Wet wet wet - if you thought February (0.686 meters of rain) was bad... 1.287 meters!! But there were clear periods too, so we grabbed the opportunity to attack the weeds - principally Singapore Daisy - on the beaches, with our new sprayer.

Of course the wet warm weather brought out the pythons who were after the bats in the big bat enclosure. Christine rapidly learned the not-so-delicate art of being a snake handler!

Who's scared now?

and the snake resides in the garbage bin until we release it about 2 km away!

Eventually, Christine became a pro snake handler..

A night walk in the adjacent Dubuji board walk across the road from the Bat House brought some expected residents..

the famous 'Peppermint Stick Insects' - (Macrocrania) so called because they are peppermint green, exude a defensive spray (which initially smells like peppermint - and then turns unpleasant). They live exclusively on 2 species of Pandanus in the region.

and some surprises

as we did not expect to find striped possums (Dactylopsila trivirgata) around so early - usually they come down from the mountains about May - June when it is warmer on the coast. These possums are nectarivorous and insectivorous.

We had 3 baby spectacled flying foxes during this time - and feeding them had definite issues - they would ambush whoever went in (as they loved human contact - scratches and cuddles.)

but then so do the adults

Who says that only humans care? Chris and Rex.

I was given a request for a flying fox photograph to illustrate an academic article - so here is Jasper - almost looking like a wild bat!

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