Pygmy possum rescued in Yallingup weighed two grams

Blind and weighing in at just two grams, this little pygmy possum was found helpless and alone in between the bricks of a Yallingup home last week — its mother nowhere in sight.

The couple who found the minute marsupial first thought it was a cocoon or spider’s nest — until it moved.

The uber-cute animals are found in bushland and urban areas throughout the South West including Bunbury, Busselton and Augusta, and it is a timely reminder for people to be aware they could be sharing your house or backyard.

Now in the care of FAWNA carer and vet nurse Carly Huntington, the little possum has opened its eyes and doubled in weight to a mammoth four grams.

Wildlife carers in the South West are no strangers to ringtail and brushtail possums, but pygmy possums are few and far between. Tiny and nocturnal, most people will go their whole lives without seeing one.

No bigger than the tip of your finger, Mrs Huntington said she and her family had already fallen in love with the animal.

“It’s so cute,” she said.

“I’m making it a little home, and my son named it Pip, full name Pip Lewie after the man who found it, whose name was Lewis,” she laughed.

Needing to be fed at least three times a day, Pip — who is estimated to be less than a month old — comes with Mrs Huntington wherever she goes.

“It is really easy compared to ringtails,” she said.

“I keep a heat pad underneath the box about halfway so that it can sit on the heat pad when it’s cold and when it warms up it gets and moves around.

“Most of the time it’s curled up sleeping and then really active when I get it out and feed it.”

And eventually, the time will come for little Pip to face the big wide world.

“It will be a bit difficult (to say goodbye), but it’ll be really exciting to eventually release it,” Mrs Huntington said.