I know I've been pretty scarce in the discussion group (grad school is getting in the way!), but I have a wildlife critter story. Since I live on a lot with woods, I get all sorts of furry (and not so furry) creatures in my yard. I have known for a while that I have (had?) mice living under my deck: I've even got pictures of them up on the AOGC site ("Wildlife Diary").

Well, I was sitting in a chair near the sliding glass door when I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. When I turned, there was a big white & black cat - I've seen him in my yard lots, not sure if he's a stray or just has irresponsible owners - right outside the door. But the motion wasn't him, it was the mouse whose head was in his mouth and the rest of the body, tail and all, was flailing about wildly trying to get out!

By the look on his face, Stray Cat was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him! But he didn't drop the mouse.

Now, if I could just interest him in some plump, tasty rats . . .

Maggie, do we have a link to the AOGC site? Would love to visit...gotta go look now...

Here tis, well done Angie. And there you will find our Shadester. He's the one on the right. AOGC

Angie, that stray cat's serving his duty well! When our city put a halt to letting pet cats wander, the rodent population around here soared. Our neighbors are vigilant about keeping any from colonizing, but one little mouse moved in with us this winter. We caught him with a trap and Alex bought a gerbil cage to accommodate him. Fortunately, he had no kin living here too. He had the sweetest face but was blind in one eye, so she called him Wink. Larry said he couldn't find his way out of here because he probably ran around the floorboards in only one direction, so as to see where he was going.

Anyway, Wink pushed those bars apart enough to escape the cage, but we haven't seen him since. Now that we have new Miss Kitty Mia, Wink has probably decided that living outdoors is a better idea after all.

What a cute story! The only one I've had get inside was in a previous house and was discovered by my cat. Meesee played with it awhile and so terrorized the poor thing that after we caught it and put it outside I think it just ran for its life!

Here's another good one Angie - just recently added to our wildlife page.
http://www.maggiesgarden.com/Wildlife/HedgeHog/EngHedgHogs/enghedghogs.html,Terry's Hoglets

I just read your suggestion about placing fox urine saturated cotton balls in an area to repel rats. Will this be safe around our dog? There is a rat that has decided that our deck is lovely to hang out under, and although I do not want the rat around, I refuse to put out any poison that may harm our pet.
Thanks for your help!

What an interesting thought. The fox urine is intended to deter varmits by creating the scent of a predator. This is expected to be an instinctive response, which may well upset (or excite) your dog. Trial and error might be your only recourse.
Does anyone have, or know of, any history on how fox urine affects pets?

My guess is that the fox urine would excite the dog. Poor thing would probably go nuts trying to find the intruder. Since its not a poison, though, it won't hurt anything, including the rat. Theoretically, it should scare the rat away from the area. I've heard of spreading lion dung around the edge of a garden to repel deer. Susan, if you use the fox urine, be sure to put it underneath the deck where the rat is. That way if your dog "marks" the spot to establish his territory, it won't kill any plants.

Be sure to let us know if it works. And how your dog reacts.

Now in the clearing of morn, I remember showing little Yorkie, Nigel, the bottle someone brought me, expecting him to react (the line long-ago being bred to hunt small prey in the wilds), and he was totally indifferent to it. So that's one little dog in the big scheme of things. It might be an individual thing, so my thoughts go back to the trial and error exercise.
Yes please Susan, do let us know if you give it a try.

It would have had to have been really small prey. Your dog is a lot smaller than a fox.

My dogs would probably roll in the stuff. Uck!

Is it that you don't want to kill the rat, or you are afraid to use poison? We have bait traps we use in the barns that the chickens and sheep can't reach the bait. A box with sort of like a maze inside. With 2 holes in the box for the rat/mouse to go in. The bait won't spill out untless you really shake the trap around good and hard. Still we put the traps where the lambs can't play with them just to be on the safe side.

There is a worry about pets eating poisoned rodents and it killing the pet. Does anyone have any info on the possibility?

Well my 75 pound dogs have eaten a mouse that was killed by poison with no ill effects. But usually they just bring them to me with tails wagging - if they can find them at all. But I can see the worry about that. You might ask a vet.

Once I remember chasing a chicken that was trying to gulp down a whole mouse. But I don't remember if that mouse bit the dust with the posion or if I ever caught the chicken. It was really a funny site. She survived too.

Susan could try setting a tall bucket of water under the porch about 1/2 full, can even put a ramp up to it. We have them drown sometimes in water buckets at the barn. Maybe Susan has already gotten rid of her unwelcome visitor. Hope so!

Susan, How about some old fashioned mouse traps under the deck?

Just a guess -- but I would think that the amount of poison it takes to kill a rat would be small enough that even if a beloved pet came along and ate the rat then the pet's twirling tummy (and the subsequent consequences) would provide the mechanism to rid the pet's system of whatever poison he/she ingested. Although it's not good for them, I think the amount would be so little. But, it's another great reason to avoid the poison, if possible.

Not to mention pet cats.
Moggy killed her first mouse last night. She ate a hole right through the wire of my mouse - its totally dead.

