# My neighbors are upset about pest sightings



## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

Greg.... Understand what you're saying.... and I have deer/****/elk/fox in my backyard in the mountain foothills.....

But... I'm not sure Cuyote is very good in a suburban neighborhood.....

They are pretty tough,... easily go after family dog and cat, and have been known to go for small/frail people.......


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

True MTN..... I guess while being in my end stage of life, I appreciate keeping things alive and watching them now. Unlike when I was young, spending my time hunting them. 

I guess the farms being developed are driving the coyotes to easier food sources now (cats and small dogs ?) . I believe here in KY they are considered a varmit and are legal to hunt.


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

When I let my little mini dachshunds out for a late light potty run inside their 20x30 4' high fenced area I have my 22 close at hand. Bobcat and coyotes can clear that fence in a blink and although most people never see them I watch the tracks, we are surrounded. I even find scat all around my property which means the coyotes are marking their territory.

But there would be no getting rid of them as they are quite comfortable living among us and to me it is a sign of a healthy environment.

And the skunks do enjoy my grubs.

Nice pictures.
Bud


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

We are getting skunks too, but I forgot to save the video. Most likely a chosen mental block.  

Agree Bud, *absolutely* one has to protect ones property and pets at all cost. 

But I just feel if they are not harming me, my property or pets, they can have what little bit of ground space they need to pass through our yards. As it was man, that has taken* their *home.... as they were here first most times.


P.S. I mowed yesterday and found something in the back yard that REALLY pissed me off. A dead and badly mauled baby rabbit. My wife's indoor/outdoor fully clawed fixed tom cat had killed it and most likely did it slowly, as domestic cats torture/play with their kills. At least a coyote or bobcat will kill its prey as quick as it can. But I tolerate the cat because it kills the snakes and moles. Nature is cruel when it comes to predator/prey..


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Greg: Wait until the Tom, brings a live mouse inside, and drops it at your feet as a present.

That makes for a lively chase, trying to get that critter out of the house, or dead.

If you are still agile enough you can stomp it, but you gotta be fast.


ED


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

Good point ED,

The Mrs. being the beloved crazy cat lady she is, taught me years ago to always look through the storm door to see what "gift" a cat may be bringing to the door ...BEFORE opening it. 

Last week it was a chipmunk, still alive. Three days earlier a dead baby mole. Five days ago, a garter snake laying belly up in the back yard at the patio edge with its head gone. Thankfully, he must have gotten tired and dropped that one before getting to the door. 

I did not see this one, but she had a tomcat back in 1999 that was indoor/outdoor. He was good cat, but he was a bit short in the intelligence dept. She told me she was looking out of the kitchen window one day and the tomcat was fast walking along the back wood fence. 

He had in its mouth, the tail of a snake that was around a foot and half longer than he was and he was dragging it like a rope behind him. As he was casually trotting along, the snake was biting this long haired cat in its rear end viscously. 

But the snake was not doing the cat any harm, as my wife said its whole mouth was FULL of black and white cat hair, all while it was biting the caboose of that ditzy tomcat.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

I had a Cat once, that was bringing home a dead prairie dog pup, While being chased by a full grown adult Badger, seems that she was robbing the Badgers, stash.

Anyway a quick appearance of Ed, with a 22 and the badger was no more.

Cat dropped the prairie dog, and flopped on the deck, tired from the dead running to escape.

ED


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

The only "pests" we are inundated with this year is venomous snakes. I don't mind the rat snakes, as I have seen them kill copperheads, but timber rattlers and copperheads are rampant. This one was at our cabin a couple of days ago. 9 rattles and a button. Only 3' long, but super fat.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

> The Mrs. being the beloved crazy cat lady she is, taught me years ago to always look through the storm door to see what "gift" a cat may be bringing to the door ...BEFORE opening it.



I learned that lesson years ago. I used to take my first cup of coffee and step out on the front porch [barefoot] You don't have to step on too many dead critters before you alter your behavior!


One of our cats killed a bluejay yesterday morning, I saw it happen but was too slow to stop it BUT the cats are good at catching mice, voles, lizards and even grasshoppers so I'm not going to complain about their hunting instincts.


