This is a concept website · Enquire about this domain

pestcontrolnoosa.com.au
Guide 5 of 5

The possum in a Noosa roof is not a pest

Possums are protected wildlife, and Noosa's pest plan is written for invasive species. The Queensland Government's own page on possums says what that means for a household: the animal cannot simply be removed, and its removal belongs to a licensed relocator.

Noosa Shire's four answers to pests, drawn as four nested rings on paper. Outermost, KEEP OUT, holding fire ants. Next, REMOVE, the plants the plan could clear from the shire, and then CONTAIN, the plants a landowner must hold on their land. Innermost, LIVE WITH, holding the saltmarsh mosquito and the biting midge. At the centre, a brown square, THE HOUSE. It is a diagram, not a map, and it is drawn in order rather than to scale. Each ring's label opens a guide. KEEP OUT a sighting goes to the national program Fire ants. Noosa Council: “We don’t want them in Noosa Shire.” five invasive plant species already brought under control REMOVE cleared only with residents and landowners 10 priority invasive plants that could potentially be eradicated CONTAIN the landowner keeps it on their property landowners must control invasive species on their land LIVE WITH the marsh is treated the yard is yours saltmarsh mosquito biting midge THE HOUSE and the one protected animal a licensed technician Four answers, drawn in order. A diagram, not a map.
Noosa Shire's four answers to pests, as four bands indented one inside the next, from KEEP OUT at the top through REMOVE and CONTAIN to LIVE WITH, with THE HOUSE last. It is a diagram, not a map. Each band opens its guide. KEEP OUT a sighting goes to the national program Fire ants. Noosa Council: “We don’t want them in Noosa Shire.” five invasive plant species already brought under control REMOVE cleared only with residents and landowners 10 priority invasive plants that could potentially be eradicated CONTAIN the landowner keeps it on their property landowners must control invasive species on their land LIVE WITH the marsh is treated; the yard is yours the saltmarsh mosquito the biting midge THE HOUSE a licensed technician and the one protected animal
Four answers, drawn in order. A diagram, not a map.

A protected animal

Two possums turn up around Queensland homes, and the state's page names both: the common brushtail possum and the common ringtail possum. Whatever a household thinks of the one in its ceiling, the law sees a protected animal.

The state does not pretend the animal is no trouble. Its page records that possums are usually wary of people and do little harm, and that they can still make nuisances of themselves by eating fruit and flowers in a garden, and, in the brushtail's case, by moving into the ceiling space of a home.

Why a brushtail is in the ceiling

The answer is housing, and the shortage is not the possum's fault. The page records that the availability of den sites is a critical factor limiting how many possums an area holds, and that with few mature trees with hollow branches left in the suburbs, brushtail possums have adapted by moving into the ceilings of homes.

A den is not a comfort for a possum. Available dens are fully occupied by adults, and an animal without one will not survive, which is why brushtails will only survive if they have a den. As young possums become independent and disperse, many die for want of a home range, and the occupants of a ceiling are the ones that found one.

That is also the reason a removal does not last. The state's page says it plainly: take a possum out of an area, and another one will soon fill the den that is going. A roof space is a den, and a den does not stay empty for long.

Was that a rat, or a possum?

A household usually hears the animal before it sees it, and the state's page answers that question directly, in three ways.

A ratA brushtail possum
Rats weigh no more than a few hundred grams and tend to scurry when they move.A brushtail can weigh up to five kilograms, and thumps about in the roof even when it is walking slowly.
Rats gnaw on what they find, to keep their front teeth sharp, and a noise in the wall cavity is most likely a rat.A brushtail that can fit its head through a gap can usually get the rest of its body through as well, and older homes often have openings into the roof cavity that are big enough.
Black pellet-shaped droppings, from about seven millimetres long.The same shape and colour, and more than 15 millimetres long for a brushtail. The ringtail sits between the two.

One of the two possums is not usually in the roof at all. Ringtail possums nest in a ball of sticks, called a drey, woven together in the branches of a tree, which is why a household is more likely to meet one in the garden than in the ceiling.

What the law allows

Removal is a licensed trade in Queensland, and the state's page attaches a distance to it: relocators must release a possum within 25 metres of the point where it was caught, so that it is not put into another possum's home range. The reason is in the same sentence: a possum released into a new area where it has no den, or where it must compete with a neighbour for one, is less likely to survive.

The rule has a second effect worth knowing before a relocation is arranged. A possum let go within 25 metres of where it was caught is still near the roof it came from, and the state's page notes that older homes often have openings into the roof cavity big enough to let a possum in.