Living With Wildlife

Antechinus

My parents live on property approximately 10 minutes from my cottage in a nice rural area. They have lived on the same property for approximately 25 years and is it where I grew up. Most of my childhood animals still live there, such as my goats, my horses and my cat.
Not only is it beautiful where they live, but they are also surrounded by wildlife. Living with wildlife isn't without its challenges. For instance, my mums vege gardens are either quite high raised garden beds, or surrounding by fencing to prevent wallabies from having a munch. So far nothing protects the vegetable garden from possums.
In summer, their mango's are individually wrapped in plastic bags as protection from rainbow lorikeets and flying foxes (fruit bats).

Carpet Python, next to my yearling goat for size comparison

The other animal they seem to have a lot of, particularly in recent years as the cat is old and no longer capable of hunting is bush rats/mice and antechinus, which are a type of small insectivorous marsupial ranging in size up to a large rat. There is currently one living in my parents house, which they've had no luck hunting. There are also a number out by the goat shed, where we feed the goats kitchen scraps and grain.

With small mice-like creatures, comes animals which like to eat said small, mice-like creatures. Namely, snakes. Last night when I was checking on and feeding my baby goats, this big girl was hanging about looking for a quick feed. This is a carpet python, harmless and extremely beautiful.

Carpet Python

Additionally, this year alone, there were two green tree snakes in my parents house. One was quite small, maybe 30-40cm and disappeared into the bush/garden pretty quickly. The one, which was in the office was huge for a green tree snake, between 1-1.2m. I chased it out of the house with a mop (stupid yes) into the front garden and it now lives in the garage roof.

At the other end of the house is a large Silky Oak tree, with branches over the roof of the back deck. Frequently seen in the Silky Oak and on the deck is a small Carpet Python.

Green Tree Snake