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

Above is the first post by Chandler ever, that I have read the text on it but will NOT ...scroll down to see the pic attached. Nope, no way. Not with the snakaphobia I have.

Now, without making the replies even more pronounced by attaching pics of snakes...

Regarding Chandler's post above, I have to wonder why the increase in the venomous snake population ? Is something happening to where their natural predators are being eliminated ? 

There is lots of highway traffic that should be flattening them. Maybe pro -snake protestors are standing up for the snakes lowly rights and demanding them to not to be terminated when seen ? I dunno....


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Gregsoldtruck79 said:


> Regarding Chandler's post above, I have to wonder why the increase in the venomous snake population ? Is something happening to where their natural predators are being eliminated ?


Sometimes an abundant food supply is the attraction to an area. Your pictures are an example.:biggrin2:


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

That's one of the aspects I like about Maine, they claim we have no poisonous snakes. I say "claim" as I know we do have something with fangs as I caught one as a kid. We were never able to identify it, no rattle or button, only 10" long. But anyway, the ones we encounter up are very common and no poison. 

Kansas was a bit different.

Bud


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Bud9051 said:


> Kansas was a bit different.
> 
> Bud


AH HA, that little prairie rattler will cause one to change his jockey shorts just as fast as a diamond back, velvet tail, timber rattler or a few others.


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

Dad liked to bank on the sides of the observation shacks out on the old bomb range when we went fishing. The rattlers would sound the alarm and we certainly wouldn't go inside. But in reality we only saw a few as kids in the 3 years we were there. Cotton mouth were plentiful as there was a small stream behind the trailer part, military brats.

Bud


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I have yet to see a copper headed, cotton jawed, rattle moccasin over this end of Tennessee, I hear they are for sure here though. When I lived in the other end of Tennessee (West) you didn't have to look far to find one. For some reason I am not afraid of snakes, I do respect them and give them their room, but they won't bother you of you if don't mess with them...except for a copper head, that sucker keeps his hammer cocked all the time.

The Coyotes have pretty well cleaned out this part of the valley, of cats especially. I wish they had left a few, now we got mice again.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I seldom see a snake on top of the hill where we live but down by the creek I've killed several copperheads. One of the few snakes I've seen up top was a large yellow/green snake. I reached next to the work bench to turn on the lights and it went across my arm ..... _and I was out the door!!_ By the time I realized it was a harmless snake he was no where to be seen.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

I'm thinking I could have a whole bunch of fun with those city slicker coyotes.


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## F250 (Feb 13, 2018)

Talk about "gifts", that reminds me of a hilarious story from my mechanic when I lived in SE Texas. He had a beautiful gray female Weimaraner (we'll call her Sophie) who was extremely cuddly to everyone except one of the his female friends from high school who would stop by to just visit every once in a while. The dog could not stand that woman (whom we'll call Brenda), and even my mechanic said that Brenda's grating voice was very penetrating and got very tiresome after only a few minutes, but he did not want to be rude to her. 

On one visit, Brenda made her way back into the mechanic's office and sat down to just chat for a while. She had always noticed how Sophie avoided her, and as in the past, the dog got up and walked away from the woman and went into the bathroom, seemingly to just get away from Brenda. All of a sudden, there was a raucous scampering and rushing about noises from the bathroom, and then it got quite again, so the Brenda resumed her chattering with the mechanic.

Sophie walked out of the bathroom, head down, and quite demurely sat up close beside where Brenda was sitting. Brenda couldn't help but notice the change in behavior, and commented accordingly. Just as she finished saying that, Sophie nonchalantly flipped her head over the arm of the chair with her head landing in the woman's lap, and the woman was ECSTATIC. Sophie was a beautiful dog, and her affection was always appreciated by everyone!

THEN, the dog quietly lifted her head and walked away. After watching the dog walk away, wondering why she had suddenly become so friendly, Brenda glanced down and saw a dead mouse which Sophie had so sweetly dropped into! My mechanic said that Brenda went ballistic and just about clawed her way out of the office on the ceiling, screeching all the way! She never came back for another visit!


