WILD ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS

WhiteRaven

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KarmaBum

One time, when I was about ten years old, we went to get in our above-ground pool, but there was a bat already in there. My mom scooped it out with the net. It was unalive.

Testament

@KarmaBum Bats scare the shit out of me. Not because they’re bats, but more that if you accidentally get bit by one, you’re probably going to have to get six shots(or more) into your stomach on the off-chance that don’t get rabies. Sadly, a lot of bats are carriers of it.

Jumpscare

I don’t know why, but every week or two, a spider will crawl up the back of my laptop and emerge into my view, walking over my screen like it’s trying to be one of those jumpscare GIFs.

This has happened so often that I’m no longer startled by seeing an insect crawling around near me. I have an empty candle jar nearby to scoop them up and toss them out into the wild again. And I always talk to them, too. “Hey little guy, let’s get you back outside.”

Why they love coming up the back of my screen I have no idea, haha.

Snackness

@KarmaBum One time I found a freezing little bat in the carport. I put him in a hatbox with a heating pad until he warmed up and left.

I wore heavy leather gloves for this btw.

lordbelh

I have a hedgehog that plods around in my garden in the evenings. It’s friggin’ adorable.

tsar

@lordbelh said in WILD ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS:

I have a hedgehog that plods around in my garden in the evenings. It’s friggin’ adorable.

I AM JEALOUS

Tori

@tsar said in WILD ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS:

@Tori said in WILD ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS:

Right now, I have major stress about something apparently LIVING IN MY ATTIC and omfg it’s the worst while they try to figure out WHAT and HOW

Oh man, I want to know what it is!!

Palm rats, which upon googling them look ADORABLE but not in my attic

tsar

@Tori said in WILD ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS:

@tsar said in WILD ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS:

@Tori said in WILD ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS:

Right now, I have major stress about something apparently LIVING IN MY ATTIC and omfg it’s the worst while they try to figure out WHAT and HOW

Oh man, I want to know what it is!!

Palm rats, which upon googling them look ADORABLE but not in my attic

Oh nooooooo

lordbelh

@Tori Yeah, no thanks. No rodents in the house, please. Unless they’re in a cage/enclosure. Then they’re cool.

sao

My cats have been murder spreeing my rodent problem. As of last night they have killed 13 since I brought them home. … so I definitely have/had a rodent problem. @Tori can you set Lizzie loose in the attic or would this risk her precious wiggly body?

lordbelh

@sao Serial killers in action.

Snackness

Porch lizard!

eta I’m pretty sure I airdropped this to a complete stranger, I hope they enjoy it.

sao

@lordbelh I’m afraid so. At one point I witnessed my 14 month old cat, Heimdall, shove a mouse back into its hiding place with his big paw because he decided he wasn’t done playing cat-and-mouse with it. Really awful. I thought he was a himbo but actually he’s a terror.

lordbelh

@sao My old cat was a terror, too. I know their ways from first hand experience. If only all they murdered were pests! Anytime he brought home a lil birdie, though, I felt guilty as hell. I know its a wildlife problem.

They’re so cute and loving at home. Outside the door, they’re mass murdering psychopaths.

sao

@lordbelh mine do not go outside! but they’re definitely awful murderers of intruders. never mind that some of these mice have probably lived here longer than they have (oh god).

lordbelh

@sao Mine was always an outdoor cat, I inherited him. Never got another once he passed. If I did, it’d have to be some indoor cats, though.

Tori

@sao said in WILD ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS:

My cats have been murder spreeing my rodent problem. As of last night they have killed 13 since I brought them home. … so I definitely have/had a rodent problem. @Tori can you set Lizzie loose in the attic or would this risk her precious wiggly body?

She is such a SKITTISH cat, even now! I think she would claw me apart before I could get up the ladder to the garage It took months to even get her to go into the garage to use the potties.

I’d try to put Piggy up there, but he’s nearly as much as a scaredy cat and, y’know. Big boi. Plus he isn’t a killer. He just likes to play and then gets bored.

My pest guy has put traps up there and will be back again Friday or Monday to check them again. I really REALLY hate mouse traps, but they don’t like re-release them into the wild or anything

Evilgrayson

We lived in the country - mice in the house was standard - when we gained a crotchety old tomcat who was ludicrously intelligent. We rapidly came to an arrangement with Zappa; he brought us dead mice, he got tuna. 14 mice in 10 days, worked like a treat.

Unfortunately, this cat was too smart. After he’d emptied the house of its rodents, every time he wanted a bit of tuna in his diet, he brought us a dead rodent. So after a while he was getting a bit podgy, and we stuck him on a diet.

5 mice in one day.

He got his tuna, and we decided that a cat who can catch five mice in a day probably didn’t need a diet. Diet ended, everyone was happy, and we realised that our cat had grasped the basic principles of economics.

Solstice

Got out of my car today, and noticed a belly-up bug that had passed on in the parking spot next to me. Understandable, as it’s a billion degrees out, but holy heck I had no idea we even had these where I live. It’s like the size of a really thick thumb.

My partner absolutely loves to draw from life, and doesn’t shy away from bugs, so I scooped this poor passed-on little dude up and on my way to my apartment, a neighbor stopped me to chat. Imagine trying to hold a serious conversation while delicately holding one of these fellas by the carapace and basically hiding it behind your back like a bad sitcom:

Eastern Hercules Beetle, Male - Courtesy of Google Images

For like 10 minutes. I do not know how I got away with that.

My ‘gift’ was absolutely adored when I got home, though.

Squeal, eyes lighting up like it was Christmas, and everything.

Worth it.