The Farm House

Farm Goddess · Goddess

Wildlife

Farm Goddess · Goddess

oh... and I forgot to mention

Rattlesnakes.

sigh....

Shannon · Honored Guest

With the exception of the rattlesnakes, that sounds like a lot of fun. My daughter would really enjoy watching and trying to catch a lot of those creatures. When I lived in Florida, you could see the lizards scatter whenever you walked outside the house. Loved it.

Here, we get mostly the mountainous creatures with a few others mixed in. Skunks (the dead one in our back yard this summer was the talk of the day around our house! Bleh), possum, bobcats, deer, raccoon, mountain lions, coyotes, lizards. Besides the skunk, coyotes, lizards and possums, I've never seen the other animals--but I have friends who've run into them.

My favorite thing to watch outside our house is the hummingbird turf wars and, at dusk, the bats.

Farm Goddess · Goddess

(C o c k ing head and raising one eyebrow to see you better.) $350.00 in car repairs fun? The packrat was cute as h e l l until he took up residence in my engine. I'm hoping he's gone now and didn't bring pals. I have to take the truck in this week to assess the damages.

The mouse in the feed shed and barn was adorable until he multiplied to close to 100 little salmonella spreaders. See my blog post titled Of Mice and Farm Owners

The rattlesnake I killed in the barn last night wasn't fun either but if he'd bitten me or one of the horses it would have been much much muuuch less than fun.

The other critters are just an aggravating nuisance. They used to be funny, cute and quite hallmark card-ish. The ground squirrels and rabbits made having a garden all but impossible. The ground squirrels try to drink out of the horse's water buckets and tubs, they fall in, and the horses won't drink. Thus I have to check the buckets about 4 times a day. They fall in the pool, drown and have to be scooped out.

The tarantulas are fine unless they surprise me in a small enclosed space where I cannot retreat. If I see them out in the open they are quite nifty. If they rush at me unexpectedly in the 6 x 6 laundry room (3 x 3 with the washer and dryer in there) then all manner of frantic, panic stricken chaos insues.

Being soft hearts our vermin control measures can be boiled down to 3 plans: Plan A: ignore it and maybe it'll go away. Plan B: Remove it's food source and block it's access. Finally, and unfortunately, if all else fails Plan C. kill the d a m n e d thing.

Farm Goddess · Goddess

We used to love the racoons that would come up on my parents' patio for food. My dad finally stopped feeding them after a neighbor a few blocks away had to go through a round of rabies shots. I still have some great photos my dad took of the various coon families over the years.

Speaking of rabies, cough, I hope you know what killed the skunk that died in your yard.

I love watching hummingbirds too! They are hysterical. My dad was a nature photographer and he planted a lot of flowers around his patio and hung a feeder up to get photos of hummingbirds. The silly things got so used to people that you could hold the feeder up, they'd come to drink and then thoroughly inspect your nose and ears.

Shannon · Honored Guest

I'm sorry, Jean. I should really wait until I'm more awake to read and respond to messages. I didn't think of the car damages when I wrote my message and it never occurred to me what kind of nuisance the other animals could be on a farm. All I was thinking was "Roadrunner! Cute! Lizards! Cool! Aww! Bunnies!....etc...."

I'm sure it's a pain. I hope you can find a way to control it.

I'm not sure about the skunk. We had the Humane Society pick it up and I think it's routine for them to check for rabies. I'd hope that if it was positive, they'd have called us back.

Farm Goddess · Goddess

LOL we thought the same things before we had the farm. We didn't realize that roadrunners are not the cute "MEEP MEEP" birdseed eating critters from cartoons. They're carnivorous little dinosaurs. They attack their prey, anything from our lizards to baby quail, and bash it to death on the ground. They're not scared of anything and they'll chase birds and lizards right up into our garage. When we try to shoo them out they hiss at us, flash these red patches of skin on the sides of their heads and stand their ground. I swear the velociraptors in Jurassic Park were patterned after roadrunners.

