A good sized (6 foot plus) gator managed to get into the pond without me noticing. Had I know it was there, I would not have let the geese in the yard-but they were free ranging on the property that day.
The gator snuck up on and grabbed one of my geese! Someone was outside and got me after noticing the goose flapping frantically across the pond…and then noticed the gator following it.
I ran outside and grabbed the goose out of the weeds at the pond’s edge, less than six feet away from the gator who was still coming for its dinner! Too late though…the gator had already torn large chunks of skin off my poor baby. Luckily for me, the gator stayed in the water.
After getting the rest of the flock to go into the fenced area (not an easy task while holding one of them), I took her inside to try and treat her. I sprayed her wounds with Vetericyn Wound Spray and put gauze pads dampened with the same spray over the open areas. She ended up with 2 large areas and several smaller areas down to the muscle
I then wrapped her with vet wrap to hold the gauze in place and put her in a plastic carrier with puppy pads in it (bedding would stick to the wounds). She was in the shower enclosure and I closed the door so she’d stay warm, leaving the light on for her and checking her every 20 min. I offered her a bowl of warm water with a little molasses in it, she drank about half of it during the rest of the day.
A couple hours later on one of my checks I noticed she was breathing heavily. My heart sank as I somehow knew this was the end. I picked her up and held her and comforted her the best I could, tell her what a good girl she is. She laid her head on my shoulder and calmed down…and then shortly passed away.
RIP girl…you were loved.
I hate this part of having animals.
(and no, no animal is allowed to free range any more until I figure out how to keep alligators out of a pond)
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For those who may be trying to figure out what got their animal, I’m including her injury pictures. Please do not share without permission.
Walking over to get the hose (green) got a bit more interesting when I saw a 3 footish red hose in the yard.
Wait….I don’t have a 3 foot hose….
Oh. Rat snake! I like these guys around too, could use a few more. This one didn’t move until I poked it’s tail, then went about 6 feet away and decided to pretend to be a vicious snake!
After a few minutes it headed off to hopefully reduce the rat population and avoid getting stepped on. Bye buddy!
When I went to pull down carriers to clean for a rabbit show, something flew past my face!
Hoping it wasn’t a rat…I looked a little closer and found this:
Unfortunately I needed the carriers and couldn’t just put them back so I rebuilt a stack on top of the next and hoped mamma bird would find it satisfactory….
She did come back for a few days and was using the new nest. About a week later I saw two of the eggs outside the nest and no mamma bird in site…she ended up abandoning the nest , or she might’ve gotten hurt somewhere and couldn’t come back. I was looking forward to see the babies too!
You aren’t going to eliminate them all nor stop them from coming onto your property without a dome dropped over the whole thing (not realistic). They climb trees, laugh at fences, and aren’t worth it for someone to trap for you (as you found out). Switch your goal to keeping them out of the coop/housing areas of your animals and you’ll have a lot more success. Step 1: Fortify coop. No chicken wire (it keeps chickens in and nothing else out). Hardware cloth or rabbit cage wire, best you can afford (the smaller the number/gauge, the thicker the wire btw). Wire around the coop either buried down 2 feet or flat and pinned on the ground 2 feet (secured to the bottom edge) to eliminate digging. Check your coop door, those little paws can bend door frames open enough to get in if flimsy. Let nothing smaller than a racoon sleep or live within arms’ reach of any wire bigger than 1/2×1/2, they reach in and grab pieces. And all animals in at dusk, no exceptions. If your job keeps you off property past dusk, no more free ranging-build an enclosed run. You could do automatic doors for chickens, but sooner or later someone will stay out and you might lose them. Step 2: Eliminate all other food sources…no more corn feeders, outside cat food, outside dog food, birdseed on the ground, etc. Step 3: Get yourself a sturdy trap, havahart makes good ones. Learn how to set it. Leave it outside in the weather for a week or two to get rid of the manufacturing smells. Set it-I bait mine with fresh eggs because that’s what they are going after. Place it near the areas you don’t want them coming. Dispose of captive. Wear gloves if handing any dead ones, they have things you don’t want. Do NOT handle live ones and watch the paws-they reach through and grab! Rest trap, rinse and repeat. Be fair and realistic…my rule is anything showing an interest in the animals is gone. Everything else can stay. Again, you will not eliminate them. But #1 is build secure coops and pens!
I was walking up the steps to the porch and spotted some black caulking that was bulging out between the step and the wood side. Hrm…caulk…I don’t remember that being there…let me get a little closer…
AND IT MOVED!
Yes, we have magic moving black caulking down here! Get your own today!
I’m going to be rich!
Wait….
This moving caulk strip has a head.
Whew….I’m not seeing things. Just the friendly area black snake…pretending to be a strip of caulking. I stepped over him and we both went on our ways :).
Mr. Possum decided to dig a foot under my chicken coop at the one spot that did not have wire laid flat on the ground. The palmetto bushes are too close to the coop and there is not enough room to lay wire flat…but apparently there is enough room to burrow in. I barricaded the area but he then chewed through the barricade. After finding some blood on a hens’ leg that had previously been trying to go broody , I decided to break out the trap.
I bait the trap with eggs for both racoons and opossum captures as that’s usually what they start going after. I caught 4 racoons in six months repeatedly trying to get into the duck pen, and now this guy breaking into the chicken coop.
I released him on my property on the other side of a creek from the chicken coop thinking he’d get the hint and stay there. This picture is actually the second trapping because he didn’t get the memo. When I moved the trap he rolled over on his side and I noticed the genital area was severely swollen and had yellow puss coming out. I called the local wildlife place and they were too full to accept healthy ones much less a sick one. Given the circumstances, they told me either I could take care of it or they would if I brought it in. Sorry buddy… hopefully you’re in a better place. The illness may explain why he was stubbornly returning, as in the past I’ve had success with them avoiding the area after being trapped once.
