"Jeßus" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:47:45 +1000, "David Hare-Scott"
wrote:


The possum of Oz is fearsome opponent, the sight of a net will make it
want
to chew holes and the sight of a fence will make it want to climb. They
do
both very well. Unless your fence is smooth metal that has no grip for
strong little claws I would be running an electric wire on standoffs to
deter it.

Yep, which is why I want to use corrugated iron, with the fence
framework and posts on the *inside* of the orchard. There's no way
they could climb up corrugated iron.

If they get to the bird net they will get in. In a tree they can
jump quite a distance, a metre or more I guess, whether they would jump
from
ground to mesh over a gal iron fence I have no idea.

That's what I need to find out - how high can the buggers jump
vertically off the ground? There is plenty of clear space around the
orchard so they won't be able to jump from another object either.

The usual rule of thumb is "A creature can jump 6 inches higher than the
fence you erect"

This site has some useful info
http://treelogic.com.au/facts/2007/11/possums-trees/

"
How far can a possum jump?

The bushy-tailed Brushtails are agile climbers and are able to leap
significant distances as they traverse the urban forest. The distance they
can jump is dependent on their take-off platform, whether they can get a
run-up to it and also how far vertically they need to jump. The more
vertical the distance they have to cover, the shorter the distance they can
leap (Cavanagh, 2007).
An agile (young) possum can leap from a fixed, solid base, up to 2.5m
horizontally or downwards, around 1.2m at an angle of nearly 50º to the
horizontal (close to optimum of 45º) and with a run-up, 1.7 m upwards at an
angle of around 18º. Vertical jumping appears to be less than 1m (Cavanagh,
2007)."



And this site doesn't hold out much hope
http://anpsa.org.au/APOL2007/may07-1.html but does provide subject matter
for a blog.



Mike