Can you say there has been a possum clinging to your hallway doorframe, camouflaged by the shadows of the night? Well, Air Force veterans Steve and Louise Reason can.
Ants, mozzies, spiders, mice and mothers-in-law are on the list of common unwanted house guests, a choir at the best of times but relatively easy to rid. A few sprays of Mortein, a crumb of cheese in a trap, pretending like you’re not home, should generally do the trick, but ridding a brushtail possum from your home, well that takes a bit more consideration.
On Monday, November 14, Mr Reason made his usual nightly round, checking all the doors were closed and locked before retiring and joining his wife in bed.
As Mr Reason checked the final door, a large sliding glass door opening to their garden, he pulled it open just wide enough for the Reasons’ cat to dart through, disappearing into the darkness of their yard.
“I left the back door open so the cat could get back in,” Mr Reason said, “I fell asleep waiting.”
As night met morning and Monday became Tuesday, Lousie Reason woke to the ardent high-pitched barking of their three Shetland sheepdogs.
Thinking the dogs needed to go to the bathroom, Mrs Reason ripped off the doona, leaving the warm comfort of her bed and headed down the hall.
“All of a sudden, the dogs just stopped barking,” Mrs Reason said.
“I looked up and saw this shadow in the doorway; immediately, I thought, ‘Oh my God, someone’s in the house, someone is in the house’.”
Mrs Reason moved further down the hallway, closer to the mysterious shadow, moonlight revealing that this intruder was, in fact, not a person, but rather a large brushtail possum.
The dogs began to stir as Mrs Reason examined the unexpected house guest. After careful consideration, she decided she was too short to try and remove the mammal on her own, returning to the bedroom to wake her six-foot two-inch husband.
“I didn’t even notice it; I wasn’t awake yet and walked right passed it,” Mr Reason exclaimed.
“Once I woke up properly, it was definitely a shock to see a possum in the house.”
Mr Reason, who now volunteers as a kennel attendant at Animal Aid in Fulham and is an instructor with the East Gippsland Dog Obedience Club in Sale, made his action plan: grab a doona, grab the possum, go back to bed.
The possum, who had wandered from the back door, through the dining room, through the kitchen and climbed the wall into the crevasse of the hallway doorframe, clung for dear life as Mr Reason wrapped the doona around the mammal and pulled the possum tight against his chest.
“He was really gripping the doorframe,” Mr Reason said.
“I held it tightly against my chest so it couldn’t bite or scratch me, went outside and placed it down.
“As soon as I put the possum down, it bolted down the road.”
Animal guests are a regular occurrence in the Reason house; they currently have three dogs and one cat of their own. Throughout the years, they have welcomed dogs, ducks, rabbits, lizards; you name it, they’ve probably had it, and after this recent midnight surprise, they can confidently add possum to the list.
