City wildlife

[pbear19]

I live inside the limits of the city of St Louis. Not St Louis county, but the city proper. So people don't always believe me that when we moved into our house we chased off a nest of snakes in the back yard, that we have coyotes that come out at night and rile up our dogs sometimes, that we've had groundhogs, etc.

Well, I just had to drag my dogs inside because underneath my front porch is this little lady with her crew:







She didn't seem too happy with either the dogs or with the flash of my camera. Hopefully she's not planning to stay under there long term! It's a fenced yard so I don't know how she got under there, unless there is a tunnel of some kind.

[AKA_Monet]

They climb the fence... And yes, it is with their babies...

You may want contact animal control in your area. These jokers bite and carry things--sometimes rabies...

Yeah, I can imagine there are interesting characters in your area...

In mine: Coyotes, lots of Mallard Ducks (male and female); Brown bunnies--they're cute; sometimes bears; have not seen mountain lions, but I know they exist. Geese--those are some loud jokers. Frogs--but they might be dead now since the snow--unless they estivated. There are a few possums and quite a few mice and rats. And yeah, there are Beavers!!!

[SigKapSweetie]

I lived in a top-floor apartment in Tampa and there were ducks nesting in a hole in the soffit leading to my attic. No, really. Three times a year, the eggs would hatch and the little ducklings would peep-peep-peep all day long, clearly audible through the ceiling, driving my cats absolutely wild. Once one of the eggs broke up there in the middle of summer. The smell was indescribable.

I had maintenance patch that soffit twice, but the giant duck kept pecking at it until it broke again and opened a hole to get back into the attic. I was delighted to finally move out of that place. The cats, however, were devastated.

[LucyKKG]

Ewwwwwww possums are disgusting! I saw one by my bf's place last month, and now I'm always creeped out when walking there at night.

I've seen turkey and coyotes at my dad's place, but it isn't in a super populated area. It's on the edge of a big park.

[KSUViolet06]

Oh my gosh, possums creep me out. My parents live near the woods so they get tons of woodland creatures on their deck. Almost every night it's a possum, groundhog, or raccoon. They scare our cats to death.

[carnation]

Somewhere there's another really old thread on this..I remember posting about my grandmother going to the bathroom one night at our beach house and she heard a noise and stood up and there was a possum in the toilet.

[aephi alum]

The city where I live is officially a city, but it includes several neighborhoods that would more accurately be classified as suburbs (one of which I live in). (And in reality, the city is a suburb of The City - NYC.)

We have squirrels, raccoons, feral cats, wild turkeys, and worst of all, DEER. I've gotten very good at container gardening, because anything I plant in my garden, they eat. I can spray flowering plants, ferns, etc. but I can't spray the veggies I'm going to eat. I'm often driving at dawn and/or dusk, and let's just say the deer are lucky my car has good brakes and I have good reflexes.

I can't believe I work in Manhattan and I have to contend with deer in my own back yard.

[carnation]

Yeah, here it is-- and I forgot to add that the possum did bite her on the butt.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ghlight=possum

aephialum, I hear you about the deer. Our neighborhood is infested with them, no thanks to a nearby college that won't let anyone hunt deer there except for about a week in the fall. AXO Alum can attest to the fact that on that campus, they hang out in huge herds at twilight.

Some professors from that college went camping in extreme south Alabama awhile back. A bull alligator got into their tent while they were asleep and roared--have you ever heard that sound? It's terrifying from a long away away but when it's inches from your ears when you were sleeping soundly-- LOL! They didn't quit running for miles, so they claimed.

[AGDee]

My Alaskan Malamute keeps most things out of my yard but I regularly see raccoons, possums, deer and rabbits. And there are tons of mallards in the creek behind the house, along with one completely white duck that appeared a couple years ago. He looks hilarious hanging out with the mallards.

One stupid rabbit made a nest in my yard last year and the result wasn't pretty when the dog discovered it. One year, when we got back from a vacation (and the dog had been boarded for a week), there was a tunnel from the creek side of the fence to inside the yard. Once the dog was back though, the tunnel filled with leaves.

