Urban Bandicoots
Yes, and they bring their Ticks too!
Bandicoots are learning to live with us. Our well-cared for gardens are supplying them with grubs, and playing host to the ticks which fall off when they visit.
The Paralysis tick has to spend part of its life on either a possum, kangaroo or bandicoot, and it used to be that you or your pet had to go to visit them in the bush to pick up a tick.
However, now the bandicoots are straying up to half a kilometre from bushy areas to dig up front lawns and incidentally drop their ticks for your pet to pick up. The signs that a bandicoot is visiting your yard is the little 'dibble' marks they make with their noses to get to the worms – it looks like someone has been trying to plant daffodils on your lawn at night! Seriously though, the ticks can kill pets and make people sick, so assess your geographical risk – and remember that bandicoots don't drive down roads – they follow a straight line from their bush to your yard (golf courses are great spots for bandicoots these days too). Remember also that you can bring ticks home in your clothing and they can then attach to your pet. You can also bring them in on your washing in high tick season. Talk to us about Frontline, spray and Topspot, it now comes strong enough to kill ticks as well as fleas. In bad tick areas, you may even need to use Proban every second day.
However, nothing supplants a daily check over for ticks – leave nothing to chance. We have bottles of a safe pyrethrin spray to squirt on the tick to kill it for easier removal.Keep in mind that, once a cat has been treated for a tick and given the antiserum, that cat may die from another dose of antiserum because it is dog serum and the cat can have a strong allergic reaction the second time (sometimes even the first time). The summer is to be enjoyed by everyone, including the bugs and mozzies, so please just beware.