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Brushtail Possum Information

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    The brush tail possum is one of the family Phalangeridae being the normal number of the possum present in New Zealand. It is the species called Trichosurus Vulpecula. These imported pests from Australia came into the united states inside mid 1800's as being a meal source and as being a product for trapping and skinning to the pelt. The possum can be a marsupial animal, called because after birth the young are carried in a very pouch located on the mothers belly.
    The color variations are wide and range from grey to almost black. The belly fur shaded coming from a grey-white to black-brown color. It can live anywhere and customarily do, the initial possums started within the South Island and inside past 150 years have spread through New Zealand. Their preferred food are plants and leaves, especially the broad leaves from the metrosideros and rata vines but including many native trees and shrubs. They will consume the flowers, bark, and ferns, ending with all the death from the plant or tree. They will also eat carrion, eggs, insects' cicadas and weta's. The weight range with the possum 2.5kgs to 6kgs. The density of possums a single area is will be as high as 10 to your hectare of land.
    The possum is often a nocturnal animal and is also capable of moving 1 km around 2.5 km an evening. Possums seen inside the daytime hours are usually in ill health. They communicate by scents or vocally, the pet carries a wide array of sounds or noises. From this information, they can deduce the ages or social status of other live in dens seen in trees, burrows of rabbits or kiwis. They also like hay barns, log piles and woolsheds! The individual possums might use 5 to 10 different nests.
    They lead solitary lives except to the breeding season that coincides with all the shortening days leading into autumn. Both sexes mature in a single to two years. The females have an oestrus of 26 days. The young are born after 17-18 days gestation. They climb to their mothers pouch and lock on to a teat for the next 70 days. Some could have a second breeding season August to babies start growing their coats if they are 90 -100 days old. Their eyes open ten days later. Brushtail Possum Information emerge from their mothers pouch from about 4 months old most by few months. They may continue to suckle until aged 8 months. The survival rates are high up to 90 % but sometimes vary obviously. They are prone to mites, tapeworm, Leptospirosis and Tuberculosis both of which may affect both stock and the ones.