The lizards around here are truly neat. We have all kinds that I can never find good enough pictures of online to definitively identify. We do have "whiptails" that I've identified. Those are really colorful! They have black and white rings on their tails. Their bodies are green and yellow. They grow up to about 6 or so inches long. They wave their tails around as a decoy when a predator is near. We have lots of horny toads (which are actually lizards, not toads) which is good because we have LOTS of ants for them to eat. When they get frightened they really DO squirt blood out of their eyes. This has terrified us on more than one occasion when we thought "OH NO!! I've killed a horn toad!!" only to realize in a few minutes that he was just fine.

I so wish packrats weren't so destructive. They really are cute and don't have those icky bald tails like regular rats. They also have really big ears in proportion to the rest of their bodies. I'd have never guessed they'd go after wiring in a car engine. I figured they'd just hunt seeds and shiny objects. I also didn't realize they were so BIG. I've seen smaller chihuahuas! If all they did was steal shiny loose bolts in the garage and eat my garden, we'd put up with them. But sheesh. My soft heart and patience can't afford to extend to constant vehicle repairs. The gods will just have to understand if I have to start murdering packrats LOL. Every time I have to murder a rattlesnake I look to the stars and say "Well, you should have made him a constrictor. Your bad."

The coyotes are cool, although I do worry about them around the little bitsy horses. They hunt in large family groups. We've seen as many as 9 in one group. Our property is bordered on two sides by a dry wash and they use it as a highway. Luckily, there are plenty of rabbits and ground squirrels to keep them occupied. They haven't figured out that small horses are just big slow rabbits yet.

Farm Goddess · Goddess

For an interesting bit of rattlesnake lore here's something I found out from my horse vet. People have always told me that the smaller the rattlesnake, the more poisonous it is. This is not actually true. The poison is the same. The issue is that young (small) snakes don't know how to conserve their venom and inject only enough to kill whatever prey their after. They inject it all. A grown rattlesnake won't inject it's full load, in case the prey gets away.

Also, rattlesnakes are more lethal in the spring when they've just come out of hibernation because they've been manufacturing venom all winter long.

I guess the moral to those tidbits from my vet is in order to have the best chance at survival, get bitten by a big snake late in the year? jeez.

Shannon · Honored Guest

I hadn't heard that they were more poisonous, but I did hear that they were more dangerous. The reasoning I heard, though, was that they'd attack w/o warning first, where as the adults would rattle and wait a minute to see if the threat was going to move in or move on. Your vet's explanation makes more sense.

Speaking of rattle snakes--the first time I heard one go, it scared the &^$# out of me!! When I moved to rattlesnake country, I would hear little noises and think "What's that?!" No more. There is no mistaking a rattlesnake rattle. It's loud!

Jaye · Old Hand

We don't have rattlesnakes here in the Piedmont of NC, but last year I was living in the Great Smoky Mtns. I was out on the lumberyard where I worked doing inventory and heard that infamous rattle between two units of 2x10's. I didn't know what it was, but the guy with me just tore off in a frantic run yelling the whole way. Turned out it was a timber rattler. Another braver guy got it out with a stick. They're smaller but have a nasty temperament. Now that I know what they sound like, I won't soon forget. Another critter up in the mountains I saw frequently was the groundhog/woodchuck. One was living near the cabin I rented and when I went to take the dog out, it took off across the yard. Bout scared me to death. That varmit was as big as a medium-sized dog. Now where I'm living in Mooresville behind our property there is a huge beaver dam. Never seen the beavers, but there are tracks all over and trees cut down. They cut them down so that they fall in the direction they are going to carry them which is usually to the water where their dam is located.

Farm Goddess · Goddess

There are sounds out here that can sometimes mimic rattlesnake, but, even though we'd never heard one before, when we did hear our first one, we knew instantly it was a rattler. There was no "hmm is that a grasshopper singing or a snake... hmm.." Nope, it was an instant omgdon'tmovethat'sasnakewherethehellisitandamIfixingtogetbitten moment. There's just nothing that sounds like that once you hear one.

Update on the packrat issue.

I've just gotten home from a 6 hour adventure at the FORD dealership while they searched for chewed parts. $512.00 and 6 hours later, the engine light is off, the truck no longer dies at traffic lights and the "check fuel cap" message is off. My environmental consciousness does not extend to $512.00 vehicle repairs. A box of Real Kill is less than 5 bucks.

