I love this wildlife thread too!

Canada Geese, well, they live here in Toronto all year round. At the cottage, we hear them coming and going as they migrate.

Pelicans in Montana! I'm jealous, we have to go to Florida to see them!

Rattlesnakes--we have, although not in Toronto, but not far north, the Massassauga Rattler, not deadline, but still, our only poisonous snake.

Now, porcupines, skunks, chipmunks, weasels, we've got them all, and of course racoons and bears. But only skunks and racoons in the city!!! Lots of skunks in downtown Toronto!

I love the fact that you don't have earthquakes to deal with Donna & Sandy....THAT's why I want to move! Arizona sounds great to me! We have rattlesnakes here in abundance, also. March to Oct. We have them here in the foothills in a big way. (Firemen would never respond if we called to remove a snake.) We have many on the property, hatching right now. Horses & dogs seem to know when they're around...It's time to wear boots & "look" before we step outside. It sure is a gorgeous sunset right now - very clear & bright! Despite all these "critters", you will love the West, Karen! - :) Michele

Oh my, this is not good. I'll never be able to move to Arizona until scorpions are extinct.

What's the downside of Utah? Earthquakes like So. Cal? or some CRITTER????

Seadog, I've probably over-dramatized. I don't shake out the clothes that hang in my closet but do check my shoes. Getting up in the middle of the night and walking across the bedroom floor is taking a risk but I do it. My friend can't seem to get rid of her scorpions and she does have to shake out the clothes in her closet. But, she lives next to a wilderness area. Our monthly pest control seems to take care of things. Once in awhile I will see a dead scorpion in the house and that reminds me to be more careful.

When we first moved into our house, a repairman told me to be very careful stepping out the front or back doors. It seems snakes like to stretch out underneath thresholds, especially if the area is sunny.

Sandra, I agree with you. AZ is great for lack of natural disasters. One reason we chose to live here.

Few people admit it we have palm rats here - little smaller than a squirrel - I am terrified of rats why I hate squirrels same thing - yuk!! Many yrs ago tony was traveling we had new cat (old Spookie still with us) and I heard ruckus in hall at 6 am just getting light - got up and saw Spookie stalking old chest I had in hall - I pulled chest from wall and rat jumped out - I ran in bedroom and locked door and stuffed towel under door - called friend to come over and say "all is clear come out of bedroom " - had exterminators next day - those rats are still around - :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:

OK, Donna. Thanks for the clarificaton. But, nope, not gonna happen. Not moving to Arizona. I don't care if the scorpion is dead or alive! It's IN THE HOUSE!

As far as leaving the house? Well, I think the window is the best route.

Kim

Well,let's see???? Downside of Utah, we lived there 25 years, and there were some good things and not so good things, we had earthquakes(not as bad as So. Calif.) , we had snakes,(not as bad as Az.), the scenery was wonderful, some GREAT friends, but we really love it here in Arizona, I think the Maricopa County, is the fastest growing counties in the United States, so if your coming here you better get here soon, everyone else is, seriously, it is a great place to live. :) :cool:

For 20 or so years, we went to Islamorada, FL to fish. One time as we vacated the condo we had rented, a scorpion went in. On the fourth floor. I guess it rode the elevator up.

I do not like spiders and snakes, or rats!!!!!

We have pelicans and egrets, and it is almost time for the sea turtles to start nesting again!

Betty

As far as leaving the house? Well, I think the window is the best route.

I am with you - hoping for a ranch ... no 2 or 3 story -

Us living in Arizona.



So far, Utah is "not as bad" as other places. That's good.

Let's hear from those near Denver. Name your critters! (Editing to say: Thinking of moving there.)

Kim

LOL Pam & Joanna! Rats are so gross! ...& yes, they do chew through everything if left unattended..Scorpions are another story. You just have to get used to being precautious just like being careful when stepping outside when it's "snake" season. :eek: - Michele What a funny & fun topic.

Us living in Arizona.

That is funny!!!!!!

How about Salt Lake City?
Seattle?
Reno?
Portland, Oregon?
Sacramento?
San Jose?
Denver?

Name your critters!

We just returned from Sacramento Tues., my family lives there, well, Roseville, but when they retire, they want to leave there, it's cold, and damp, and hot in the summer.Our son lives in Salt Lake City, but there's all that snow to shovel.. Hey, I guess that's why we leave Arizona in the summer....CRUISE TIME!!!There's no perfect place, well, maybe Tahiti for us. :) ;)

Karen, I loved those cows! We've never had cows..I love Arizona, but you can keep your wildlife.

