What dangers lurk in your plumbing?

When it comes to toilets, there's a simple directional rule: everything goes downstream. When things move against the tide, then you have problems.

So as Tim Fraser was doing some laundry in his bathroom last Friday night, he became a wee bit disturbed when his toilet started spontaneously gurgling.

"I could see bubbles coming up and I thought 'what the the hell is happening?'" he said, recalling that evening.

Then he caught sight of a grey, furry head with a pair of pointy ears and saucepan eyes emerging on this side of the s-bend.

Moments later there was a half-drowned possum sitting in his Fowler toilet bowl.

"It was like the toilet had given birth," he said.

It's not clear who was more startled, man or marsupial. But Fraser was first to react. He darted to the next room and collected his digital camera.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/05/29/Possum_rescue_005_wideweb__470x353,0.jpg

More: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/29/1211654111826.html

Arjun Ramachandran writes: According to Nigel Williamson, from Nigel's Animal Rescue, possums have a habit of getting themselves into trouble.

"Every day of the week I pull a possum out of someone's chimney - they wander around the roof trying to get inside and fall down the chimney,'' said Mr Williamson, who has been rescuing animals for 23 years. "I've seen it all and done over 30,000 rescues in that time.''

In February, EnergyAustralia had to "wildlife-proof'' up to a dozen sub-stations after a possum knocked out power at a substation in Avalon and left 15,000 homes without power. The possums had been using overhead powerlines as highways to safety from cats and foxes.
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Check out the videos!(hot beverage warning)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxr0QqIT2sI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PskasaHz5Qs

I like Opossums, very interesting animals. My vet avers that they cannot contract or carry rabies.

A 5-year-old child in Craighead County is undergoing a series of shots after being bitten by an opossum that tested positive for rabies. The child's father found the child playing with the sick animal earlier in the week.

Jonesboro Police Sergeant Larry Rogers, who heads the animal control division, says the animal was tested for rabies and the test came back positive. Rogers says it is rare for an opossum to test positive for rabies ...

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0408/514790.html

The ones in my neighborhood all have Dick Cheney's DNA.

Well, not the Cheney part, but the part about Aussie possums being so much cuter than U.S. possums. :P

I thought it was a chinchilla at first. :dunce:

I'd venture a guess that a U.S. possum would have been hissing and growling and acting all mean and nasty too.

They'll get into all sorts of things, and in many places adapt well to human presence. These particular guys had the run of our camp after dusk, and would have raided our tucker bag if we hadn't stowed it safely away.



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