She's been digging a hole lately near the cherry tree. I think she's going after moles or voles, but she definitely smells something down there. She digs and digs, then sticks her nose in the hole, and digs and digs some more. Then she lays down while staring at the hole. The squirrels tease her.

[PM_Mama00]

In my current neighborhood, which is near some trees but not really a wooded area, I've seen a fox and some ducks. In my old neighborhood, which was near a wooded area, we had plenty of raccoons and rabbits. My friends and I were playing truth or dare one warm summer night and I got dared to roll our city-issued garbage can down teh street while singing "I wana be an airborne ranger". I thought I saw someone outside so I ran back, the can hit a bump in my driveway and fell over, and out ran a raccoon. We also had a family of raccoons that were living in our attic which sounded like bowling balls rolling around and scared the shit out of me.

My aunt lived on a creek and frequently had muskrats in their yard. They had cages to catch them cuz they were so bothersome. And we def don't live in teh country.

[barbino]

About a week ago the Chicago police killed a full-sized cougar not far from Wrigley Field on the north side - there was no time to get a tranquilizer gun & do it humanely, so they just shot it dead - supposedly there are videos on the internet on it. Being an animal lover I personally would not want to see it.

I was at my mom's house in a suburb that borders on the city and looked out her front window to see a few deer on her next door neighbor's lawn. This was not very far from the city at all. Another time my husband & I were driving fairly far out in the suburbs and nicked a deer. He broke the side mirror almost completely off. When we called the police, he said that the car behind us hit it too and killed it.

One time I thought I saw a cat outside of my apartment in another close suburb- it was dark & it was a big oppossum, not a cat. Everyone said that I was very lucky that it did not bite me. Other than that, the usual - racoons, squirrels, ducks, geese - & rabbits. The rabbits around us are not scared & they don't always run! You have to make them run sometimes -very strange.

[aggieAXO]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

They climb the fence... And yes, it is with their babies...

You may want contact animal control in your area. These jokers bite and carry things--sometimes rabies...

Yeah, I can imagine there are interesting characters in your area...

In mine: Coyotes, lots of Mallard Ducks (male and female); Brown bunnies--they're cute; sometimes bears; have not seen mountain lions, but I know they exist. Geese--those are some loud jokers. Frogs--but they might be dead now since the snow--unless they estivated. There are a few possums and quite a few mice and rats. And yeah, there are Beavers!!!

It is VERY rare for a opossum to carry rabies. Yes they can bite but usually only if provoked. I treat opossums all of the time and they are actually very easy to handle and rarely try to bite me. Some can be aggressive but if you just avoid them they will not try and attack you. I hate it when people come in and insist there animal was bitten by a opossum when clearly it was a cat or dog bite. Just leave them alone or see if you can call you local wildlife rehaber-maybe they will come out and trap her. Here in Austin, animal control will sometimes pick them up-they usually bring them in to the clinic I work at and then I send them to a rehaber or just release them somewhere that is sparsely populated with people (which is hard to do now a days).

[aggieAXO]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

By the way, possums are the nastiest animals to ever exist. Kill it if no one comes to take care of it for you. You DO NOT want those things hanging around.

I don't understand why you need to "kill" the opossum?? I know most people think they are nasty but why does it need to be killed? Please enlighten me.

[33girl]

I've seen wild turkeys and deer hanging out on the busway that is about 1/2 mile from downtown Pittsburgh. Too many people are moving into the wooded areas & taking their homes. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a bear bopping around Saks Fifth Avenue at this point.

[ForeverRoses]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24254754/
Anyone see the news report this morning about the lady that found the gator in her kitchen? (she's in Florida I think).

My neighborhood retention pond had a 60lb beaver in the retention pond. You can only imagine the jokes that were flying around about that one. We had a wildlife trapper come out and live trap him. Luckily it was a male, so we don't have to worry about babies this year.

We also get mallard ducks, geese, feral cats, and the occasional wild dog (wolf? maybe)