A few years ago, we had construction done on our house...lots of digging to put up a deck. There were snakes and other animals uprooted. One day after the construction, I went down to the basement and this giant rat stopped dead in its tracks and looked me up and down. I called the exterminator and we found out that he and his buddies had eaten through our cement walls...it was a family of burrow rats. We haven't seen them since the exterminator came.

Then, we've had our fun with squirrels...they climed over the wires to our roof and ate a hole in the roof and moved in. After 6 months of traps and mothballs, one way out exit doors, we lost a garage door when they tried to find their way back in through another entry and ate a hole in our garage wall to go back to the attic. We finally resorted to witness relocation and moved the family to the Bronx. They haven't been back.

Then there are the deer...the deer who destroyed all of my landscaping...and the bunnies....and the groundhogs...and the bats

However, the hummingbirds and monarch butterflies in the butterfly garden are very special...and our blue jays and robins...

OK, Salt Lake City: Snow's not a bad thing. Here's me on Sunday:



Roseville? Hot in the summer? Well, it's not the heat, it's the humidity that I hate.

Any critters I should know about?

WHAT A GREAT PICTURE!!!! Of course on Sunday I was doing the baby oil and iodine in my backyard - your pix looks healthier - Joanna

Wow, look at ALL that snow! Great picture, Kim!

Great thread Karen!!

Tony's response to Karen's cow thread:

Why did Karin invite cows to lunch,,,,,doesn't she have any people neighbors?


Tony Mondae

Thanks! Jay Peak, VT really came through for us. That was probably the last day on the slopes for us this season. Now we've got to deal with other things on weekends through mid-April: being "on call" and a poker tournament at Foxwoods! I don't think New England conditions can make for much of a spring ski season this year.

Kim

Boy, how did I miss this thread?

When I lived in urban Palo Alto raccoons were the bane of my existence. They came through my cat door into the house. I put in one of those "magnetic locking" cat doors where your cat has to stand in a certain spot for the magnet on its collar to unlock the cat door. They figured that one out before my cats did.

I used to get 6 to 8 raccoons a night in my tri level condo. They'd eat the soap in the bathroom and unwind the roll of toilet paper, dumping it into the (now) muddy water in the hall powder room toilet before dragging it through the hallways all over my white carpets.

I had to buy a carpet cleaning machine to shampoo off the muddy paw prints.

Once they got into a big lidded glass jar where I kept "souvenir" champagne corks (over 300 of them). I guess they thought they were dog biscuits or something. They chewed them up and then spat them out, all over my stairs and Persian carpets.

Now I just have deer, oh sorry, used to have deer! My new deer fence works!

Double post.

They'd eat the soap in the bathroom and unwind the roll of toilet paper, dumping it into the (now) muddy water in the hall powder room toilet before dragging it through the hallways on my white carpets.


Sounds like some bad houseguests I have had - you will meet them on Mush

Not going to sleep well tonight. Going to have to resign myself to living with the "mean" people in Boston for the rest of my life. If only I could call in trappers to re-locate them. No, no, not all are mean. Just a different "tone" here.

We have a couple of chipmunks, a cat that shows up every once in awhile, a squirrel that barks at me if I let the bird feeder get low, a bunch of big ants that try to get up under the hot tub cover, and once a green heron landed in the back yard for about 5 seconds. That was really cool.

Kim

My sides are killing me from laughing....
- :) Michele ZZZZZZzzzzzz

Karen,

Love the photos of the cows. When are you having your BBQ or opening a dairy?

We've had lots of critters in Orange County. Raccoons did their nightly run on our roof and were trying to tear up our shake shingles. We, unfortunatly, had to call out trappers, twice to "relocate" them. Hated to do it, but they just kept coming back night after night.

A possum family lived under a wooden walkway on our patio.

We were awoken very early one morning, several years ago, to some really eerie noises. Two huge coyotes were dining on our neighbors cat on our front lawn! We were horrified to see such a sight!

Bees swarmed and then made a nest in our kitchen wall - something out of a Hitchcock film. We had to enlist a beekeeper to come out at the crack of dawn, when the bees are dormant, to remove the hive.

A rat made a home for himself in our attic. He was getting in through the chimney.

We have a Japanese maple tree on our patio. Every year hummingbirds build their nests in the tree. They began to build a new nest just a few days ago. Beautiful to watch the whole process from building the nest to seeing the sweet babies take flight.

KIM: I read the Boston Herald every am - well not entire paper but love Howie Carr, columnist, and story of the Bulger brothers - I lived in Cambridge, and Belmont 45 yrs ago - it was great place when I was young - many yrs ago...

Yes, Joanna, so many good things in the Boston area. That's why we moved here 6 years ago from the mid-west. But, somehow we got the "bug" to move again. Do we forever try to find something greener on the other side of the fence?

