Sandy Webb

Brushtail Phascogales - March 2009

I had two families of beautiful little Brushtail Phascogales this summer. The first four came in from Dinjerra Rd, Glenugie. One boy – “Jerra” weighing 17.3gm, and three girls – “Jenny” 17.7gm, “Jan” 16.7gm and “Jane” 15.4gm.

I got them all on 21st September and the long work started. Each had to be wrapped like a little mummy to stop them getting away then feeding drop at a time from a 1ml syringe five times a day. Waking them up during the day was the biggest challenge as they are strictly nocturnal.

For ten days that was the only way they fed. Then I started adding little bits of meat in their bag after their late night feed and by morning it was gone. They don’t take long to learn.

After two weeks it was time to teach them to find their own food so it was into a habitat for an hour or so at night with little bits of meat strewn around and very shallow dishes of milk. Watching them fight over little morsels was a delight. Little Jane died on 8th October which was very sad but her brother and sisters continued to power along.

Jerra was now 22.3gm, Jenny was 25.0gm and Jan was 20.3gm. A week later they went into their inside habit set up with a little box with their bag, some dirt in the bottom and some branches for them to climb and hide in. The individual feeds stopped – now it was time for them to become night creatures again. Bowls of milk, meat and insects were put in at night and they were left to their own devices.

Even with constant handling they can’t be tamed – great for them but not so great for me. They hated being handled so would show me their teeth on weigh day. Fortunately they were still too little to do any damage. Three weeks later on 3rd November they weighed 59gm, 66gm and 48gm and were big enough for a new carer to handle.

David was very keen to have a go so I passed them and their outside habitat on to him. He rang constantly to ask for advice and help to weigh them. In just eleven days their weight rocketed to 91gm, 84gm and 66gm, their tails were getting very bushy and their teeth grew. David got bitten so was very wary when weighing.

I’d go to help and it gave me an opportunity to check on them. Unfortunately for David, only seventeen days later they were big enough to be sent home. Jerra was now 133gm, Jenny was 116gm and Jan 84gm. – Jerra was now the “big brother”. On Thursday night 3rd December we bundled them up in a secured bag in a basket, took their little box from their habitat and took them home.

With the box secured in a tree we took each one out of the bag, put them in the box and said goodbye. It was a happy moment but sad for David as he was saying good-bye to his first Small Mammals. My second group had first gone from Brushgrove to Joan Woodmore on 3rd September but unfortunately the little boy died.

The three girls weighed 17.0gm, 17.0gm and 16.0gm. Forty-seven days later they weighed 56gm, 57gm and 46gm. Then Stephanie Schrader, another new carer, had her chance to raise these gorgeous little creatures. Steph only had them for twenty-eight days when she went on holidays but in that time their weights went up to 88gm, 87gm and 82gm. They came to me the 17th November to finish their growing.

As they had no names I called them Amy, Abby and Ally. They were nasty – showing their wicked teeth and tearing around their habitat whenever I went near them when they were out of their box. Unfortunately I only had them for twenty-five days before they to were big enough to go home. They now weighed 100.9gm, 97.0gm and 94.6gm. I met Joan at Brushgrove late afternoon on Saturday 12th December with them very secure in their box and a basket.

Lynne, who had first found them in her laundry, was waiting for us. We found a suitable tree down the back yard, tied the box to a strong branch and removed the cover from the front of the box. Lynne’s family was curious to see what they looked like now they were grown up so one of the girls obliged by sticking her head out the front of the box. The kids were really happy to see them home.

After taking some photos we left them to hide till dark and left. Hopefully every one of them are okay and will have their own families next Spring. The unfortunate thing is – we may end up with some of their kids in care. Let’s hope not.

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