Jaffa

My husband was out collecting possum leaves and as he was driving between Dawesley and Nairn he saw a Ringtail Possum on the road with a baby on its back, so he stopped got out and stopped the traffic so that he could walk mum and baby across the road to safety.

Ringtail possums are nocturnal so it is unusual to see them out during the day but she didn't appear to be injured or anything so not sure why she was out during the day.  Once she was almost across the road she realised Brian was there and bolted down a steep embankment into a paddock and up a huge gum tree.  Having done his good deed for the day he walked back to his car when he saw a baby ringtail few meters down almost in the middle of the lane.  The two cars that had just gone past after Brian had stopped them had gone straight over her.  He ran and grabbed her before another car came.  Amazingly she wasn't injured, so he went to look to see if he could find mum in the trees, but couldn't find her anywhere.  They don't usually comeback for their babies that have fallen off so leaving her there wasn't an option because she would be taken by a fox or cat, so Brian put her down his jumper to keep her warm until he got home again.

She is a lovely reddish/orange colour at the moment so we have called her Jaffa, even though from experience I have found most often they lose this colour and go a normal ringtail grey or grey/brown colour. She is a very friendly girl and loves her rose petals. At the moment she is in a cage that is divided in two with another female ringtail called Pickles on the other side. Once they become accustomed to each other we will introduce them together as ringtail possums live in family groups it is essential that they be buddied up with other ringtail possums.