The Antechinus family has moved in

So it seems over the last few days that we were not blessed with the presence of just one Yellow-footed Antechinus in the house (see previous post here), but possibly a whole family.  In the last few days we have caught three more in the catch-them-alive trap after hearing or seeing a glimpse of something in the house!  We wondered jokingly if it is the same one returning after being released, but somehow imagine there is possibly a whole little family that have headed inside for the winter.  For those who aren't familiar with this little animal, the Yellow-footed Antechinus is a pouched native Australian Marsupial that often can have the misfortune for being mistaken as a mouse.

Jude decided to take some video of the release of one of the antechinus captured in the pantry, and as blogger seems to distort our video images, we have decided to start a new project of a you-tube channel for video footage from our patch.  We look forward to sharing some of the interesting footage we have taken over the years, including some great camera trap images taken recently.  Please excuse our amateur video recording and making skills made using our son's ipod touch!  B & J




#2 Yellow-footed Antechinus at Jarowair prior to release (14th July 2014)

#3 Yellow-footed Antechinus prior to release back to the wild, 16/07/14

#3 Yellow-footed Antechinus prior to release back to the wild 16/07/14

A fourth Antechinus was re-loctated to the wild on 17th of July 2014, however we decided not to photograph this one... how many photos of a cute marsupial in a trap can you take! - J.

Comments

  1. Great photos and clip!:) He's really cute, but best outside! We use the same method to catch field mice, and they sure run fast after released.:=)

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    1. Thankyou! The video was a bit odd - but that is our world! Yes they are rather cute, but best outside - the numbers are rising - caught another one yesterday also!

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  2. Delightful! I have never heard of an Antechinus, although my husband informs me that trapped them as research during his college/uni degree many years ago. He said he'd be happy to have an Antechinus in our kitchen!

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    1. yes I agree the are rather delightful, and it is good to see that they are going strong here as we have only come across them outdoors a couple of times. I agree with your husband, I am not bothered at all by having an Antechinus in the kitchen as i would be if it was a mouse family! Thanks for your comment.

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    1. Thanks, you are too kind - it was rather a terrible video and hard to video it while I was releasing it... maybe I will get better with practice!

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  4. Perhaps you should put a dab of food colouring on the ones you release to keep track of who you are catching. I can't imagine the rigmarole required to formally tag them in some way!

    Martin

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    1. Martin, that is exactly what Brendon was thinking!! yes I imagine leg banding would be challenging!!

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  5. Great little animals! I have only ever seen them in traps - never even a kitchen glimpse of one in the wild! I believe that the males of some of this type of animal have a short but energetic life!

    Sorry for the much delayed reply - I've been in the UK for a month and I decided to let the blogging take a back seat - normal service will resume very soon.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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