I may regret this, but I need an explanation, Maggie. Our mice don't come complete with reinforcement. We have one cat that eats heads and leaves bodies and one that eats bodies and leaves heads. They never ever eat what the other leaves behind, it can be a bit gory on our sitting out area in the morning.

Terry, I believe Moggy has rendered her puter mouse incapacitated. Another reason I don't have kittys.

Yep, Moggie chewed that cord right through. That's what happens when the city won't let us have outdoor cats (cept for photo ops:). They have to resort to electronic mice.

Your cats are really warped Terry. Worst we ever had, used to eat the whole rodents (I guess) outside. At least, she only brought the tails in to show us. See what fun you're missing Gail.

Then there's Nicola's, whose cats blame her for the rain.

Thank you Gail, gee I was having a slow day, never crossed my mind about the puter mouse, only excuse is that I use a trackball. You should get Moggy some toys Maggie, table tennis balls are good as are round nuts, hazel being a favourite with ours. What crazy laws that deny cats the pleasure of exploring the great outdoors.

You can hardly walk across the floor without getting bruised from her pecans, bottle lids, broken once-not-cat-toys, strings with objects on the end,,, whimpering, bleeding dogs and an adult cat suffering severe kitten-paranoia. Naw,, she's not that bad and I know its just a stage, justastage, justastagejustastage, justastagejustastagejustastage

You probably say that about children too, uh?

Just one warning Maggie, serious one this. When our last lot were kittens we gave them a toy on the end of a long piece of elastic, the free end of which we tied to the door handle. Well little Lattie (Only about eight weeks at this point) got the elastic wrapped around her neck and would have very quickly choked had I not been there at the time.

Well, Gail, I keep telling myself its just the kitten's instinctive impulses. When it comes to children, there's more danger of 'difficult behaviors' outliving the 'stage' category into adulthood, right?!

So Terry, that's why the dogs have been stringing little nooses from every doorknob? Ahh, I do exagerate about the dogs. They really enjoy wrestling with Moggie, now that everyones sorted out deep they can sink teeth and claws, without getting punished by the others.
You make such a good point about dangling toys. I too worry about it and have always made sure to poke the mini-blind strings high up into the slats when the blinds are raised, because the dogs would get tangled up in it when they jump to the sill. Dread to think what acrobats Moggie would do from it. Cat toys on springy stem attached to a base are so much safer than the hang-down kind. Course, they soon tire of it, so its a good idea to hide it away every now and then. There's also a neat round cylinder toy for them to paw and chase the ball round and round thru a slit in the thing. Course they always seem to prefer to litter up the house with household items more than the things we buy, don't they!

Have you tried a used comb? For some reason they love them.

Tried the comb Terry, she rips into it nicely, thanks.

I can't help but wonder if Susan Handy continued to follow this thread and gleaned any help from our rodent ponderings. If so, let us know Susan.

In answer to your question about the comb Terry,,, see above <{:"-)

And about my mouse chasing, I manage to keep one completely unplugged most of the time!

Good to have you join us Moggy.
See what too much computer does for you, here I am talking to a cat...that types...better than I do.

Here's a story about one of those little green garden snakes in TX. Might bring a smile to you as we sit and dream about the spring gardens.

Little Green Snake

Sorry the link didn't work. Now that I have your curiosity going . . .Here's the story.

ALWAYS THOUGHT GREEN SNAKES WERE OK? READ ON........

Green Garden Grass snakes can be dangerous. Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes.

A couple in Sweetwater, Texas had a lot of potted plants, and during a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze.

It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants and when it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa. She let out a very loud scream.

The husband who was taking a shower ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa.

He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it.

About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the leg. He thought the snake had bitten him and he fainted. His wife thought he had a heart attack, so she called an ambulance. The attendants rushed in and loaded him on the stretcher and started carrying him out.

About that time the snake came out from under the sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is in the hospital.

The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor man. He volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.

Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief. But in relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa, and the neighbor man, seeing her laying there passed out tried to use CPR to revive her.

The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches. An ambulance was again called and it was determined that the injury required hospitalization.

The noise woke the woman from her dead faint & she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed he had been bitten by the snake. She went to the kitchen, brought back a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat.

By now the police had arrived. They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the two women tried to explain how it all happened over a little green snake. They called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.

Just then the little snake crawled out from under the couch. One of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table that was on one side of the sofa. The table fell over and the lamp on it shattered and as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes.

The other policeman tried to beat out the flames and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog, who startled, jumped up and raced out into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car and set it on fire. Meanwhile the burning drapes had spread to the walls and the entire house was blazing.

Neighbors had called the fire department and the arriving fire-truck had started raising his ladder as they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires and put out the electricity and
disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area.

Time passed ----------------- Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was re-built, the police acquired a new car, and all was right with their world -------

About a year later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for that night. The husband asked his wife if she thought they should bring in their plants for the night.

She shot him.

* * * * You all watch what you bring in with the potted plants!

Good one, MK

This is very weird, we once had neighbors who brought in houseplants with a garden snake passenger. One of them fell over the couch or something and broke wrist or ankle or something (it was a long time ago - can't remember exactly). Far as I know, that was the limit of their calamity! Except the hubby refused to bring them in the next year.

As an animal lover I have to ask! did the snake escape the flames?