The latest interesting animal to visit our trail cams in the Teewah bush was the Fawn-footed Melomys. It had appeared briefly on our screens several times previously and we thought it was probably a common rat, but this time it gave us a good view as it worked amongst the bushes.

They seem to be common in Teewah. A family had lived in our store room for some years, leaving tell-tail droppings like rat poo and making a nest from shredded paper in a tissue box. Once a parent with a couple of babies set up shop in the BBQ – not a wise choice. As the photo shows, the adult was quite calm and posed for the camera before scampering off.

They are definitely cute, but they are still rodents. Once when we were at Eurong on Fraser Island, one caused us grief. We’d just finishing washing the Discovery to remove salt and sand when one scurried away, wet and bedraggled. “Oh, poor thing, its soaked! Isn’t it cute” was the cry. We didn’t know that the poor thing had chewed the electrical cables under the bonnet. We were able to twitch the wires to get us going and off the island, but not past Rainbow Beach. We had a very expensive trip on the back of a recovery vehicle to Chevallum. We learned later that Melomys have acquired a taste for plastic wiring in Land Rovers. So beware, Land Rover owners!

The Melomys is between a rat and mouse in size, the main differences being that the belly is pale-colored, and adults are brown rather than grey.