have access to MapQuest. I may put the dog carrier in the back yard with the door off, and let them acclimate to their new surroundings. I may toss a bit of fruit on there, but not enough to satisfy them. We'll see what happens. In our state, it is illegal to relocate wild animals, illegal to keep them as pets, but perfectly legal to kill them. So my only choice is to set them free in the back yard and hope they don't decide to climb the section of fence that is keeping the five full-sized dogs in their yard. They are SO LOUD!
I watched your video of building the possum box as well as y
You could make a bee box🐝 to catch a swarm instead of harbouring disease from a possum.haha.
What kind of disease are you talking about?
Marcy RP possums are not carriers of diseases?
Yeah, they actually remove diseases. They eat ticks and other bugs that carry diseases, help keep us safe from lime disease among many other things. Like bats and cats they get a bad rap, but they really help our community.
Australian opossums May be different, but N. American possums don’t live in trees. They live in burrows on the ground.
They are different, definitely tree dwellers, also, just possums no 'O'.
Bro where are you now is all ok
I have a possum trying to get in my house...how the hell do I get rid of it! It's trying to live in my house!
Mate they will get in at that height mine is probably about the same...they don't like paint so don't paint the next one....Cheers...
Is there a way to seal it without painting? To make it waterproof or whatever so the wood doesn’t rot? Not being a smarty just need to know what to do. Thanks a bunch.
I read that the box needs to be same height or higher that where they should move out from. Better real-estate 😀.
But I'm not am expert
Looks like your missing the 'ladder' on the inside for them to get out. Maybe thats the reason?
Yes, I was thinking that myself. Other designs I've seen have steps made from small branches inside.
Drives me nuts with all the Americans saying oposums when it's just a POSSUM - there's no 'o'. This is in Australia - there's no such thing as an opossum here; completely different animal.