We were eating lunch and saw some nine-banded armadillos foraging in the back woods during a cloudy afternoon. These are probably last year’s litter, as they seem to be full grown (the cats are 10 pounds, and they look about the same size).The two cats (Big Orange Tom and Sophie) prowling the area completely left them alone. Nine-banded armadillos are insectivores and these are digging for grubs and worms. I recorded for 5 minutes, within 6 feet at times. I’m not sure they even knew I was there. Sorry for the shaky footage, the mosquitoes were eating me alive. Totally worth it!
There was a little honey bee crawling around in our back yard. I was concerned for his safety (I think it may be a drone, large eyes and no stinger), so I moved it outside the fenced area and away from the dog’s feet (and noses). I did offer him some sugar water, but he wasn’t interested. Good luck finding what you are looking for little bee!
I was sitting inside when the cats and dogs all perked up and were very interested in something outside. I left them all locked up and went to investigate. In the backyard I heard a couple thunks and a rattle, and then the rain spout suddenly started chattering at me!
Squirrel seconds from being free of the down spout
Silly squirrel. Looking for the corn that wasn’t in the feeder (oops) and he slipped down the rain gutter. The problem is that I have a rain diverter on that particular stretch of gutter and it was plugged with leaves as well (which explains why my rain barrel is empty despite all our rain.) Here’s the video. Spoiler: the squirrel makes it out! As a bonus, the leaves are now cleaned out of my diverter.
The sound of frightened barking is not a happy one in the veil of darkness before dawn. My dogs found a snake in the backyard before the sun rose and took exception to its presence on our property. It bit Griffin on the lip. We gave him Benadryl and took him to the vet as soon as they opened, and the vet gave him some steroids and more anti-inflammatories. The vet thinks it was probably a copperhead that tagged him. He stayed for a few hours for observation, then we picked him up and took him home with instructions from the vet, antibiotics, and oral anti-inflammatories. The vet shaved the area of the bite site so we could keep an eye on the skin to see if it lives or degrades.
Swelling on Griffin’s lip and neck from a probable copperhead snake bite, shown after the vet visit and shave
That afternoon I put on my thick rubber boots and long pants, picked up the snake grabber, started up the trimmer mower, and took down the grass in the backyard that had grown up high in the recent rains. It was a little awkward to mow and hold the grabber, but I wasn’t taking any chances. And reducing the snake hiding habitat made me feel a little better.
Bite site two days later
Two days later his swelling was down especially along his throat and just the area around the bite was inflamed. The vet said it was good if black scabs formed over the injection site, and he has those!
Bite site four days later
After four days the swelling was almost completely gone and the redness around the bite site was also significantly reduced.
Note: this is a personal account of a single incident. I am not providing veterinary advice.
Not quite a water spout, but an interesting choice for web building, tucked into my glass rain gauge. I tipped out the water and the spider ran down, then a stick made short work of the web. We’ll see if the itsy bitsy spider crawls up again.
Critters and Craft 