It's just freaking me out to read all the critter stories!

Kim

When I went to Cabo San Lucas with my 1st Husband, we stayed at this wonderful luxury resort called the Twin Dolphin, they had Free Range Cows, a Dog named Oakie, and scorpions. We went for a business trip with his boss. Oh my, they all drank too much and the hotel staff turned the AC off if you left your casita. We wives stayed up laughing by the pool bar and listening to the evenings musical enterainment long after the men retired.

When I got to the room, DH was asleep with 10 scorpions on the wall a foot from his head and pillow. I ran back to the front desk (no phones), dodged the guard dog and had to run around a few stray cows to get help!!! I will always remember how funny that was.

Oh Kim, my current DH grew up in Denver. No critters in town, but, go a bit outside and you will find all manner of beasts.

I don't know how I missed this post--

Here in NH, our property abuts miles of conservation land, so we have a wide array of critters. Commonly seen (almost daily depending on the season) are deer, wild turkeys, fox, porcupines, racoons. Sometimes seen are bears (they go after bird feeders on people's decks in early spring before the berries come out) and moose. We also have a family of fisher cats that live off the side of our house. Heard in the summer but not seen are coy dogs. The first time I saw a moose in our back yard, I was amazed at how huge these beasts are!

Bill

We have raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, rats, snakes, squirrels, rabbits (or as I refer to them ... RATbits), skunks, frogs, turtles, snakes and lots of birds. Makes gardening a bit of a challenge. And this is in the middle of suburbia!

I forgot to include alligator lizards, who love to sun themselves on our patio.

We, too, get an occassional rabbit or two, Lauri.

In reading everyone's posts, it appears we've all got our fair share of critters to co-exist with.

A few years ago we installed a tiny ornamental pond in our back yard. Since then it has become a haven for a thriving community of Pacific tree frogs. They are a fraction of an inch long but they have the biggest voices imaginable, and this time of year they make sweeeeeet, sweet love to each other all night long. The noise can be deafening as they let each other know they're in the mood. I am really surprised the herons don't come in and clean them out for us.

I am pleased since I read somewhere that frogs can only live in toxin-free environments which means we are doing something right, but our neighbors actually are not too thrilled because of the noise. It's hard to keep the pond clean when it's ripe with tadpoles so we tidy up before and after the taddie season and they seem to do okay in the meantime.

Oops, I think I double clicked.

Dang.....I'm missing out on all of this! The most I see around our home is raccoons on occassion and very ugly possums with red beady eyes that glow at night! I'd love to have deer or cows. I just don't ever want to see Coyotes! I know they're around because they've killed neighbor's cats before. :mecry:

One "critter" we never had in Wisconsin, but we do in GA is termites!!!! :ohmy: :ohmy: :mecry:

We have a termite system around our house to supposedly keep them out, but when swarming season comes around (right about now) they seem to fly and get in.

Our first ten years in our new house were termite free and then we had some minor repair work done three years in a row and last year we were termite free all season and I hope it stays that way! ;)

Karen, did the posse follow up with a "clean-up" crew? Your cow photos and Michele's turkey visitors are just too funny!

We're in suburban SE Michigan but still have occasional deer sightings (one ate about 1/4 of a young ornamental pear tree in our yard about 6 years ago - glad to report the tree is now thriving). When we first moved into this new condo in '98 there was a red fox in the development but it has disappeared. There is a storm water detention pond behind us. Our first summer here it was full of tree frogs and bullfrogs. The tree frogs would start their noise just before sunset and stop somewhere around 1 or 2 am. By 3 am the bullfrogs were awake and making their much deeper toned sounds. By our second summer the frog population was well down. Great Blue Herons nest nearby and visit regularly. Now that the frogs are gone the herons are eating goldfish and crayfish. (Someone's grandchildren brought some minnows over that first summer.)

We also have squirrels, possums, racoons, rabbits & skunks. I didn't know previously that Georgia doesn't have skunks. We constantly have signs of their digging in the soft earth of our landscaped areas as they look for bugs. Of course, it's what they do when frightened or hit by a car that makes the skunks so unwelcome.

The pond provides the most wildlife activity for us to watch in our yard. In addition to the herons there are always Mallard Ducks and Canadian Geese. We've seen the occasional Kingfisher. And last, but certainly not least, are the mink that seem to live or at least travel in the storm water drains and the smaller drains that run underground from our gutter downspouts to the pond. In 2004 a litter of 5 were often spotted.

Kathy I think in the 18 years we've lived in GA if we've seen or detected the odor from a skunk it has been maybe twice. It may be they could be found in North GA mountains where it is cooler as one time I recall someone telling me skunks don't like the hot weather.