Animals

[Guybrush]

The reason I don't like them is because of the diseases and how quickly they breed. They can give you Weils Disease which is serious. If one sets up home in the garden it doesn't takeong before a possible infestation occurs and that is a nightmare. There are young children both sides of me and I'd feel devastated if they got bitten.

Maybe you can reassure me or explain why I'm being irrational? You seem like you live in a rural place but I don't and the last thing I want is rats in the garden.

Nah, you're not irrational, but the way I see it, rats come with the territory - sort of - when you start putting easily accessible food out.

We got rats in our chicken pen cause of the feed and also in our vegetable garden when my wife started burying this bocacci (?) compost. They never tried to get inside, though. At least I never found any indication of that. I don't think that's normal, at least not here.

I've never known anyone who's actually gotten bitten by a wild rat, so.. I tend to think that risk may be a little exaggerated.

[jimmy jazz]

The camera lets me see exactly who is eating the food and only once has a rat eaten it so that's good. One rat in over a week, seems good to me? I thought we had more rats here than that.

I may move my camera anyway and do some bird watching because I have a feeling it's too cold for the hedgies and they've already gone to hibernate for the winter.

[larsvsnapster]

[Psy-Fi]

Lots of wildlife in my neck of the woods. Top photo is a young female white-tailed deer in my backyard. Other two pics are of a red squirrel on my porch.

[jimmy jazz]

You took these? These are great. Post more! Squirrel looks like he's waiting at a bus stop and his hands are cold so he's warming them up.

[Psy-Fi]

You took these? These are great. Post more! Squirrel looks like he's waiting at a bus stop and his hands are cold so he's warming them up.

I've got more on my spare hard drive. I'll start posting some here and there when I have the time to look through them. I think that squirrel had some type of nut or seed in its hands when I took that shot.

[Psy-Fi]

It's getting close to the Thanksgiving holiday on this side of the pond, so here's a timely pic of a wild turkey from my backyard...

[jimmy jazz]

  look at his little head.

[Psy-Fi]

Another squirrel pic. Might be that same red squirrel from my porch. Just relaxing on a branch and letting it all hang out...

[Psy-Fi]

Three chipmunk pics from my porch and backyard. Not sure if it's the same one in all of the photos. They all tend to look alike to me. 

[jimmy jazz]

They are snazzy animals. I like them. They've got character.

[ribbons]

Really beautiful photos, @Psy-Fi.  I especially love the young deer and stripey chipmunks.  I envy you having wildlife right in your own back yard.   

[Psy-Fi]

Really beautiful photos, @Psy-Fi.  I especially love the young deer and stripey chipmunks.  I envy you having wildlife right in your own back yard. 

I'm always amazed at the variety of wildlife I see in my yard and neighborhood. I even saw a black bear in my driveway, once. It ran off before I could get a pic of it, though. Probably the only critter I haven't seen yet is a moose.

[Psy-Fi]

A hungry snake trying to eat more than it can swallow...

I saw this life-or-death struggle between a toad and snake one day while I was doing some yard work. I figured there was no way that snake would be able to swallow that toad. I checked back on the scene every few minutes to see what was happening and after a while the snake gave up and moved on. The toad was left with a slimy right leg but ended up hopping away eventually.

[jimmy jazz]

Me at Christmas dinner.