Home movies by devilish guests
Published: 25/03/2010
Each spring, it’s common to get reports about Tasmanian devils under houses.
People sometimes complain that devils have just moved in, although the devils
have usually been there for months, with Mum keeping a low profile since before
the imps were dropped from the pouch and put into a cosy den nest.
People mostly become aware of devils once there is noise: usually it’s the
occasional bout of Mum defending her den from competing females around August
(the time pouched young are dropped) or in mid-late spring (when imps are
getting boisterous).
The whole experience of having devils under your house can be lots of fun,
with young devils scampering around the house, even staring in at you through
windows. But not everyone feels this way, especially if children are woken and
frightened by the uninvited squatters. The imps can be very noisy, especially if
there is a full litter of four, and sometimes damage is done - exposed
insulation can be pillaged for nests and imps are notorious pack-rats borrowing
all manner of thing to play with.
A sad old remedy was to catch and kill (or relocate) the mother devil, then
seal the access. This meant the young died under the house. The preferred method
now if something must be done, is to wait until the young are as old as possible
and exploring the outsider area and then add a cat-flap to the access so the
devils are sealed out once they leave. Usually they have nearby secondary sites
they can use.
But sometimes people cannot wait and the devils have to be trapped, making
sure the number of caught young matches the active nipples of mum (otherwise one
or two might be left behind). The best thing then is to generously pen the whole
family leaving Mum to rear the young. Once the young are weaned, all can be
released back on their home turf – the house being well sealed in the meantime.
Devils are protected by law and any of this hands-on stuff must be done by
wildlife authorities.
These days we like to put a camera under the house to properly assess the age
and numbers of young – information that helps with management decisions. The
familiarity and ownership provided by the ‘home movies’ sometimes even gets
people to change their mind about immediate eviction. If people can let the
breeding event take its course, use a cat flap, and then assess being properly
sealed after a few weeks – well that’s a happy ending.
