Category: Wildlife

Bit

On By CarynIn dog, Wildlife

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.

Itsy bitsy spider

On By CarynIn Wildlife
Spider and web in my rain gauge

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.

Emergence

On By CarynIn Wildlife

My eldest found a chrysalis while we were weeding the front garden. She put it in a jar with a wire mesh top (yeah, we have these just hanging around for exactly this reason) and in about a week a moth emerged! She let it go outside after its photo session. After doing a search on iNaturalist we found out the caterpillar form is called an armyworm and damages crops. Hmm.

Empty chrysalis
White-speck moth

Fox

On By CarynIn Wildlife

We’ve been seeing some fox on our trail cam this spring! The pictures are blurry, but the beastie is quite clearly not a cat or coyote. Probably a gray fox, as they are common ‘round here.

Possible gray fox captured on the trail cam

Wasp nest

On By CarynIn Coop, Wildlife
Dead wasp nest

A wasp nest in the coop that I sprayed a year ago finally fell down into the runs. I left it up because I read that if there is a nest, other wasps will avoid the area. Apparently people make all sorts of fake nests to psych out the wasps (yes, there are even crocheted decoys!) I just left the fumigated nest in place. We’ll see if I get new inhabitants this spring.