12/04/2026
Hello, I’m the Brush-tailed Possum that lives in your roof.
I don't really want to, but the old trees that I used to live in have been cleared. Young trees don't have the hollows that I need, for nesting and raising my little family. I miss my Marri tree 😞.
The forests I evolved to live in are becoming fragmented. Everything is unfamiliar and frightening. When I go out looking for food or a mate, I have to navigate houses, roads, high fences and noisy backyards with dogs.
Sometimes I find sanctuary in people's roof, shed or vegetable garden, which they don’t like 😞. They get bad advice on social media and use rat baits or traps to try and relocate me. They don't realise that I'm not a pest, but protected native wildlife!
It’s illegal to try to trap me to take me to an unfamiliar forest. The Possums there will fight with me and I may get hit by a car, or bitten by a dog, trying to get back home.
Will you help me find a home at your place? I would much rather have a nest box in a big tree, than live in a roof.
You can help me move out of your roof safely!
1. Put a Possum Box in a suitable shady tree, near a sturdy branch, at least 4m up
2. Add an apple, some fresh eucalyptus leaves and (if possible) some of my roof nest material, to the Possum Box - this will encourage me to investigate
3. Place a sensor light or cassia chips in your roof space, to encourage me to leave (please don’t use moth balls or baits!)
4. Wait for me to find the Possum Box and move in
5. Once I am out of the roof, you can seal the access points and trim the branches I may have been using to get into the roof
You can also help me by
• keeping your pets restrained
• avoiding poisons and pesticides
• using wildlife-friendly netting on your fruit trees
• driving carefully at night
Please help us 🙏. We belong here too.