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

chandler48 said:


> The only "pests" we are inundated with this year is venomous snakes. I don't mind the rat snakes, as I have seen them kill copperheads, but timber rattlers and copperheads are rampant. This one was at our cabin a couple of days ago. 9 rattles and a button. Only 3' long, but super fat.



Do they "rattle"?


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

You bet they do. It is their last warning to whatever has made it be alarmed and if not heeded, they strike.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Years ago, I read an Audubon article about how Western ranchers tried to wipe out the coyote. They learned to eat cat & dog food, cats & dogs, even oranges and made their way to the East & up North. So much for wiping them out.



I've seen them near the beach in Calif & in expensive areas like La Jolla. Esp., on 4th of July, when they get disoriented. We seem to have wild pathways everywhere.


Re: cats giving gifts, a biologist said that it's a compliment, but like gifts to their kittens, it depends on how ready they think you are. If you are really naive in their minds, it's more likely to be dead. If it's alive, they're are giving you a chance to kill it yourself. I try not to yell at them for gifts.:wink2:
But, I really don't like large, live cockroaches dropped in the bed!:surprise:


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

I cut them off and sent them to my grandson in Denver. He's an 11 year old outdoorsman. They will rattle better once they are dried out, but you can bet your sweet tea they rattle when the snake is coiled and you only have a few seconds to back away as they can lunge 3 times their length.

Oooh, sorry Greg, this was 3 weeks ago. I couldn't help myself.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Bud9051 said:


> When I let my little mini dachshunds out for a late light potty run inside their 20x30 4' high fenced area I have my 22 close at hand. Bobcat and coyotes can clear that fence in a blink and although most people never see them I watch the tracks, we are surrounded.



They tell us, in the West, a 6' fence is needed for coyotes. I don't know about bobcats, except that even house cats can climb on a roof & drop down from trees. I watched one climb a tall palm the other day & drop onto the second story roof.




chandler48 said:


> I cut them off and sent them to my grandson in Denver. He's an 11 year old outdoorsman. They will rattle better once they are dried out, but you can bet your sweet tea they rattle when the snake is coiled and you only have a few seconds to back away as they can lunge 3 times their length.



Like your snake on the fence, that's what they do in the bush in Africa. They kill them & throw them in the middle of the road ( dusty path) so no one will think they're alive on the ground. A Peace Corps guy tried to teach Ecology & saving snakes to his students. . .no go.


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

Can an admin get me a dislike button for me to use on Chandler please ? 

My Dad had a set of 5 button rattlers in his Antonio Stradivarius fiddle. (it was a copycat ) :sad:

Why ? I do not know. Surely it had nothing to do with helping out the acoustics. For good luck ? Maybe he rattled them around to let the square dancers he played for, know when to start kicking up their heels. I dunno....


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

Years ago I had a crazy mechanic friend who worked on farm equipment. He had trouble in the field with migrant workers stealing his tools when he wasn't looking. He got a rattlesnake along with a cage to contain it and put it in his large tool box ..... remember I said he was crazy. When he first got to a job he'd pull that snake out and walk around his service truck before putting it back in the hidden cage. Said he never had any tools stolen after that!


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

I hope his truck always started at the end of the day. Cuz, the local farm help surely would not be showing up to help him.


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## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

Gregsoldtruck79 said:


> We are getting skunks too, but I forgot to save the video. Most likely a chosen mental block.
> 
> Agree Bud, *absolutely* one has to protect ones property and pets at all cost.
> 
> ...


If you have a cat that can control moles, maybe you should think about hiring it out. They are hard to get rid of.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

Several years back, I found a big water snake on the bank of a stream where I was working. I cut the snakes head off and skinned it. With it's head and skin gone, it's heart was still beating. I kicked it over in some bushes and went on to work. At lunch time I went back out there and so help me, that snake, with no head or skin ran up to me with it's body like it was going to strike and stopped. That really spooked me that time.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

BigJim said:


> Several years back, I found a big water snake on the bank of a stream where I was working. I cut the snakes head off and skinned it. With it's head and skin gone, it's heart was still beating. I kicked it over in some bushes and went on to work. At lunch time I went back out there and so help me, that snake, with no head or skin ran up to me with it's body like it was going to strike and stopped. That really spooked me that time.