This is war.

Shannon · Honored Guest

Oh Farm Goddess, that's awful. I hope you can control the little critters because that's just too much for anyone to have to deal with.

Farm Goddess · Goddess

Thanks Shannon. It stunned me. The dealership gave me the gnawed parts. I still can't believe the damage. Good grief. There's an open bag of dog food on the patio that you'd think would be much more preferable to greasy rubber hoses and electrical wiring.

We keep trying to laugh about it. I'm envisioning myself in a kevlar body suit, night vision goggles and automatic weapons and grenades, skulking around in my wheelchair all night, grumbling "Go ahead. Make my day Mickey"

Shannon · Honored Guest

Farm Goddess wrote:

We keep trying to laugh about it. I'm envisioning myself in a kevlar body suit, night vision goggles and automatic weapons and grenades, skulking around in my wheelchair all night, grumbling "Go ahead. Make my day Mickey"

lol! I'm now thinking of Bill Murray's character in Caddyshack:

" License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote. "

Good luck!

Shannon · Honored Guest

Farming question!

How would you vote for this?:

This measure requires that certain farm animals be allowed, for the majority of everyday, to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up and turn around. Limited exceptions apply. Fiscal impact: Potential unknown decrease in state and local tax revenues from farm business, possibly in the range of several million dollars annually. Potential minor local and state enforcement and prosecution costs, partly offset by increased fine revenue.

I'm not an animal rights activist, but I hate seeing them mistreated, too. Does this sound like something PETA came up with are exaggerating how bad it is, or does anyone know if these critters truly are that cooped up. If so, it's it as bad for them as they make it sound?

What do you think?

Farm Goddess · Goddess

There are pig farms in Arizona where the pigs are kept in abysmal circumstances. We had this bill and I voted in favor of the pigs. I see no reason why the animals we eat cannot live in, if not natural circumstances, then at least have their most basic comforts allowed. They should be able to have enough room to lie down, turn around and stretch their wings. I would think that chicken cages could be a few inches wider to accomodate the occasional wing stretch. A pig should be able to turn around and lay down comfortably. I don't know whether PETA sponsored the bill or not. If they did, then knowing how some animals are kept, I'd say it reminds me of the good old days when they did useful things like prevent Bic from shaving the skin off live rabbits to test razors, and when they stopped Redkin and the like from squirting shampoo in cat's eyes and noses to test their products. There's just no need for some things and every animal deserves a modicum of comfort.

Shannon · Honored Guest

Thanks, Farm Goddess. I'm leaning towards voting yes on that one, too. I just like to be informed and we both know how sometimes the animal rights activists can get really extreme.

Farm Goddess · Goddess

Shannon wrote:

Thanks, Farm Goddess. I'm leaning towards voting yes on that one, too. I just like to be informed and we both know how sometimes the animal rights activists can get really extreme.

Yeah, I know that problem. It's really a shame. As I've said before, PETA used to be a good group that accomplished great things before they went totally insane. Now, it's easier to find evidence of their insanity rather than evidence that they might still do a sensible thing or two. Because they've gone so far off the plank it's hard to know if an animal rights cause has been overblown or if it really does need our attention. PETA needs to follow it's own advice and "free" it's wild loonies to forage for themselves.

I know that some of the Arizona Veterinarians were in favor of that bill when we voted on it several years ago. I don't remember what the arguments were, I just remember that both sides had valid concerns. In the end, however, I just couldn't get past the notion that it'd only take a little more space per animal to be able to stretch their joints. It just seemed like the right thing to do to me, and some of the vets. The argument that "This will just open the doors to getting rid of meat farming entirely!" didn't fly with me. That is a future concern, but had nothing to do with the problem at hand.

I personally cannot stand in one place for more than a couple of minutes before feeling like my spine is going to disintegrate. Can you imagine having 4 legs with stiff joints rather than just two? Personally, I'd rather see pigs kept in big pens where they can root and roll and be pigs until they become pork chops. But, no way will I cast a vote that gets rid of my terriaki pork loin. If I were made a goddess for a day, there'd be some unhappy meat farmers as well as unhappy PETA members out there for that reason.