>I recently read a list of bee predators on the net,
>http://server.age.psu.edu/esdg/beepr.html
>and opossums are listed as one.  This was a surprise to me.
>Do they eat bees like skunks??
 
Possums (we don't use the "o" suffix Down Under) are certainly very fond of
honey and I know of at least one person who has trained wild possums to
enter through the window to enjoy bread and honey nightly.
 
One local beekeeper declares that the possums will clean up the slum gum
residue on his beeswax blocks right down to the clean wax.  This has not
been my experience - my resident possum takes an apple nightly from my tree
but leaves the slum gum alone.
 
However I think it likely that possums enjoy cleaning up comb from failed
wild hives which would consist of honey and dead brood.  It is for this
reason I discourage the poisoning of feral hives with the use of pest strips
which release a pesticide over a period of time.  I have read that beeswax
absorbs the pesticide and is toxic thereafter.  If the beeswax cannot be
removed and properly disposed of the poison is introduced into the food chain.
 
I do not know whether possums will tackle a live colony in the same manner
as the honey badger I saw on a recent television documentary.  Possums are
nocturnal so presumably could help themselves without the bees being able to
fly to defend.
 
Betty McAdam
 
HOG BAY APIARY
Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
J.H. & E. McAdam<[log in to unmask]
http://kigateway.eastend.com.au/hogbay/hogbay1.htm
 
Why not visit the South Australian Superb Websites Ring?
http://kw.mtx.net/sawebring/sawebring.html