Poor thing. Are they poisonous?


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Speaking of beautiful pests -


I was driving home thru the country again, tonight, past the orchards where the walnut trees are absolutely huge & create dark woods.


I looked away & back & there were what at first look, I thought were two deer mannequins in the road, one on either side of the car. They were absolutely still. Maybe the quiet Prius triggered the response rather than panicking & running in front of it.


One of my first memories (3?)was my dad putting down a deer that he hit with the car on the way to Lake Arrowhead, with a wrench. So glad I didn't hit them. That was also near the house with the dog that bit me twice. I don't know how I could have gotten out of the car to check on the deer! I think CHP comes here, if you hit one & it's still living. . .


They ran off into the woods.


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

If you hit a deer in Georgia make sure you get a police report. The State of Georgia DNR owns the deer and are "responsible" for them. Generally your insurance company is reimbursed for damages caused by them to your vehicle if you get the proper reports filed.

I crested a hill once and a bear cub was running full tilt across a field and ran right into my truck. I knew it was a fatal hit, but it was still moving so I put it down with a pistol, very quickly, as I knew the mother was on her way. Don't get between a bear cub and its mother.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Speaking of getting between a mother and it's young.

A woman a couple of days ago got between a mother Elk and it's calf in Yellowstone, and got ran over by the Elk, trying to protect her calf.

So any wildlife are dangerous during the spring and raising kids season.

ED


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

A lot of states require that the law be called when you hit wildlife and if you don't the insurance doesn't have to pay.
My BiL hit a deer with his station wagon yrs ago. It broke his mirror and knocked the deer out so he finished the deer off and stuffed it in the back. He brought me some of the meat and if any one asked I said I was eating road kill.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

Nik333 said:


> Poor thing. Are they poisonous?


Poor thing the dickens, when a snake that looks so close to a cotton jaws is striking at me, he is a goner. It isn't poisonous, but I didn't have time to ask for his ID at that time.


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

The whitetail deer around here are so thick, one gets hit about every other night. It is so bad, the city/state workers sometimes leave their carcasses laying on the roadside for a week, before they can get a crew to go get them. 

The buzzards here are not skinny though, by any means. They love deer meat.


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## cat's_pajamas (May 9, 2018)

All this talk of snakes reminded me of an incident from about 10 years ago. A neighbor called and said she'd heard what she thought was a sprinkler sound, but it turned out to be a rattlesnake near her house, shaking its rattles at her cat, which was a few feet away. I can't exactly recall, but I think she threw some rocks at it to get it to move away, then called me for help. Her husband was at work and she had a .22 rifle in the house but had never fired it. I drove over there and the rattlesnake was in a small gully in the driveway. I hadn't fired a gun in at least a decade, but I did manage to hit it on the first shot, from about 20 feet away. The first shot didn't kill it, so I fired four more shots (I think). It stopped moving and I approached it cautiously and cut off its head with a shovel. We buried it nearby (with our apologies [hey, I believe in live and let live, but not that close to the house]).


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

The last copperhead I killed was on some creek side property we have for sale. Neighborhood rug rats had drug a timber from somewhere and deposited in the yard. I got off my tractor to move it and exposed a copperhead. I tried to beat it to death with that landscape timber but wasn't successful .... so I grabbed a shovel off of my tractor and cut his head off.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

BigJim said:


> Poor thing the dickens, when a snake that looks so close to a cotton jaws is striking at me, he is a goner. It isn't poisonous, but I didn't have time to ask for his ID at that time.


I'm not faulting you for killing it. I don't live around a lot of snakes. It was sad that it took so long to die. Hey, it takes all kinds :wink2:

Shoot, I thought sure it was dead when I cut off it's head, a skinless snake running up to you and stop at your feet looking up at you like it is going to strike is not normal in my book. LOL


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