Kmart item turns destructive wild brushtail possum into adorable pet

A woman whose garage was invaded by a destructive possum devised a Kmart hack that turned the marsupial into an unlikely new pet.

A woman whose garage was invaded by a possum used an unusual Kmart item to turn the adorable marsupial into an unlikely new pet.

Leisa Embury Collins told news.com.au the she first noticed the wild brushtail possum had been coming into her garage “day after day” earlier this year. She realised it was living on a shelf and had been knocking down paint cans at her home in Belgrave, east Melbourne.

“We’ve had possums in the garage for years but it wasn’t until April/May this year that we noticed it was the same guy day after day living on the cold shelf,” Ms Collins said.

“He looked really sad,” she said. “My elderly mum kept telling us to build him a box so we decided to go one better and buy him the Kmart cat cave. We never really thought he’d use it but 3.5 hours later he was in it.”

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‘He looked really sad’: Leisa said of the brushtail possum coming into her garage night after night.

Leisa said the possum moved into the cat bed within hours of it being placed on the shelf.

Pandy probably couldn’t believe his luck.

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“He lives in our garage comes and goes as he pleases. He is a wild possum so not our pet but he seems to think he is,” Ms Collins said.

She said before they bought the $8 fleece Kmart cat cave, the possum would sit on the shelf looking “miserable” and would often clumsily knock paint cans onto the floor.

Ms Collins said the possum, who she calls Pandy, is free to come and go as he pleases.

Clearly they’ve developed a bit of a bond.

Not a bad set-up.

Leisa posted about Pandy in a Facebook group of product hacks, where the adorable photos quickly went viral attracting more than 2200 reactions.

“The best post. I just love this. What a lucky possum,” one woman wrote.

“OMG he looked so sad for himself in the before pics,” another said. “How cute!”

“Well done,” another commented. “Nice story of kindness; I wish more people were like you.”

Originally published as Kmart item turns destructive wild brushtail possum into adorable pet